paris. but takes office in paris. but before we _ takes office in paris. but before we do _ takes office in paris. but before we do all- takes office in paris. but before we do all that, i takes office in paris- before we do all that, let's takes office in paris— before we do all that, let's go to the sprint centre. here is gavin. hello from the bbc sport centre. the home nations have found out who they'll face in qualifying for the 2026 world cup, which will be held in the united states, mexico and canada. northern ireland are in group a and will play either germany or italy, slovakia, and luxembourg. in group c scotland face portugal or denmark, greece, and belarus. wales were drawn in group] with belgium, north macedonia, kazakhstan and liechtenstein. while england are in group k and will play serbia, albania, latvia and andorra. the either or ties are down to the nations league quarters—finals. lets get reaction from the managers... we have to take this very seriously, it is the first fixture with latvia, i think, england and latvia, so don't make a new challenge for all of us. -- is —— is so new challenge for all of us. and then we are clear favourites, of course,

against andorra, but qualification is key now, qualification is a top priority. we have to be serious, we have to be determined, and we have to show what we are for in this group of five to win it. we expected to be in a 14 group, because obviously we have the qualifier against greece in march. so, we knew that was what we were going to face, tough matches, difficult opponents. it doesn't matter what one team it is, it will be tough. greece will get to know very well over the next year, and obviously belarus is a part four team and is a tough place to play. it has been a good period. it is a good draw. but i would accept that . if he would have given us every best team there, - i am really looking forward to this, excited to work. with the group and i think we are alljust lookingi forward to it, and that is the honest truth. and that's, you know, lam not trying to answer and like a... l i really, genuinely| feel this is a group we want to go on with.

the 14 the m groups success as a smaller nation. and it gives us a lot of time to prepare and also, the gym factors are difficult for us, so many of our players late in the nfl and their season finishes differently. so, not having that challenge is a good thing for us. former everton and sheffield united midfielder, li tie, has been jailed for 20 years for giving and receiving bribes as part of china's crackdown on football corruption. li tie played at the 2002 world cup before going on to coach china for two years. he pleaded guilty to match fixing and bribery, relating to national team selection. the court alleged li gave and received bribes totalling over £13 million during a six year period. tributes are being paid to the former england rugby union player, tom voyce — as police confirmed his body had been formally identified, following a search operation over the last week. his wife anna said she is absolutely devastated and heartbroken by his death... after he was recovered near abberwick mill

in northumberland on thursday. the former wasps and gloucester player went missing on saturday after attempting to drive across a flood—swollen river. voyce made 220 premiership appearances before retiring in may 2013, and played nine times for england. now to cricket — and matthew potts will replace chris woakes in england's only change for the third and final test against new zealand, which starts later in hamilton. potts will earn his tenth cap, as england look to seal a series clean sweep after the wins in christchurch and wellington. the match will be england's 17th test of the year, with the series as a whole being their first away victory in two years. giving opportunities to new bowlers who perhaps do not play quite as regularly is nothing new. i think mathew did well against new zealand in the summer of 2022, he is somebody that england are very keen on, he bowls could quickly and has got a big heart and he can bowl all day. i think it is a

selection that we could have seen coming, with his reputational struggle overseas, he has not necessarily done that reputation any harm having had quite a good winter between pakistan and new zealand. and that's all the sport for now. "i'm not unaware of the himalayan sized task that lies ahead of us". the words of francois bayrou, the man named today as the new prime minister of france. he's been a well known figure in french politics for decades. a true centrist and mentor to president macron, in fact he was named in his first government as justice minister. bayrou is the sixth prime minister since 2017. each successive premier has served for a shorter period than their predecessor. and there is no guarantee that francois bayrou will be any more successful at passing a budget than michel barnier who was ousted three months into thejob. many people were saying that we don't run a political campaign on the question of debt.

and i strongly believe now more than ever, and actually we were laughing about this just before taking the microphone, that debt is also a moral problem, notjust a financial problem. thinking that by passing on the debt and the burden of the debt to our children, rather than taking care of the debt ourselves, is something that is very, very bad. the socialist party leader 0livier faure, whose forces could prove useful for macron in ensuring the stability of the next government, said yesterday that he opposed naming bayrou. he would he said embody "continuity". we arejoined from we are joined from paris by natalie, why did president macron choose francois bayrou among all the other names he could have chosen? in

among all the other names he could have chosen?— among all the other names he could have chosen? in fact, the situation is _ could have chosen? in fact, the situation is very _ could have chosen? in fact, the situation is very complex - could have chosen? in fact, the situation is very complex at - situation is very complex at the french parliament. you have three blocks and no majority. so by the end of the day, you come back to the idea that only a person representing the centre, a centrist, as mr francois bayrou is, is able to bring together and moderate from the right and from the left. . , ,, from the right and from the left. . , , left. except the socialists say the do left. except the socialists say they do not — left. except the socialists say they do not want _ left. except the socialists say they do not want him. - left. except the socialists say they do not want him. the i they do not want him. the former president, nicholas argosy, who understand still holds some say on the right hates him, has neverforgiven him for siding with francois in the 2012 presidential runoff. so if you do not have left and right, how do you pass a budget? it right, how do you pass a budget?— right, how do you pass a budaet? , ., ., ., _ budget? it is not that easy, but i think _ budget? it is not that easy, but | think that _ budget? it is not that easy, but i think that amongst. budget? it is not that easy, | but i think that amongst the socialists there are some people who would be more

accommodating with mr francois bayrou, especially since francois bayrou supported the french land election 2012 and because the french society, the people, they want some stability. so, all the socialists going to take the risk to destabilise again that government, i am risk to destabilise again that government, iam not risk to destabilise again that government, i am not sure. regarding the traditional tories in france, i would say that, you know, they do not represent a lot of in the public opinion. they are like at 5%. then if you look at the far right, marine le pen's party, they said they would not take that chance either to put no—confidence vote straight on. it doesn't mean it will not

happen, but i think it will give a little time to the new government.— give a little time to the new covernment. , ., , government. one party has said that they will — government. one party has said that they will bring _ government. one party has said that they will bring a _ that they will bring a no—confidence motion. there is a dangerfor it no—confidence motion. there is a danger for it francois bayrou that they try to take him down to get it president macron. there are two extremes in the assembly who would like to see the back of the president. this is the objective _ the back of the president. this is the objective of _ the back of the president. ti 3 is the objective of the far left, to get rid of any government and to create more chaos. but as i said, even if the no—confidence motion is passed in three months or in a few months, i think this no—confidence motion will not pass right away and so, i hope, it will give us some time to pass the budget. because this is the most important. and i think apart from the far left,

other parties in france are really, have really to face their responsibility. we need to have a budget for france in the next coming weeks. [30 to have a budget for france in the next coming weeks. do you think he was — the next coming weeks. do you think he was the _ the next coming weeks. do you think he was the first _ the next coming weeks. do you think he was the first choice? l think he was the first choice? because the president promised prime minister it within 48 hours, he rushed back from poland yesterday, the expectation was that he was going to name a prime minister last night. and then he delayed and there was some speculation that he had tapped one of the socialists who said, in the end, he did not want to do it. so it must have occurred to mr macron that he does need some of the socialists. i macron that he does need some of the socialists.— of the socialists. i think francois _ of the socialists. i think francois bayrou - of the socialists. i think francois bayrou was - of the socialists. i think| francois bayrou was still of the socialists. i think - francois bayrou was still one of the first choices. of course, there weren't many interviews and speculations. but still, for me at least, if you look at all the profiles, evenif you look at all the profiles, even if you find someone from

the socialist party, but we use to be a former minister, it does not meet the new generation of socialists would be in agreement. and definitely it would have been very difficult to have up prime minister coming from the right again, so... ithink minister coming from the right again, so... i think by the end of the day, the choice was really limited. it of the day, the choice was really limited.— of the day, the choice was really limited. it was almost made for — really limited. it was almost made for him, _ really limited. it was almost made for him, right - really limited. it was almost made for him, right through really limited. it was almost - made for him, right through the centre. 0n the budget, there cannot be any elections until july under the constitutional rules. so, it cannot be a budget the kind that michelle barney put before the assembly. would you anticipate that it would be a stopgap measure to get the parliament to the summer?— get the parliament to the summer? , ., ., , ., summer? yes, we have any way to find a way _ summer? yes, we have any way to find a way to — summer? yes, we have any way to find a way to conciliate _ summer? yes, we have any way to find a way to conciliate using, - find a way to conciliate using, on one hand, the expenditure, in a way that is not stop for

parties either from the left or from the right. and we have to increase the incomes, the money for the state, so this is very hard task that is on the desk of francois bayrou. and we really have to find compromise, well, he and his government, we have to find a good way to do so. because by the end of the day with the former government, there was no more coherence, no more consistency within the budget. and nobody was happy. so now we will have to find a way to satisfy the majority, a majority of parliamentarians. i was doing my maths today, we have had five prime ministers since 2017, you are giving us a run for our money. with a

pillar of stability —— we are the pillar of stability in the uk now. . , ., , uk now. the french institutions art robbers. _ uk now. the french institutions art robbers, you _ uk now. the french institutions art robbers, you know? - uk now. the french institutions| art robbers, you know? because we have a president that can steal... , ., , . steal... they needed to be. we wish ou steal... they needed to be. we wish you the — steal... they needed to be. we wish you the best _ steal... they needed to be. we wish you the best of _ steal. .. they needed to be. we wish you the best of luck- steal... they needed to be. we wish you the best of luck with l wish you the best of luck with your new prime minister. we are still confident. thank you very much for coming on the programme. plenty more on that story in the weeks to come. we will take a short break, around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.

the british economy contracted for a second straight month in october, which suggests that prolonged run up to labour's first budget, undermined confidence within business and among consumers. gross domestic product slipped 0.1% following the same contraction the previous month. it means the economy has only grown in one of the four months since labour took power.

five months, now. a bank of england survey published friday found that consumers expect prices in the shops to rise 3% over the next 12 months. a return to higher inflation, which would be a further headwind to the governmnets pledge to restore growth. for more, let's speak to anna leach, chief economist at the institute of directors. thank you for being with us. previous governments have issued a budget within a month of coming to power. alastair campbell, the former communications director at number ten under the last labour government was among those who said they had made a terrible miscalculation delaying get. do you think these figures back that up? there is a degree to which that is a fair point. it was certainly the case that the damaging uncertainty ahead of the budget, which was to do with the quantity of rumours swirling in the media, had a damaging effect on business confidence. fora damaging effect on business confidence. for a very lengthy

period of time, and we saw this in our own data, we saw four months of declining confidence amongst our membership. so this is a reasonable point to make. i do understand why they did want to take their time, they wanted to be seen and indeed do a thoroughjob in addressing the original black hole in the public finances. and to really set themselves up as sort of the competent government that was going to do the right thing. 0n the economy. and then it did not want to be seen to be things, but it doesn't in retrospect feel like that struck quite right for them. if you were looking for evidence that it had unnerved consumers, just look at the consumer facing industry, the retailers, pubs, restaurants. those are the industries that are suffering the most at the moment. suffering the most at the moment-— suffering the most at the moment. , ., . ., , moment. they are certainly amongst — moment. they are certainly amongst those _ moment. they are certainly amongst those who - moment. they are certainly amongst those who have i moment. they are certainly i amongst those who have been suffering for a good while now. they have been burdened by high wage increases as they have

been facing particular recruitment challenges. you see that particularly in hospitality, they have not been, despite not being energy intense, the big increases we are seeing in energy bills as well. there are sectors in the economy that have been struggling and consumer spending has been disappointing this year despite the improvement in income growth as inflation has receded. but in joining them have been other companies as well more recently have been feeling that impact of delayed decisions, delayed employment. you see that in some of the sectors that 1