beat manchester united in a seven—goal thriller to reach the semifinals of the english league cup. we self—inflicted some pain on ourselves then we had to scramble to, you know, get a foothold again. and ended up getting a fourth and winning the game. but, yeah, should have been a lot more comfortable than it ended up being. but having said that, i just can't get away from the fact that this group of players, they're just doing an unbelievable job at the moment to get us through this. tottenham meet liverpool on sunday in the premier league and that's who they're going to play in the semifinals of the league cup. across two legs, the first of which will be in north london in earlyjanuary, the second leg will be at anfield a month later. the other semifinal is between arsenal and newcastle with the first leg

at the emirates. chelsea could go into christmas top of the premier league if they beat everton and liverpool fail to win at tottenham on sunday. they'll go into that game with eight consecutive wins after teenager marc guiu scored a first—half hat—trick. chelsea's young sqaud beating shamrock rovers 5—1 to finish top of the conference league league phase and denying their opponents an automatic place in the knockout stage. oleksandr usyk and tyson fury�*s highly awaited rematch on saturday is nearly upon us. in little over five hours we'll have the weigh—in in riyadh. that follows thursday's press conference where we saw perhaps the longest face off in boxing history, neither would back down. it was over 11 minutes before fury began taunting usyk, and they were eventually separated. usyk defeated fury by split decision in march to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years.

former world champion oscar de la hoya is backing fury to win this one. i like tyson fury. i love oleksandr usyk, he is a tremendous, tremendous heavyweight champion. it went into the first fight focused, determined. had a great game plan. i really think that tyson fury was not in the fight the first time. coming into the second fight is a loser, that mentality is going to take over the top. i think he will win by a knockout in the later rounds. lebronjames broke the record for the most minutes played in nba history as he helped the los angeles lakers beat the sacramento kings 113—100 on friday. the 39—year—old surpassed kareem abdul—jabbar when he completed his 57,447th minute on court, having also beaten abdul—jabbar�*s all—time scoring record earlier this year.

it isa it is a pretty cool owner. to be linked to some of the great to have played this game and to know i have been able to do this at a high level for two decades and continue to put myself in the record books in this game of basketball that i love so much, it is pretty cool and pretty humbling. elsewhere, the chicago bulls used a fourth—quarter flurry to hold off the boston celtics 117-108. chicago, who sit fourth in their conference, outscored boston, who are top of theirs, having lost only six games — by 35 points to 22 in the fourth quarter, and made 19 three—pointers for the game. shooting guard zach lavine finished the game with a season—high 36 points. australia have dropped batter nathan mcsweeney three tests into his career and called up 19—year—old opener sam konstas to replace him for the final two tests against india. konstas is in line to become australia's youngest batting debutant for more than 70 years.

mcsweeney was preferred to him at the start of the series but he managed only 72 runs across six innings at an average of 14. and that's all the sport for now. welcome back. local councils in encland welcome back. local councils in england are _ welcome back. local councils in england are being _ welcome back. local councils in england are being told - welcome back. local councils in england are being told how - welcome back. local councils in. england are being told how much they will receive of nearly £i.6 they will receive of nearly £1.6 billion of funding set aside to fix potholes. the conservatives accused the government of not being on the side of the transport secretary has promised that people will start to see an improvement on the roads. let's speak to jake cousins, heads of group policy at the aa. is this enough money and is it being used in the right way? arguably, there are so many potholes but we have been hearing from mr pautova himself who said that the roots

just need to be resurfaced. certainly any cash injection is a good start. if you look at the bigger picture, just to get our roots back up to a standing start it would cost £16 billion just to get our roots back to where they should be. this funding is very much welcome. you're right, the challenge to local authorities across england and south we get the best return on investment? at the moment is our roots back to where they should be. this funding is very much welcome. you're right, the challenge to local authorities across england and south we get the best return on investment? at the moments are routes roots the moments are routes roots the roots move from that surface of the moon to looking like a patchwork quilt. resurfacing is the best return on investment and that will get our roots smoother and safer, because ultimately potholes are a frustration and annoyance for drivers, but sadly they can be fatal for those on two wheels, be that motorcyclists or

cyclists. be that motorcyclists or cyclists-_ be that motorcyclists or cyclists. be that motorcyclists or clists. �* , w , cyclists. but resurfacing is way more _ cyclists. but resurfacing is way more expensive. - cyclists. but resurfacing is way more expensive. it i cyclists. but resurfacing is way more expensive. it is| cyclists. but resurfacing is - way more expensive. it is more “pensive. _ way more expensive. it is more “pensive. but _ way more expensive. it is more expensive, but that _ way more expensive. it is more expensive, but that is - way more expensive. it is more expensive, but that is what - expensive, but that is what people want. when we asked our members earlier this year, 96% of people said that sorting out potholes was the number one transport issue for them. the prime minister knows it is important with his announcement today saying that he wants councils to get on with tackling the plight of potholes. that is the focus. we need to make sure that councils use this money wisely. we also need long—term investment from central government to make sure that we do tackle the clatter of portals that we have across the country. thank you so much. journalists are at —— are going to be allowed to report in family court cases across england and will from next year. previously journalists could attend family court but were limited to what they could report. from january

to can't request for a transparency order allowing them to report what they see and hear, as long as they keep things anonymous. just talk us through what these changes can potentially mean.— through what these changes can potentially mean. these changes come after _ potentially mean. these changes come after a _ potentially mean. these changes come after a series _ potentially mean. these changes come after a series of— potentially mean. these changes come after a series of pilots - come after a series of pilots trying out the transparency idea and the consequence of transparency orders. if you get the transparency order from the judge we can talk to the families whose cases we are following, we can get key documents and quote from them and report what we see and hear, all provided we keep the families anonymous. this has been tried out initially in three courts, more recently and nearly half the family courts in england and wales, and it has worked. there hasn't been any major problem with it.

journalists have been careful in what they have reported and because of that the judiciary has decided notjust to extend it, but also write it into the roots of the family court so it will be permanent.— roots of the family court so it will be permanent. these pilots had been ongoing. _ will be permanent. these pilots had been ongoing. in _ will be permanent. these pilots had been ongoing. in terms - will be permanent. these pilots had been ongoing. in terms of. had been ongoing. in terms of the stories you had been able to report thus far, what can you tell us?— to report thus far, what can you tell us? to report thus far, what can ou tell us? ~ . ., you tell us? with katie inman i sent you tell us? with katie inman i spent three — you tell us? with katie inman i spent three weeks _ you tell us? with katie inman i spent three weeks in _ you tell us? with katie inman i spent three weeks in leeds - spent three weeks in leeds family courts and we reported a range of stories covering children who were being taken into care, or when local authorities were planning to take children into care. for the first time we were able to paint a detailed picture of what was happening in those court cases and speak to the families at the heart of them. in one case we had spoken to a woman who managed to keep her fit the baby after the four previous older children had been taken into care. on another occasion we spoke to a young father who was managing to keep his baby, who was born

addicted to opiates, and he and his extended family were able to look after that baby. we spoke to parents whose children were being removed, were being taken into care. we also covered many other cases, private s as well, including the case of a young mother who, backed by her parents, took a case to the cardiff family court asking for her ex—husband to lose all of his parental rights. that is because he had been convicted of serious be there for offences and he wanted to protect their daughter when he came out of prison, because there is a gap in the law that politicians had missed that means that even when somebody is convicted of serious be there for offences, they retain parental rights over their own children. harriet harman heard my reporting and set out to change the law and in the current king's speech there is

reference about lobbying changed. we have done an awful lot of work, some high—profile cases, like revealing that baby elsa, who was abandoned at the start of the year, in fact has two macro full siblings who were abandoned within the last seven years, as well. we have done an awful lot of reporting from family court using this experiment in open justice and it is very gratifying that it is now going to be made permanent and be present in every court in england and wales. . ~' , ., every court in england and wales. . ~ . ., wales. thank you so much. you have been _ wales. thank you so much. you have been at— wales. thank you so much. you have been at the _ wales. thank you so much. you have been at the forefront - wales. thank you so much. you have been at the forefront for l have been at the forefront for many years reporting from family court. that is it from me, let's bring you up—to—date with all the weather. hello. a band of rain is pushing its way eastwards across the uk today. the rain associated with an area of low pressure and this cloud on the satellite picture. it's not the only low, though, in the north atlantic. further west, we've got a more powerful system developing just here, and that's going to be bringing

somevery strong winds to parts of the uk this weekend, potentially disrupting some of your christmas travel plans. now, we started off with rain today across scotland and northern ireland, but the afternoon here looking a lot brighter, sunshine and blustery showers as our rain band works its way eastwards across england and wales. temperatures around eight to 10 degrees and it will be quite windy. gusts reaching around 40mph—odd for the western side of scotland. that rain clears through overnight but then clear spells for a time. the next area of rain works in later in the night, accompanied by some really quite strong winds. and it's on saturday that we'll see this next area of low pressure really flex its muscles, bringing some particularly windy weather to north—western areas of the uk, and especially parts of north—west scotland, where for parts of the hebrides, the orkney islands, parts of highland, we'll likely see gusts of wind reaching around 70mph to 80mph, maybe even a bit stronger than this. winds this strong will cause some transport disruption and could bring down some trees as well. and elsewhere across the north west of the uk, the winds

strong enough to cause one or two issues as well. weather—wise, elsewhere we see a band of rain clearing southeastwards on saturday, followed by sunshine and blustery showers. the showers most frequent across the northwest of the uk, and it will be cold enough for some hail and a bit of wintriness over some of the highest mountains as well. heading into sunday, the same area of low pressure is still on our weather charts. it's going to be another windy day. if anything, the winds a little bit more widespread. gusts of around 50mph to 60mph, but still 70 for parts of western scotland. again strong enough to bring some localised disruption in terms of the fact that we could see some tree branches being brought down. still a blustery day with plenty of showers around, with hail and some sleet mixed in with those showers and temperatures six or seven celsius. it will be a colder feeling day, especially when you factor in those winds. once that windy zone of weather is out of the way, though, next week it turns very mild in the run—up to christmas,

with temperatures often well into double figures.

live from london, this is bbc news. a us government shutdown looms, with 38 republicans among lawmakers who've rejected a spending bill backed by donald trump. american diplomats are in damascus for talks with members of hts, the group now in charge of syria, which the us still designates as terrorists. atleast one child has been killed in a knife attack at a primary school in croatia's zagreb. five other children and two adults have been hospitalised. and t�*is the weekend before christmas — as millions gear up for their getaways, we'll have all the travel tips for those in the uk — for the busiest weekend of the year.

hello, i m geeta guru—murthy, welcome to bbc news now, 3 hours of fast—moving news, a us government shutdown is just hours away if lawmakers in washington can't agree a spending plan for government funding. president—elect donald trump is mounting pressure on congress to pass a federal spending bill in an attempt to avoid the shutdown. the first attempt to pass such a bill was heavily defeated in congress but mr trump has since taken to social media to urge congress to scrap what's known as the debt ceiling, or extend it to 2029. this would mean there'd be no limit on the amount of money the us government can borrow to pay for services, such as social security, medicare and the military. but there are concerns that would make it more difficult to contain the country's budget deficit, which is how much a government's expendture exceeds its revenue by. in the us this has reached $1.8 trillion for the year 202a. 38 republicans voted against trump's efforts to suspend the federal debt limit for two years, and his