and former australia fast bowlerjason gillespie resigns as head coach of pakistan's test side afterjust eight months in charge. welcome along. thank you forjoining us. so, 17 matches in the uefa europa league on thursday. one of the best was at ibrox, where the scottish premiership faced the english premier league as rangers took on tottenham hotspur. in the end, both had to settle for a point — it finished 1—1. jane dougall was watching in glasgow. this was the first time that tottenham and rangers had met competitively in more than 60 years. but notjust for that reason was that a huge build up to this game. ange postecoglou, the former

celtic manager, of course, was bringing his spurs side to ibrox for the first time, and how the rangers�* fans would love to exact revenge on the former manager of their bitter rivals. it looked for a while that that may be the case. a cross in from james tavernier found hamza igamane, and he scored to set ibrox alight. it was an early christmas present for the fans — or so it seemed. but tottenham weren't going home empty—handed, either. they got in on the act. in the second half, dejan kulusevski got an equaliserfor them, making sure that ange postecoglou did save face. with just minutes to go, rangers did have a chance to win the match — and the ibrox crowd thought they had — but the spurs keeper was equal to the task. so, a draw does ease the pressure for both managers because domestically, rangers are not doing quite as well in the league as they would like to — they're in third, two points behind aberdeen and 11 points

behind celtic — while tottenham are 11th. so a point each in europe eases the pressure on both managers. after back—to—back defeats in the premier league, manchester united bounced back with a win in the europa league — a much—needed victory at czech side viktoria plzen. rasmus hojlund was their hero, coming off the bench to score twice — including an 88th minute winner — as united fought back from a goal down to win it 2—1. he's scored five in europe now this season. victory lifts ruben amorim's side into the top eight for now, which is where they need to be to automatically qualify for the last 16. i'm frustrated because i want to see more. like, all of us, that's why they're fighting in the end of the game. we want to improve. we want to improve really fast. but it was a win and they changed the game during the game with the type of wall we suffered,

so that part was good. the quality of the game, even with the pitch — we had some good connection, but sometimes it was hard and you can feel it when he want to make — like, 1—2 was really hard to do it today. these are some of the other results from the europa league. lazio are top of the table after a 3—1win at ajax. lyon are also looking good to automatically reach the knock—out stages after a 3—2 win over eintracht frankfurt. there were also wins for roma, porto and real sociedad. all the results are on the bbc sport website. chelsea are top of the table and the knockout stages of the europa conference league after a much—changed side won 3—1 in kazakhstan against astana. chelsea making ten changes with the squad made up of mainly fringe players and youngsters. marc guiu with their opener in freezing conditions in almaty. it's a 16—hour round trip. chelsea face brentford

in the premier league on sunday as they look to keep pace with the leaders liverpool. that's five wins from five for them in europe for enzo maresca. these are just some of the other results from the conference league. fiorentina 7—0 winners over lask, and a solid win for dutch side cercle brugge, too. all the results are on the bbc sport website. it's five wins from five for manchester city in the women's champions league as they beat austrian side st polten 2—0. it means they're top of their group, three points clear of barcelona, who beat hammarby 3—0. city and barca are already through to the quarterfinals, as are bayern munich and arsenal, who also both won their respective matches againstjuventus and valerenga. manchester city's men's side are not fairing as well as the women in europe this season. after their defeat to juventus in the champions league on wednesday, their attention turns to playing manchester united in the premier

league on sunday. for city, its seven defeats in ten. just one win — the worst run of manager pep guardiola's managerial career — but he believes they're still playing well, despite the results. my thoughts? i said i play really good, i analyse. you said what happened in the results? one question — i'm asking me, what do we play today? we play really good. and of course i question myself in the good moments and the bad moments. i was stable in the good moments and now in the bad moments. of course, i try to find a way and do it but the game was there, so that's not — i'm incredibly honest about knowing when we play good, always the game will save us. jason gillespie has resigned from his role as coach of the pakistan test team after refusing to join the squad on their tour of south africa over disagreements with the country's cricket board. the former australia bowler was appointed head coach on a two—year deal in april with former south africa opener

gary kirsten named white ball coach. kirsten resigned in october for similar reasons. the pakistan cricket board confirmed gillespie�*s resignation and named former pace bowler aaqibjaved as their interim red ball head coach. now, australia all—rounder mitchell marsh says he expects india to bounce back in the third test of their series, which starts in brisbane on saturday. and marsh, speaking to the media earlier, says his team has full faith in middle order batter steve smith, who's struggled to find form in the two tests so far. the series, remember, level at one match apiece and marsh knows india will be keen to take control. as we saw last week, we're a good side and we bounced back and we know that india are a really good side as well and we expect them to bounce back. i think in this big series, you know, we know that's going to happen, so we are doing everything we can to make sure we get a win. the gap in pay between the top

men's and women's players in cricket's hundred competition will widen from next year. top level men's players will see their pay increase by 60% to £200,000 a year while leading women's salaries are rising 30% to £65,000. the increases are part of an overall 25% rise across all salary bands. our cricket reporter henry moeran has more. well, they're looking at increasing the pot available for players that are coming into the tournament. top salary in the men's competition up to £200,000 and the women's competition, up to £65,000. huge sums of money, given the length of the tournament. but it's not without controversy because there's a number of bodies and players that are saying it's all well and good for a few at the very top, the key overseas signings, but it's not benefiting the vast majority of players — those perhaps underneath it or who have supported the tournament, the domestic players who really had to buy

into the competition and make it the success it's been in the main so far in the years we've seen of the tournament. it's a crucial year for the hundred in 2025. it's a bit of a hybrid year as overseas investment begins to filter through into the tournament. the hundred are looking to build the pot available to make sure that they can get the top names over into the competition in an increasingly congested and busy world of franchise league cricket where players have so many options as to where they want to play. the welsh rugby union's launching a new brain health service to support former elite players in wales and help detect whether they've suffered brain injuries during their careers. it comes against the backdrop of nearly 400 players suing the game's authorities over head injuries. the brain health service was unveiled at cardiff's principality stadium on thursday with former wales captain ken owens the first male player to take the new tests. the welsh rugby players association and world rugby are also backing the scheme. similar services are already

available in ireland and australia. i think having something like this will aid players, you know, initially after they retire but long—term post that as well. and i think it's a massive incentive and it's a great collaboration between obviously world rugby, the wiu, and welsh rugby players association. i think player welfare is a key part notjust during players�* professional and playing careers, but post that as well. there'll be a new country represented in australia rugby league's nrl from 2028. papua new guinea will field a team largely funded by the australian taxpayer, costing over $380 million. the deal�*s believed to hinge on papua new guinea not entering into any military or security agreements with china. ..isn�*tjust the elite level. this is about the grassroots level. it's about economic development. it's about our relationship between our peoples. and it provides, as sport often does, an opportunity for people

to succeed notjust in sport but in life. that's all for me and the team. thanks for watching. goodbye. hello. thursday was a very grey, gloomy day, really — a lot of low cloud, some mist, some hill fog and some drizzle. in fact, during thursday, we actually had a weak warm front that moved across england, introducing some more humid air — and that's what resulted in the drizzle. at the moment, the computers are underdoing the amount of drizzle out there as well. it's pretty extensive, really, across much of england, into parts of eastern wales, and we've got mist and fog patches around as well. frost is relatively rare but there are a few patches in scotland — that's where the lowest temperatures

are heading into friday. now, the next 36 hours sees this cold front dive southwards. that's going to introduce some patches of rain and again, some slightly colder air following that feature through for a time. here's the weather picture, then, into friday. we start off grey and gloomy with some low cloud, some hill fog patches and remember that extensive drizzle — england, eastern areas of wales, there'll be a few patches elsewhere, too. now, through the day, we get this weather front move into the northwest of scotland. that will bring some heavier rain and the winds will tend to pick up here. for most, temperatures will range between six and eight celsius but there will be some colder spots in scotland. heading into the weekend, we'll get this cold front move southwards. it's going to be very weak, bringing some patches of rain, some colder air following that through during saturday. but as the front pushes southwards, taking the patchy rain with it, actually, behind that feature, it'll be a much brighter kind of day with a slice of sunshine for a time before we see the next system start to move into western scotland and northern ireland with cloudier weather returning

back into the afternoon, so grab the sunshine when it does appear in the sky. now, heading into sunday, we see a big change in the weather patterns as these milder southwesterly winds start to move in off the atlantic — and these are here to stay for quite some time. now, sunday itself will probably have quite a lot of cloud, still with some bits and pieces of rain left over across western areas of the country. there'll be a few breaks here and there, so you might see some glimpses of sunshine but overall, it looks like it'll be turning cloudier and we've got some heavy rain that will end up across the northwest of scotland. temperatures, though, much, much higher — 11—13 degrees, turning a great deal milder. and that milder weather is here to stay next week as well but often, as we see at this time of year with these kind of mild weather spells, we often have a lot of cloud and bits and pieces of rain and that's certainly in the forecast next week.

live from london. this is bbc news. syria's new administration in damascus has announced a three month transition period during which parliament and the constitution will be suspended. the head of nato is calling the alliance to "shift

to a wartime mindset" and turbo—charge its spending to prepare for the threat of a conflict with russia. and scientists discover how neanderthals played a key role in the survival of early humans a8,000 years ago. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. syria's new administration in damascus has announced a 3—month transition period during which parliament and the constitution will be suspended. meetings will start next week between the newly appointed cabinet and former ministers of the assad regime to smooth the transfer of power. meanwhile the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has held talks in turkey with president erdogan on establishing stability in syria.

officials said the two men supported a syrian—led political transition leading to an accountable and inclusive