battling back from an opening defeat and overcoming illness: carlos alcaraz is on track again at the atp tour finals. and sebastian coe says he'll make sure the ioc protects women's sport if he becomes its president. hello again. captain harry kane claims england should come before everything, with the total number of players that have withdrawn from the squad for the nations league matches against greece and the republic of ireland now at nine. the bayern munich striker says he isn't happy about it, with this the final selection made by interim boss lee carsley before thomas tuchel takes over injanuary.

our correspondent andy swiss is with the squad in athens. the preparations in athens haven't really been blighted by the number of players pulling out of the squad, tonight they have their ninth withdrawal, and the england captain hurricane is not impressed, it is fair to say. he was asked earlier whether the desire to play has drifted during this international window when he said yes, it is a shame this week obviously, i think it is a tough period of the season, maybe that has been taken advantage of a bit. i do not really like it, i think england comes before any club situation. so our clubs putting pressure on players to withdraw so that players can take a break? the england interim boss says no, and he says november is never easy. i says no, and he says november is never easy-— is never easy. i think with what we _ is never easy. i think with what we have _ is never easy. i think with what we have had -

is never easy. i think with what we have had in - is never easy. i think with what we have had in this | what we have had in this window. _ what we have had in this window, it is historically, it has — window, it is historically, it has been _ window, it is historically, it has been like that in the past, the member has always been a challenging window. like you said. — challenging window. like you said. the _ challenging window. like you said, the culture, all the staff, _ said, the culture, all the staff, they have created a positive _ staff, they have created a positive environment, and the players — positive environment, and the players that are here fully deserved to be here and are ready— deserved to be here and are ready for— deserved to be here and are ready for the game. we deserved to be here and are ready for the game.- ready for the game. we can certainly — ready for the game. we can certainly expect _ ready for the game. we can certainly expect to - ready for the game. we can certainly expect to see - ready for the game. we can l certainly expect to see some fresh faces tomorrow, and with lee carsley about to finish as the interim boss and thomas taking over untiljanuary, this england campus certainly has a slightly transitional field. chelsea and lyon have maintained their 100% start to the women's champions league, winning again on wednesday. chelsea went behind against scottish champions celtic but responded with two quick goals to win 2—1. lyon's win at roma was a more comfortable 3—0. and the early games were both very one—sided. real madrid won 7—0 against twente while wolfsburg beat galatasaray 5—0. england's referees' body

pgmol says it is taking new allegations around premier league official david coote "very seriously" after the sun published pictures it says were taken during this summer's european championship, where he was working as a match referee. the newspaper revealed a video they allege appears to show coote sniffing a white powder through a rolled up us bank note. the bbc has not independently verified the pictures or the video and has approached coote for comment. the referee has been suspended by pgmol pending an investigation into a video that emerged earlier this week in which he appeared to make disparaging remarks about former liverpool managerjurgen klopp. carlos alcaraz has responded to a surprise defeat that opened his atp tour finals by beating his second opponent to keep his chances of reaching the semifinals alive in turin. having lost to casper ruud, alcaraz then had to overcome illness to practice on tuesday, but it didn't seem to hamper him too much on wednesday against andrey rublev. the a—time grand slam champion took the first set 6—3.

and although rublev made it more of a contest in the second, alcaraz claimed the tiebreak to win in straight sets. top of that group, though, is alex zverev, who's attempting to win the tournament for a third time. he beat casper ruud in straight sets for his second straight victory in turin. meanwhile, the opening tie of the billiejean king cup between spain and poland in malaga has been postponed due to a severe weather alert that's followed another period of heavy rain in southern spain. the finals will now start with japan against romania on thursday, albeit at a slightly later time than originally planned. our tennis correspondent russell fuller is there. the problem is that this is a stadium, albeit an indoor stadium, albeit an indoor stadium, that is purpose—built for the billiejean final after for the billie jean final after the for the billiejean final after the region decided to switch the region decided to switch the finals in july. the region decided to switch the finals injuly. it has been

erected in a shallow bowl and every significant flooding around the entrance to the arena, ankle deep in places. we arena, ankle deep in places. we are not allowed access to the site, so we cannot say whether the interior of the arena has been affected, as a result spain and poland does not take place today, staged instead from 10am local time on friday morning. with a top 10 finish in the dp world tour championship this week, rory mcilroy will guarantee a sixth european race to dubai title, bringing him level with the late seve ballesteros. only colin montgomorie will be ahead of the northern irishman, who's given his year so far a score of 8 out of io and insists he won't be thinking about the records when he's out on the course in dubai. when i got my tour card in 2007, i do not have any of these goals or aspirations. i wanted to keep my card for the next year and then go from there. to get to a point where

these are the conversations that we are having, and are talking about trying to get the talking about trying to get the maltese record, it is... i am maltese record, it is... i am incredibly grateful that i had incredibly grateful that i had these opportunities, and i am these opportunities, and i am very proud of the career that i very proud of the career that i have had, and i do not want to have had, and i do not want to stop any time soon. lord sebastian coe says stop any time soon. lord sebastian coe says he'll make the protection he'll make the protection of the female category of the female category in sports non—negotiable in sports non—negotiable if he's elected the next if he's elected the next president of the international president of the international olympic committee. olympic committee. currently head of world athletics, the british former currently head of world athletics, the british former olympic champion is one olympic champion is one of seven candidates and says of seven candidates and says the policy isn't clear the policy isn't clear enough at the moment, enough at the moment, while he's also told the bbc while he's also told the bbc he's hopeful of building he's hopeful of building a relationship with us president—elect donald trump with the next summer games with the next summer games scheduled to take place scheduled to take place in los angeles in 2028. in los angeles in 2028. idid i did spend a good chunk of my idid i did spend a good chunk of my life in politics. i know the life in politics. i know the realities of politics, i have realities of politics, i have always felt that i have been always felt that i have been involved in geopolitical involved in geopolitical politics or probably the last 15 or 20 years with the

delivery of london and then

always felt that i have been involvt come eopolitical always felt that i have been involvt come bigger, :al always felt that i have been involvt come bigger, but there do not come bigger, but there is so much more. look inside the england camp, look at aaron lucas, who grew up with talent and ambition and cerebral palsy. i have not met a prouder footballer. it palsy. i have not met a prouder footballer-— footballer. it is a dream come true, i footballer. it is a dream come true. ijust — footballer. it is a dream come true, ijust love _ footballer. it is a dream come true, ijust love it, _ footballer. it is a dream come true, ijust love it, every- footballer. it is a dream come true, ijust love it, every day. true, ijust love it, every day i wake up with a smile. i always wanted to play football. obviously you do get picked on a little bit growing up and stuff like that, so i thought how can i do this, but i kept going and going, and a massive achievement. i still cannot believe it now.— achievement. i still cannot believe it now. right now the football association - believe it now. right now the football association is - football association is promising to boost disability participation to record levels, thatis participation to record levels, that is the idea, but they have the experience. when he was 23, a semiprofessional, he had a stroke. cerebral palsy includes players like him who have acquired a brain injury. straight after the stroke i

just when i knew if i could walk, that was all in my head, it is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. i was a good player but i would not have played for england and i would never have met everyone who i have. when i started, people could not name the players, and now that is what we do with cerebral palsy in the team. the modifications _ cerebral palsy in the team. the modifications are _ cerebral palsy in the team. the modifications are minor. players with different categories of impairment take part. it is seven a—side, no offside. the ball can be rolled in. this particular game, well, it had everything. brazil are ranked second in the world, only scoring late in the second half. there was still time for england to attack and win a penalty. macrossan took the responsibility. that is football. it finished i—0. responsibility. that is football. it finished 1-0. that is football, _ football. it finished 1-0. that is football, you _

football. it finished 1-0. that is football, you can _ football. it finished 1-0. that is football, you can see - football. it finished 1-0. that is football, you can see the l is football, you can see the culture, the way they play the game, they are emotional as well. for me, they have done themselves proud, their families proud, and i think thatis families proud, and i think that is a big step for us moving forward in the tournament but also for the team. . . . tournament but also for the team. ., . ., , tournament but also for the team. ., .. , .,. team. england can still reach the quarterfinals. _ team. england can still reach the quarterfinals. heavy - team. england can still reach the quarterfinals. heavy rain| the quarterfinals. heavy rain means the games today are cancelled. there is always a reason to keep perspective. great story, fantastic participants as well. you can find out more about them on the bbc sport website. that is all for now, goodbye. hello there! big changes on the way later this weekend — more on that in a moment. yesterday, well, we had some sunshine around. more of it more widely actually, but not everywhere, of course, towards northern ireland, some western parts of scotland, much more cloud.

and that's moving its way southwards at the moment. it's coming in around this area of high pressure, a couple of weak weather fronts on the scene, too — this one here bringing a little rain southwards across england and wales. but because we've got more cloud around, its not going to be as cold to start with on thursday morning. could be a few mist and fog patches, mind you, across southwest scotland and the northwest of england. those will lift, it'll cloud over in the northwest of england, turn more cloudy in western scotland, and we'll keep the cloud across northern ireland. elsewhere, there could be a bit of sunshine, but not as much sunshine as we had on wednesday. the cloud and any drizzle clearing southern england, and it should brighten up a bit in the afternoon. temperatures typically 11 or 12 degrees, maybe a bit higher than that in the far northwest, with the winds coming in from the atlantic around the top of that high pressure. that's going to get squeezed a bit, mind you, on friday, this weather front eventually bringing some rain towards the northwest of scotland by the end of the day. ahead of that, the southwesterly wind will be freshening, blowing in this cloud, a few spots of rain for western hills and coasts. further south, where the winds are lighter in south wales,

the midlands and southern england, there could be some early mist and fog and then some sunshine around here. temperatures nine or ten degrees perhaps, but milder further north, where we've got the stronger winds. and that rain that's in the north west of scotland will be pushing its way into england and wales on saturday again. it's quite light and patchy rain. and to the north the winds are picking up again, especially in northern scotland. and this is where we'll see the bulk of the showers getting blown in, and things are starting to get a little bit colder here across scotland, whereas further south temperatures still into double figures. so things are changing over the weekend. pressure is going to be dropping and we're going to find some weather fronts arriving and rain developing more widely on sunday. but what happens after that is the wind direction changes, the air coming, if anything, all the way down from the arctic, that colder air is pushing its way southwards. so a big change in the weather for the beginning of next week. it's going to be feeling a lot colder. daytime temperatures typically only six degrees. and i think overnight, we're going to have some frost around as well. and there could even be a bit of snow over some parts of scotland.

live from singapore, this is bbc news. welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, president—elect trump announces more cabinet nominations, including a surprise pick for attorney general, as republicans secure control of both chambers of congress. earlier, donald trump returned to the white house for talks with the outgoing presidentjoe biden, after his election triumph. a transition that is so smooth

it will be as smooth as it can get. i very much appreciate it, joe. you are welcome. torrential rain hits parts of spain again, with thousands of residents forced from their homes. and hundreds of tourists facing chaos and delays on the indonesian holiday island of bali after volcanic ash made it too dangerous to fly. welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. we begin in washington, where in the past few hours, we've seen a wave of key cabinet picks from president—elect donald trump. that includes florida republican congressman matt gaetz as his attorney general. mr trump says he's "a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney".

mr trump also plans to nominate florida republican