hello and welcome to sportsday. this is what is coming up. another controversial world cup host, but saudi arabia is the only option that fifa have for 203a. a shellacking for switzerland, as spain score seven in the women's nations league. and while it's bye—bye, bangladesh, pakistan keep their hopes alive of a world cup semi—finals. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. saudi arabia is set to host the men's 2034 world cup, after australia opted against mounting a rival bid. the decision was confirmed only hours before fifa's deadline

for declarations of interest on tuesday, in their accelerated bidding process. saudi arabia was the only other country to put their name forward to host the tournament, so they are effectively the sole bidder — something that might shock some people, but was expected, as dan roan reports. if you thought a winter world cup was a one—off, then think again. less than a year since qatar staged football's showpiece event, it's emerged neighbouring saudi arabia is set to play host in 2034 — the sole bidder after australia chose not to try, ahead of today's deadline. once again, extreme heat is likely to mean the disruption of moving its traditional summer slot. but the manager of saudi—owned newcastle united has backed the prospect. our trips out there have been to two different places. wherever we went was really well organised and we were well looked after. so i think if that's a sign of what a world cup might look like, then i think you can be

rest assured that everything will be structurally really good. but with fifa president gianni infantino known to be close to the saudi crown prince, the governing body appeared to pave the way for the gulf kingdom by limiting possible bidders and fast—tracking the process. and the country, like qatar, faces intense scrutiny over its human rights record. migrant workers are regularly exploited. those are the migrant workers that would end up building the stadiums and the other infrastructure. we know that anyone who criticises the regime is imprisoned, and we know that communities are discriminated against. so there are huge, huge risks in doing this tournament. in recent years, saudi arabia has invested billions of pounds across a range of sports, amid accusations that it's done so to improve the country's reputation. but the authorities there insist this is about growing sport, modernising the kingdom and diversifying its economy. last year, the saudi sports minister told me the critics were wrong.

the accusation is that this is just sportswashing. what's your response to that when it's said? you know, we will always be criticised, but we have to look at what is the best for our country and our people and what is actually developing our youth towards the future. at last year's world cup, saudi arabia managed to beat the eventual champions, argentina. now an even greater challenge — trying to convince the critics they'd be suitable hosts. dan roan, bbc news. spain have continued their perfect run in the women's nations league with a 7—1 thrashing of switzerland in zurich. double ballon d'or winner alexia putellas helped herself to two goals, while real madrid forward athenea del castillo also bagged a brace. it means spain stay top of their group, with 12 points from four games — five ahead of sweden, in second place. that's after the scandinavian side — ranked top in the world — were held to a 1—all draw at home to italy. roma forward valentina giacinti put the italians ahead and were heading for a famous away win, but sweden waiting until the last few seconds of added time before they managed an equaliser

through linda sembrant. just a few days after beating belgium to go second in their group, world cup runners—up england were brought down to earth, losing 3—2 in the return match. scotland remain without a win and rooted to the bottom of the same group, following their second defeat by the netherlands in four days. northern ireland kept alive their hopes of finishing second in their group, after a 1—1 draw with hungary, while wales lost 2—1 in denmark. their hopes of avoiding relegation from their group are likely to rest on their home clash with iceland in december. the head of the international football association board has told the bbc that there are no plans to broadcast live any communication between the onfield referee and var match officials. he says it would be counter—productive because conversations can appear to be chaotic. the chief executive of football's lawmakers, lukas brud, was asked whether fans and viewers would ever be able to listen to the match officials during var referrals. categorically say,

no, they shouldn't. there is a very simple reason for that. i was allowed to observe, or hear communication between match officials during a review or during a check. and it's quite a chaotic situation. chaotic, not in a negative sense, but there are many, many people talking at the same time. and i think it would be counterproductive for anyone to be listening to to all those, the voices talking to each other. bangladesh have become the first team to be knocked out of the 2023 cricket world cup, after falling to their sixth successive defeat, losing to pakistan by seven wickets on wednesday. bangladesh could only muster 204 all out, after winning the toss. shaheen shah afridi and mohammed wasim each took three wickets. pakistan cantered to their target with 105 balls to spare. openers abdulah shafique and fakhar zaman both smashed quick half centuries.

pakistan keep their hopes of reaching the semi—finals alive, with matches against new zealand and england remaining. to the nba, and former mvp — most valuable player — james harden is reportedly on the move, after a long—running dispute with the philpadelphia 76ers. they're expected to send the 34—year—old to the la clippers, alongside two other players, for a package of four players and multiple future first—round picks. while harden�*s spell with the 76ers was turbulent, team mate tyrese maxey says he would miss his presence in philadelpia. i texted him. i told him i love him. told him i appreciate him. because, you know, one thing that he really installed in me is confidence. and i've always been a confident person, but he made me be even more confident than i already was. and i was appreciative for that. and he took me under his wing, taught me a lot of things as far asjust being a professional in the league and how things go. so i appreciate him. ilove him.

you know, same thing with tuck, love those guys. eddiejones has resigned as australia head coach, after less than a year in charge. his parting shot at rugby australia was that that they simply weren't as committed as he was to bringing about change. jones has overseen a calamitous run of results. they won only two of their nine tests under the former england coach, with those victories coming against tier—two nations georgia and portugal at the world cup — a tournament that they failed to get out of the group stage of for the first time. joe lynskey reflects on the eddiejones reign. august in australia, and the wallabies went to france with some hope, but many doubts. two world cup warm—up games had brought two defeats, but eddiejones was defiant. i love this negativity. it's fantastic. i love it. love it. keep going, keep going. you know we're terrible. just tell us we're terrible, and we'll prove you wrong. what came next was aussie gloom. they lost to fiji and wales. i've been working nonstop since i've come here and i apologise for the results.

i keep saying that. jones kept up his fight, but his team reached a new low, out in the group stage for the first time — their worst world cup in history. it was meant to be the first step in a new era. jones took charge injanuary and signed a five—year deal. now, he's resigned. in four years, this nation hosts the next world cup. for now, it's reflecting on an expensive mistake. in terms of eddie, we ended up at a sensible outcome. the campaign was clearly very disappointing and i think a proud rugby nation like australia, for us to perform the way we did was, was very, very disappointing. hindsight�*s a wonderful thing. i think that when you make decisions, you get presented information at the time and you make decisions based on that information. and as i said, where we ended up was clearly not good enough.

jones told the press down under he did want to go on. coaching, it seems, a bit like a marriage. you need commitment from both sides. his commitment, he said, has been 100%. he will officially step down on november 25th, still less than a year on from when he was sacked by england. now there are reportsjones will retrace his steps not to twickenham, but tokyo. he coached japan at a world cup where they beat south africa. as yet, he says, there's been no offers. jones will be back this weekend, when he leads the barbarians in a match against wales. australia's re—emergence may take a while longer. their next test is in july, and in 2025, they host a lions tour. withoutjones, they must rebuild from perhaps the lowest point to be a wallaby. forg etta ble. joe lynskey, bbc news. well, meanwhile, there was a heroes' welcome for world cup champions

south africa, as they were mobbed by adoring fans on their return from france, after winning the webb ellis cup for a record fourth time. there was an enormous crowd at the airport injohannesburg to greet their champions' return. captain siya kolisi said the narrow victory over new zealand was not about the players, but for "every single person in south africa. "rich, poor. it doesn't matter where you come from." and that is, sadly, all the time we've got left for now. a huge thank you for watching us. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello. after what was a very wet october for many places, the beginning of november promises more rain, particularly through wednesday night into thursday thanks to storm ciaran — this storm

named by the met office. it will bring widespread heavy rain, but in the south of the uk and the channel islands, there is the threat of damaging winds. on our earlier satellite image, you can see that storm just beginning to develop, this hook appearing in the cloud. that's an area of low pressure that is deepening, and will continue to deepen as it pushes in our direction. in the short term, this frontal system pushing its way north—eastwards through wednesday. that's going to bring some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain, some squally, gusty winds across the south—east corner first thing as this band of showers works its way eastwards. a band of heavy rain pushing out of northern ireland and northern england and then up across scotland, briefly some snow over high ground in northern scotland, then turning back to rain. windy in the north and in the west of scotland. sunshine and showers developing for northern ireland, england and wales. temperatures of 7—14 degrees in most places. and then, as we head into the evening and overnight, this is where storm ciaran starts to make its move. very heavy rain swinging its way across the south of the uk and some really strong winds.

see the isobars here on our pressure chart really squeezing together. there are met office amber warnings that have been issued for parts of south—west wales, more especially south—west england, and then along the english channel coast and up into parts of east anglia. inland gusts of around 70 mph. coastal parts likely to see gusts of 70—80 mph. and not covered by met office weather warnings, but the channel islands could see the worst of the weather — gusts here could well touch 90 mph. with those strong winds, some very heavy rain across many parts of england, wales, southern and eastern scotland, perhaps fringing into northern ireland as we go through the day on thursday. and temperature—wise, ten, 11, 12 degrees. so that rain could cause some issues with flooding, those strong winds bring the risk of damage and disruption. and our area of low pressure will still be with us as we move on into friday, weakening as it goes, so the winds should ease just a little bit. it does remain very unsettled, with more rain, as we head into the weekend.

this live from washington. this is bbc news.

israel confirms an attack on the jabalia refugee camp in northern gaza. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 50 people were killed. israel says a senior hamas commander was killed. antony blinken will head to israel later this week. we will look at the broader us support for israel. israel's military has confirmed its jets carried out an attack on the jabalia refugee camp in gaza in order to kill a senior hamas commander. the overall number killed in the strike is unclear, with estimates from 25 to well over 100. the blast occurred in jabalia, to well over 100. the blast occurred injabalia, a camp in northern gaza, a densely built—up area, home to more than 100,000 people. it's an

area the israeli government told people to