and wawrinka beat tiafoe, at the swiss indoors — but injury forces him to pull out of an all—swiss showdown with roger federer. hello and welcome to the programme. the build—up to the rugby world cup semi—finals is gathering pace. england and new zealand have now named their line—ups for saturday's first semifinal in yokohama. both teams have made changes from last week's victories against australia and ireland. for england, it's their biggest game since losing the world cup final 12 years ago. 2007 was also the year that new zealand were last beaten in the world cup as they continue their bid to win the trophy three times in a row. from japan, our sports correspondent andy swiss reports. the big headline in new zealand puzzling team selection is that scott barrett has been selected in

the back row ahead of sam kane who has been dropped to the bench. barrett is normally a walk forward. this is the first time he has started a test in the back row. the thinking behind it perhaps is that his extra height will be useful in the wine out but aside from that the main focus of this match has been a spot of mind games between the two coaches. it all started when england's head coach eddiejones said that all the pressure was on new zealand. there is 120 million japanese people out there who's a second team are all the all blacks was that there is no pressure on us. just have a great week, enjoy, enjoy the great opportunity we have. they're working for the third world cup so that brings some pressure. but when he announced his team today, the new zealand coach steve hansen was naturally asked about eddiejones's condiments hansen was naturally asked about eddie jones's condiments and hansen was naturally asked about eddiejones's condiments and he is not taking them to seriously. he is

trying to text the pressure off his on—site by getting everyone to talk about us and pressure. a smart move but i am not buying into it. our players are not buying into it. they don't need to tell us that. but he needs to work out is what they would do about the pressure they are under. they will have memories about a four years ago and it didn't go that great. so they will be under immense pressure themselves. yes fairto immense pressure themselves. yes fair to say both teams will be under pressure at this after all is a world cup semi—final. earlier on eddiejones world cup semi—final. earlier on eddie jones named his world cup semi—final. earlier on eddiejones named his england team to start the match. the main headline from that being that george ford returns to the starting line—up at fight half with the captain moving out to the centres. england will be confident after their victory in the quarterfinals over australia but new zealand haven't lost a world cup match for some 12 yea rs. lost a world cup match for some 12 years. they will be the favourite when the two teams meet in yokohama

on saturday. andy swiss reporting there. on to football and arsenal made it three wins out of three, in the europa league but they had to come from behind at home to vitoria guimaraes to maintain their 100% record. twice the portuguese side led through goals from marcus edwards and bruno duarte. but twice they were pegged back with gabriel martinelli and nicolas pepe equalising for the gunners. the match was heading for a draw until pepe popped up with the winner in stoppage time. pepe is a very good player and we believe in him totally. also, the way he is doing is sometimes feeling better, sometimes feeling more difficult on the pitch. it depends on the position. but it is improving. two goals tonight, very important for us. the first and second for him. elsewhere, sevilla also made it

three wins out of three. franco vasquez scored twice as the record five—times winners beat dudelange of luxembourg 3—0. group e leaders celtic came from a goal down to beat lazio with christopherjullien scoring the winner two minutes from time. young boys of switzerland beat feyenoord 2—0 and they lead group g by two points from porto and rangers who shared a 1—1 draw. and manchester united are two points clear in group l after winning i—o at partizan belgrade. anthony martial‘s 43rd—minute penalty was their only shot on target in the whole game. it's united's first away win in any competition since march. of course i am happy now that we could just look forward to the next one. try to build the momentum. we need to win away from home in the league. but another clean sheet which is great and that gives your platform to win the games from. in north america, the second of the eastern conference semi—finals in the mls play—offs is under way. the reigning

champions atlanta united and leading i—o julian gressel the scorer. the winners will face toronto in the eastern conference final. coming up later in the western conference, it's the la derby with los angeles fc at home to la galaxy. thursday was a rest day in the world series as the astros and the nationals made their way to washington for game three on friday. the nationals will hope to make home advantage count, as they bid to win the fall classic for the first time in their history. washington lead the best—of—seven series 2—0 after thrashing houston 12—3 in game two. the bbc‘s seth bennett was there. calm and relaxed. houston didn't appear to be feeling the pressure of being one nothing down in the series. that zen state did not last long. washington took a first innings lead as anthony rendon drove in two runs. the astros response was

swift. alex brackman‘s home run and levelling the game. the third baseman had been so out of form, he threatened to take his back to bed with them. anything for a change of luck. with pitcher stephen strasburg and justin verlander trading scoreless innings it was a question of who would blink first. it was for lander. nationals kurt suzuki blessing his team back in front and with houston wobbling, washington went for the knockout blow with a six run seventh—inning. victor reassured. but the pain wasn't over for houston. adam eaton wash one into the stands as the nationals reach double jewel —— double digits. so, washington head east with a two—game series lead. knowing other halfway to winning a world series

for the first time. what i believe in is hard work, being consistent in what we do, and sticking to our process and we did that. i said it all along, when this team was down, i felt like we had starting pitching that could keep us in the ball games and once we got healthy that things would change. and we are here because the boys never gave up. tennis now, roger federer is into the semi—finals of the swiss indoors in basel, without hitting a ball. that's because his quarterfinal opponent, stan wawrinka, has pulled out of the tournament. the 34—year—old beat american frances tiafoe in three sets taking just over two and half hours but later withdrew with a back injury. it means swiss compatriot federer receives a walkover to the final four with the top seed still on to win a tenth title basel. he could end up meeting stefanos tsitsipas in final four. the greek player came from a set down, to seal his place in the quarters. he lost the first set to ricardis berankis on a tie break but came back to take

the next two 6—2, 6—4. tsitsipas will meet filip krajinovic for the chance to meet federer. and roberto bautista agut advanced to the last eight, beating france's richard gasquet 6—2, 4—6, 6—3. it's the 13th time the spaniard has made a quarter final on the tour. and serving like that will help, he's up against big—hitting american reilly opelka next. the formula i drivers' championship could be wrapped up this weekend at the mexican grand prix. mercedes have already sealed the constructors' title and lewis hamilton is potentially one race away from clinching the drivers' championship. he'll seal a sixth world title if he outscores his team—mate, and only rival, valterri bottas by 14 points on sunday. but hamilton doesn't think it's likely to be settled in mexico. imean, i i mean, i don't remember if and a season i finished 14 points ahead of him atany season i finished 14 points ahead of

him at any point. if it has, it may have been one race may be. so i anticipate it will be difficult we can. he has been strongly or and obviously won the last race. i spent the big show this weekend too. it doesn't matter where it is done as long as you get it done than that is what i'm trying to do. but i am fully aware that there still are plenty of points on the table and i've got to deliver over these next four races. meanwhile, hamilton's former team—mate at mclaren fernando alonso has confirmed that he'll take part in the dakar rally, for the first time, injanauary. the two—time former fi champion will be part of the toyota factory team with whom he's already won two le mans 2a hour races. 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. we will see you again in the next

hour. take care. hello. there's a battle between cold and mild air taking place across the uk at the moment to see which wins out for the weekend. spoiler, it is the cold air. already in place across northern parts of the uk. on the dividing line between the two before the cold air wins and heads south, some of us are about to get a lot of heavy rain through friday into early saturday, and the moors of southwest england into wales and northern england from this waving weather front. finally as it does clear by the end of saturday, from southeast england, that is when the cold air travels further south. already in place across the northern half of the uk, a touch of frost for you to start the day, and a mild start the further south you are. a fine start for many of us, a few showers in scotland. here comes the rain from the southwest and wales into the midlands, especially

the west midlands, the eastern side of northern ireland and southern scotland. the uk top and tail by strengthening winds with coastal gales as well. so it is turning much wetter for some of us and we still have those big temperature contrast across the uk but quite a lot of hill fog down towards the southwest of the uk in the mild air. let's focus in on the rain. these totals you see here are some of the higher totals we may see in the higher ground. lower levels will not see as much as this but with that much rain falling for some, the potential for some flooding and travel disruptions, there are some met office yellow warnings in force and details at our website. so the possibility of seeing some disruption to travellers to start the weekend. this is how we start saturday, away from the area of rain, clearer skies elsewhere, in scotland, still a few showers, and of course maybe a touch of frost too.

the rain does eventually move south on saturday, away from the wettest parts of england and wales, to give a wet afternoon towards east anglia and southeast england. elsewhere brightest skies developing for many with a few showers around, and the cold air pushing further south. through saturday night into sunday, get rid of this front, get rid of the rain, the blue is in charge, the cold air has won the battle. it will not be bitterly cold. as you can see from this, on sunday, a lot of land showing up. that means it is clear, a bit of patchy cloud but quite a bit of sunshine coming through on sunday. still a few showers dotted about into scotland, still quite breezy out there. yes, temperatures are coming down, but by sunday, it's drier and sunnier.

welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: borisjohnson calls on the british parliament to back an early general election in december. in return, he's offering more time to debate his brexit deal. police begin moving the bodies of 39 people, believed to be from china, found dead in a refrigerated lorry outside london. uluru's final ascent. tourists prepare to climb the sacred red rock, much against the wishes of indigenous australians, for the last time. and after more than four decades, the remains of spain's former dictator are exhumed and re—buried.