but amorim has called rashford a �*big talent�* who he wants to help return to his best form and that he'd rather keep him as part of his squad. i don't talk about the future, i just talk about the present. i want the best of each one of them and that is the key point for me. i just want to win and to help the team to be better. so we are better with marcus rashford and that is simple, and we will try different things to push marcus to the best level that he has shown in the past, so that is all. midway through his team's test tour of australia, india spinner ravichandran ashwin has announced his surprise retirement from internatoinal cricket. his 537 wickets in tests has the now 38 year old seventh on the all time list, but he's decided to immediately stop playing for india in all formats after being left out of two of the first three tests against australia. i do feel there is a bit of punch

left in me as a cricketer but i would like to showcase that in club level cricket but this will be the last day and i have had a lot of fun, i must say i have created a lot of memories alongside rohit and several of my other team—mates. even though i have lost some of them over the last few years, we are the last bunch of 065, if we can say that, left in the dressing room. i will be marking this as my date of having played at this level. well, india's third test against australia ended in a draw and a soggy one at that in brisbane, leaving the series 1—1 with two of the five matches to go. australia had a first innings lead of 185 early on the final day at the gabba, and tried to force a result with some attacking batting. it didn't quite work because 18 overs and 89 for 7 later, after the home side had left india a target of 275, they could only manage a couple of overs before the bad light and rain came. they'll next meet in melbourne for the boxing day test. oleksandar usyk says his rivalry with tyson fury is good for boxing.

the two will meet for the second time in saudi arabia on saturday with the ukrainian�*s three heavyweight world titles on the line, with fury having already suggested there could be a third encounter in the future. tyson fury is very important for my boxing career. yeah, it's a very strong opponent. big... mm... it's important for me. it's not only for me. it's important for future history. for boxing in the world. giannis antetokounmpo helped the milwaukee bucks win the second edition of the nba cup, beating the oklahoma city thunder in the final in las vegas. much of milwaukee's success came from the three point range, damian lillard sinking one of their 17 on the night as part of his 23 point haul. but giannis was their star man

on offence with 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists, while he also contributed to a stunning defensively display that limited oklahoma city to just 31 points in the second half. the bucks pulled away in the fourth quarter with the final score 97 to 81 as they follow the la lakers as just the second winners of the nba cup and continue their bounce back after a poor start to the season. and that's all the sport for now. hello, i'm lucy hockings. and breaking news in the last half hour — southport stabbing suspect axel rudakubana, 18, has denied murdering three young girls — elsie dot stancombe, alice da silva aguiar and bebe king — in the attack, and also denied attempting to murder 10 other people. the knife attack happened at a taylor swift—themed dance class in southport.

let's speak to our correspondent, nick garnett, who is outside liverppool crown court for us now. this was a fairly short hearing, and axel rudakubana is now 18 and he comes from west lancashire, and he appeared, setting, he was on a video link in my sitting in a room on his own, in belmarsh prison, which is in south london. he was wearing a grey sweatshirt and grey sweat pants. he was able to hear the proceedings but he did not speak during the hearing. he rocked his body from side to side during the proceedings. he faces 16 charges in total, three of murder and eight of attempted murder, possession of a knife, and two other charges relating to the offence on the 29th ofjuly, this summer in southport, and pleas of not guilty

were entered in all the charges although he did not speak, and those charges were put to him and the police were put to him on his behalf. he was charged with the murder of bb king, six years old, elsie dot stancombe, and alice sylvia agua mark was nine. eight more charges eight more charges —— eight more children were at the dance class in southport when the incident took place, when the deaths happen, and five of the children were critically injured, he was charged with the attempted murders of all of them, and the attempted murder of two adults who were there as well. they suffered from critical injuries. he was also charged with the possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade and the production of a biological toxin, rice, and also possession of

information of a kind likely to be useful to someone preparing to act to commit an act of terrorism, namely a file stated military studies in thejihad against namely a file stated military studies in the jihad against the tyrant paul these charges were added in october of this year. —— tyrant�*s, and these charges. we are told the trial will last up to four weeks and has been remanded in custody until that time when the trial gets under way.— trial gets under way. thanks for “oininu trial gets under way. thanks for joining us- _ trial gets under way. thanks for joining us. more _ trial gets under way. thanks for joining us. more on _ trial gets under way. thanks for joining us. more on the - trial gets under way. thanks for joining us. more on the bbc- trial gets under way. thanks for l joining us. more on the bbc news website as we continue to cover this breaking news development. when the blind comedian chris mccausland lifted the strictly come dancing glitterball trophy on saturday, it was a seen

as a pivotal moment in the effort to improve representation of those living with sight loss. the 47—year—old dedicated his win to his dance partner, dianne buswell, as well as anyone who had ever doubted themselves. he's been speaking to our culture reporter noor nanji. the moment of victory. chris and dianne! chris mccausland, strictly�*s first ever blind contestant, getting his hands on the glitterball trophy. this is for her and it's for everyone out there thatjust got told they couldn't do something or thought they couldn't do it. it just shows that with opportunity and support and just determination, just anything can happen. # shake it baby, now...# he and his partner dianne buswell were among 15 couples at the start. but they quickly impressed. music: instant karma! byjohn lennon and yoko ono. including with their blackout

dance moment, which went viral on social media. in the end it came down to a public vote and history was made. at last, time to rest those sore feet and catch up on some sleep. everyone was blown away by your dance moves. how did you learn the routines? dianne never had spent any time with anyone who was blind, just even in daily life, and i had never danced so we were, neither of us had a clue and it turned out really that she had to use a lot of descriptions, she had to use a lot more words than she's used to when teaching people to dance. and i would often have to get on my hands and knees and feel her legs and feet and see what she wanted me to do and sometimes she would just pick up one of my limbs up and put it where she wanted like i was a kind of bendy spider—man toy! your blackout dance went viral on social media. whose idea was that? the idea of the blackout wasn't really to put dianne into the dark.

it was to put the audience into the dark and the viewers and the audience. and reallyjust surprise them with what was possible in the dark and coming out of the darkness. it was just a brief moment but one of those things that i had the idea and i hoped it would be received in the way it was intended. and people loved it and it really connected with people. # you'll never walk alone...# i never expected dancing to be emotional. ijust expected it to be this entertainment show with dancing and if you are good that people were entertained, but i did not expect people to be moved and for people to cry. i didn't expect to cry on it! and so it has just been so much more than i ever thought it would have been. you are strictly�*s first blind contestant and now you have won the competition. do you like being seen as a role model in that way or does it get tiring? i don't see myself as a role model for blind people, i do not think blind people

need inspiring really. i think my approach and my hope, really, was it was more exposure for everyone else. because it's not really people's blindness or disability that is often a problem but attitudes towards it. there's been controversy surrounding strictly, did you have reservations in taking part? i think the bbc have gone out of their way to listen to what has happened and try to make it and create a supportive environment. i had no problems but you cannot get away from the fact that it is hard, physically hard and mentally hard. and as i found towards the end, it is emotionally draining as well. congratulations to chris. these are pictures from syria as we continue to cover the transition. damascus airport reopening for the first time since the fall of the government of

bashar al assad. this is the first plane that has taken from damascus, for the northern city of aleppo. the airport is only open to domestic flights at the moment, syrian air spaceis flights at the moment, syrian air space is open to international flights, though, and these people are very happy to be on their way to aleppo. hello. some of us have seen some pretty strong winds so far today. there are further bouts of windy weather to come over the next few days. on the satellite picture, one curl of cloud, one area of low pressure moving away northeastwards, but our next frontal system approaching from the southwest. some wet and windy weather with that. we have seen some very mild air tucked up into these weather systems, but some colder air is now starting to dig its way

down from the north, so temperatures dropping through the rest of the day across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, some clear spells and some showers to take us into the first part of the evening. it stays milder for longer further south, but with thickening cloud. heavy rain into south west england, wales, that running eastwards through the evening with a swathe of very strong winds running up through the english channel. those winds easing a touch through the second half of the night, but it's going to stay very windy across the north of scotland. here we will see some wintry showers with that colder air tucking in. and for all of us, well, it's not going to be as mild as last night. into tomorrow, a very different feel to the weather, all of us into the colder air. but we will see quite a lot of sunshine showers blowing in on the strong northwesterly winds. it's going to be windy for all of us. some of those showers wintry over high ground. temperatures down in single digits, 5 to 9 degrees covers it for most of us. but when we factor in the strength of the wind, it will feel even colder than that. now into friday, here comes our next frontal system. another band of rain pushing in from the west, some showers following on behind.

some slightly milder weather tucked in with this frontal system for a time. and then as we head into the start of the weekend. but it could turn very windy once again, a deep low hurtling towards the northwest of scotland. a lot of isobars on this chart. we could well see gales, maybe severe gales across the north and the west of scotland, the north coast of northern ireland with gusts potentially up to 80mph — that could cause some disruption. a real rash of showers working in here, some of those wintry up over higher ground. i think we'll see some more of those wintry showers as we go on into sunday. it's going to be a widely windy end to the weekend. things do, though, quieten down on the approach to christmas. christmas itself at the moment looks largely dry and very mild.

live from london, this is bbc news. a warning from the united nations that unless syria gets urgent support it could plunge back into violence. the conflict isn't over yet. we need immediate humanitarian assistance, but we also need to make sure syria can be rebuilt. we'll be speaking to the head of the un's migration organisation as thousands of people try to return home. a suspect�*s arrested following the assassination of a russian general in moscow and more details about the killing are released. us officials say they're �*cautiously optimistic�*

a ceasefire and hostage release deal could soon be reached between israel and hamas. and a close encounter with the king of the arctic — we visit the polar bears struggling to cope in a warming world. because a the un 5 special envoy to syria has warned that unless the country gets urgent support it could be plunged back into conflict. geir pedersen, called for "free and fair elections" in syria and urged humanitarian assistance to the country more than a week after the downfall of president assad. there are a few challenges. one is that the conflict isn't over yet. yes, there is stability in damascus, but there are challenges in some areas, and of course, one of the biggest challenges is the situation in the north—east.