liverpool's unbeaten run in the premier league stretches into a second year. the atp cup is underway in australia, but does tennis need another team tournament? and is it the cursed tour? england's opening batsmen rory burns may think so after an injury playing football ends his series against south africa. hello there and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that it's now a year since liverpool were beaten in the premier league. the last team to get a win against them were the champions manchester city, but they look like they'll be handing their title over to them at the end of the season. jurgen klopp‘s side stretched their lead at the top back to 13 points with a 2—0 win over sheffield united. mohamad salah put them on their way after just four minutes, while his strike partner sadio mane doubled the advantage in the second half.

it leaves the reds on course for a first league title since 1990. after the game, the liverpool manager spoke to the bbc‘s conor mcnamara. juergen, mcnamara. congratulations, a year unbeaten juergen, congratulations, a year unbeaten in the premier league. that is no mean feat? that is obviously good but the target tonight was not to extend the series or whatever, the target was to win the game and the target was to win the game and the boys did incredibly well. they played around their formation, played around their formation, played in behind, played in between, broke the lines, had counter—attacks, quick restarts, stuff like that, all the things we wa nted stuff like that, all the things we wanted to have for the boys to play a sensational game tonight. wanted to have for the boys to play a sensational game tonightli wanted to have for the boys to play a sensational game tonight. i know the fa cup is coming quicker now but this is the end of the festive period, people said may be this was a difficult patch for you but you have come through it with flying colours, so you must so happy? how is it the end of the festive period when you play again in three days. but your consistency, you must be

pleased with your consistency and how you have not let up at all?” can't be saying it enough, we shouldn't take things like this for granted, it is not allowed to happen. it is so difficult. to control sheffield united like we did tonight is exceptional. we watched a lot of games of them because we wanted to prepare the boys as good as possible, and i didn't see a game like this. that's what we tried to make sure, it must be difficult for them to play against us, and the boys did really well. in possession, we were incredible. we were calm but lively as well, all the things you need. the goals we scored were exceptional. so, yeah, cannot say anything better at all. wayne rooney has made a winning start to his career with second—tier english side derby county. the former england international started and captained the team in the 2—1 win over barnsley. obviously i've been training now for quite a while, so my fitness has been good. obviously the match is different, match fitness is a bit different, so i'm obviously not 100% but i had no problems getting

through the 90 minutes. let's have a look at a couple of the other football headlines for you. zlatan ibrahimovic is back in italy to start his second spell at ac milan 10 years after his first. the 38—year—old, who left la galaxy last month, had a medical on thursday ahead of his six month deal and joins the rossoneri with them just seven points above the relegation zone. mario mandzukic has been speaking about his move to qatar's al—duhail. the striker, who starred for croatia at the last world cup, says he wants to keep winning everything after spending the last four years atjuventus. and the former everton midfielder li tie is china's new head coach. he succeeds italian marcello lippi, who quit the job for a second time in november. li made 92 appearances for china and played at the 2002 world cup. the inaugural atp cup is underway in australia with 2a teams taking part in what's been billed as a world cup of tennis.

but it comes just six weeks after a similarformat in the revamped davis cup, prompting questions about whether there is room for the two tournaments. when you're starting off new formats, new events, it's always going to be tricky to be delivering the ideal product. your always going to have some flaws. it's not ideal but i think it's good for tennis that there is innovation. atp is looking to innovate, to come up with different rules and things and they're testing out the steps up to four, nexgen, finals, so it's great it's moving in that direction. obviously we have to pace ourselves and balance it with tradition and the culture of our sport that has to be maintained and nurtured. australia are 95/1 at lunch on the first day of the third and final test of their series against new zealand. they're playing in sydney, where a lot of the talk in the build—up has been about the surrounding fires

and the smoke, which may cause players to leave the field. they have been ok so far. after winning the toss and electing to cricket... joe burns was the only man out while david warner is nearing a half century alongside marnus labuschagne. england's players are calling it the cursed tour, they are unsurprisingly i—o down in the test series against south africa after dealing with a sickness bug that has affected most of the squad, now they have injuries to contend with ahead of the second test that starts in cape town on friday. fast bowlerjofra archer is a doubt, and the series is over for opening batsmen rory burns after he went over on his ankle playing football. adam wild reports. impressive, imposing... foremost, impassable. amidst the spectacular setting of newlands, symbolism is everywhere. a mountain to climb for england? well, history suggests so. they haven't won a test in cape town since 1957 and beneath table mountain, england are a side with plenty on their plate. injury, illness and now first test defeat

all offering much to chew over. we've had some very frustrating moments on this tour so far and we are having deal with it as best we can and make sure whether gets the opportunity will put in absolutely everything and give us a great chance to win the game. if art win, they will have to do it with a depleted side. just how much remains to be seen. jofra archer is a doubt and jack leach is definitely missing, and now another blow. opener rory burns was england's top scorer in the first test and for a time his 84 looked like itjust save them. here he was in training today, turning his efforts to football, turning his efforts to football, turning his efforts to football, turning his ankle and taking his turning his ankle and taking his turn on the physio table. crossed fingers for his twisted ankle weren't enough. his test, his tour 110w weren't enough. his test, his tour now over. but south africa also have issues to address and questions to answer, both for the country and their cricket team, won't go away.

no place in the side for bavuma and that has left some to ask pointedly if the colour was draining away from the team. we don't see colour. tembo would be the first person to acknowledge he got a great opportunity and we can't point anything goes at that. it's important now for the general game in south africa that we keep producing good cricketers. for me, the colour is irrelevant. i know what you're asking and there will be things in place and people put in place to make sure we keep producing players of all different colours. england fans have travelled in huge numbers hoping to see the spectacular cricket they saw four yea rs spectacular cricket they saw four years ago. then ben stokes scored england's quickest double century, 258 from him in one of england's most extraordinary innings of recent yea rs. most extraordinary innings of recent years. a repeat of such high scoring is unlikely this time around but at newlands, cricket always looks spectacular. adam wild, bbc news.

the washington redskins presented ron rivera as their new head coach as he looks to get the nfl franchise to the play offs for the first time in five years. he spent the past nine seasons as head coach of the carolina panthers, taking them to the super bowl in 2015 this is one of the almost original teams. started in 1932. there's a lot of history behind this football tea m lot of history behind this football team and in orderfor us to get back to where we want to be, we have to study and embrace that history and prepare to repeat that history, because if not then we're doomed to repeat the most recent history and we're not going to do that, guys, we're not going to do that, guys, we' re really we're not going to do that, guys, we're really not. everything we are going to do is about winning in the right way, because if it doesn't help us, we're not going to do it. that's as simple as it gets. new orleans pelicans are hopeful that star rookie zion williamson will return to the court from a knee injury soon. the number one overall draft pick went through a full practice on thursday, his first since pre—season after undergoing surgery in october. despite not playing he's already gaining fans with his performances in the virtual world.

because, you know, they play video games and they are like, when are you playing? you're playing the videogames, why aren't you playing now? i'm not ready, man. they are begging me to come back and it sucks to look at him and say, not let, little man. if it was up to me i would have been out there to weeks ago. i it'sjust good to get would have been out there to weeks ago. i it's just good to get back out there. it's a hard balance, i am 19, iwant out there. it's a hard balance, i am 19, i want to get back out there but from a relational standpoint i have to look at longevity. and what about this for some inspiration to get on the basketball court again? kostas sloukas scores from his own half to beat the buzzer at the end of first quarter in fenerbahce's win over olympiakos in the euro league. if you're wondering why he didn't celebrate, he used to play for olympiakos. afair a fair effort against your old team.

nine games in the nba at the moment and arguably the pick of those, miami hosting toronto, toronto are the champions, and it is into the third quarter and miami are 42—41 up in that one. bye for now. hello there. for many we started the year on a cloudy but quiet note, didn't we? but it was all change by day two with rain, some of it heavy across scotland. not one weather front but two. it must be january — it's buy one get one free and it brought some heavy rain as it drifted its way steadily south and east. so much so that we had 40mm by 8pm at the end of the day on thursday in the highlands of scotland. all change as we move into friday's weather because it looks likely that today will be colder and there will be a little more in the way of sunshine around, and that is because those two weather fronts continue to drift their way south and east,

and then they allow the door to open to the colder arctic air. the isobars always squeezing together and they always stay pretty windy in the northern isles, with galeforce gusts of winds here, but it's going to be a chilly old start in scotland first thing this morning, compare that to double—digits down into the south—east corner. unfortunately, that means that we keep cloud and outbreaks of rain here. hopefully by coffee time, certainly by lunchtime, that should have eased away. we will have more sunshine coming through for friday, but it stays windy into the far north and that's going to drive in some showers on exposed north—west coast and those temperatures struggling a little. so despite the sunshine, highest values ofjust 6—9 degrees. moving out of friday into the start of the weekend and it looks likely that high pressure will build from the south and stay with us for saturday and sunday. at the same time, frontal systems drift across the high and that means more cloud here and more of a breeze, so sheltered eastern

areas seeing the best of any brightness perhaps on saturday. more cloud further west and just a little bit of light, showery rain into the far north—west, with highest values on saturday of 7—10 degrees. it's almost a case of spot the difference as we move into sunday — still under the influence of high—pressure for most, still those weather fronts toppling across that high, introducing more cloud and rain, with more of a south—westerly feed, slightly less colder air across the country, and temperatures widely back into double figures — 9—11 degrees for many. but that means that the high pressure is likely to drift its way off into the near continent, so for the start of the new working week, as everybody‘s starting to get back into a routine after christmas and new year period, there is some more rain to come in the forecast — wet and windy weather will arrive for monday into tuesday, so this is how it is looking — pretty unsettled. umbrellas close at hand, i'm afraid. take care.

considered ending your life. welcome to bbc news — i'm simon pusey. our top stories: the leader of iran's quds force is reported killed in baghdad — american sources say the us carried out airstrikes in the area. by land and by sea — tens of thousands of australians are evacuated as bushfires rage on. it feels like i'm in the middle of the apocalypse. like, i think someone's dropped a bomb on us, basically. that's what it feels like. the us bans some e—cigarette flavours, amid concerns about teenage vaping. but campaigners say it lets manufacturers off the hook. combating high levels of violence against american indian and alaskan native women. a special report from our north america correspondent.