sport centre, here's tanya. rangers have thumped celtic three nil in the old firm derby, but still trail them by 11 points in the scottish premiership. rangers made a bright start when yanis hagi drove in past kasper schmeichel. celtic never gained any mometum as rangers dominated. robin propper squeezed in a second after half—time before substitute danilo swept in the third. it's the first old firm victory for rangers manager philippe clement, and celtic�*s first loss of the domestic season. real madrid head coach carlo ancelotti has refused to deny his club are trying to sign trent alexander—arnold from liverpool. we understand the spanish side had made an approach — which liverpool pushed back on. spanish media also reported real are willing to buy the england international this month — but ancelotti wouldn't be drawn on the situation. it is very difficult to talk

about it in this context. we will see. that is all i can say, we will see. we have so many games injanuary and that is all we are focused on right now and that is all there is. talking about market is not easy for me at the moment. tennis and poland are on course for a second successive appearance in the final of the united cup. they've reached the final four of the tournament — after beating great britain in the quarter finals. hubert hurkatch got them off to a winning start — beating billy harris in straight sets and iga swiatek secured the victory — getting the better of katie boulter in the second singles match. swiatek lost the opening set — but fought back to win in three — and set poland up for a semi final tie against kazakhstan. i don't know, i'm just exhausted, you know? i'm happy that i won, so i don't need the play mixed doubles. i'm happy that i won, so i don't need to play mixed doubles. but this night was crazy,

like so many changes of momentum, like i thought i had it under control in the first set, but for sure i got tied and i didn't work on it. but then i didn't want to repeat the same mistake in the third. i took, like, four painkillers because a lot hurt, but i am happy that we won and for sure i am going to use a day off tomorrow. it's been a good day for the two number one seeds at the brisbane international. aryna sabelenka is through to the quarter finals after beating yulia putin—seva in straight sets and will face marie boze—kova next. whilst in the men's draw, novak djokovic is also into the last eight. he beat the frenchman gael monfils in straight sets — and will now play america's reilly opelka. the brisbane international is one of the very few titles djokovic has never won. ahead of their must—win final test against australia, india's head coach gautam gambhir has denied that the squad is divided. india trail the 5—match series 2—1, and defeat

would mean they lose the border—gavaskar trophy — something they've held since 2018. following their most recent defeat, gambhiradmitted harsh words were spoken in the dressing room but says it was all for the good of the team. those are just reports, that is not the truth. and i don't think i need to answer to any reports to be honest. there are some honest words, that is all i can say and honesty is very important. honesty is extremely important if you want to go on and achieve great things. and it starts from all of us, but only from the players, the coaches as well. and i said indian cricket, the talent there is in indian cricket, i think we will always be in safe hands. yes, there will be times when we are not getting the results, there are times when we will have to be patient and more importantly, rather than only criticising the young players, we have to give them time to develop as well. the first of the semi—finals of the world darts is underway —

chris dobey is taking on the three time champion, michael van gerwen. the dutchman is leading the way 3 sets to i — the first to six will book their place in the final. you can follow it live on the bbc sport website. the tournament favourite, 17 year old luke littler, takes on stephen bunting later. and that's all the sport for now. in a small area of eastern moldova, the new year celebrations were put on ice. quite literally. the separatist enclave of transnistria remains loyal to moscow. there's russian troops on the ground there and its economy is fully dependent on russian gas. for that loyalty, the gas comes free. but access to it comes via a transit route that passes ukraine. and that path was cut in the early hours of new year's day — an agreement which was signed in 2019 between kyiv and the russia energy giant gazprom expired. the ukrainian president refuses to extend it, and so the taps have been turned off. for now, only hospitals and critical infrastructure in transnistria are being heated.

there's concerns over electricity too. the main power plant in kurchugan is already being fuelled by coal instead of russian gas. but the authorities say there's only enough to fuel it for 50 more days. joining us now is martin vladimirov — director of the energy and climate program at the center for the study of democracy. what can you tell us about the breakaway moldovan region of transdniestria and its current situation? thank you so much for having me. this is been dependent on the supply of russian gas for ukraine but it's important to note that the have announced that they'll be cutting off supply to the core of moldova before the the transit agreement with ukraine expires and it's right out of the

playbook of the kremlin to create instability and take advantage of overreliance on our supplier to willed political influence. it is a very crucial moment and moldova cannot get enough natural gas via an alternative route, but it will be more expensive and the gas company is not helping enough and wants to go off the rails in order to blame the central government for the potential humanitarian crisis because the situation is really bad and the breakaway provinces started to cut off heating to consumers and it will go from bad to worse probably in the next month or so.— next month or so. what temperatures _ next month or so. what temperatures are - next month or so. what temperatures are we i next month or so. what - temperatures are we talking about the moment?- about the moment? around

freezing- — about the moment? around freezing. millions _ about the moment? around freezing. millions of- about the moment? around | freezing. millions of families on the edge _ freezing. millions of families on the edge here. _ freezing. millions of families on the edge here. what - freezing. millions of families on the edge here. what the | on the edge here. what the government want to send gas to transdniestria, what is the situation at the moment? the moldova proper _ situation at the moment? tue: moldova proper government situation at the moment? tte: moldova proper government has always tried to facilitate gas supplies even though it doesn't get paid for the supply by the breakaway province and it is very strange symbiotic relationship in which transdniestria provided 70% of the power supply to the country and mulled in general. they don't have a choice but to ensure the supply to the breakaway province and its potential alternatives is to import electricity from romania and ukraine and because russia had been bombing ukraine's energy infrastructure, the country doesn't really have

access and generations to electricity so is the only choice for moldova and for relationship in the country and the whole idea here is to give talking points for russian parties within moldova to shift the blame to the court you government and the country is trying desperately to get away from the russian orbit and the session to the eu and coming up injuly this year. the session to the eu and coming up in july this year-— in july this year. the playbook is in georgia _ in july this year. the playbook is in georgia and? _ in july this year. the playbooki is in georgia and? absolutely. the kremlin _ is in georgia and? absolutely. the kremlin always _ is in georgia and? absolutely. the kremlin always uses - is in georgia and? absolutely. i the kremlin always uses similar tactics and it is about leveraging strategic supply every month and leveraging

control of energy infrastructure and control of strategic infrastructure to destabilise the economies of these regions in georgia's experience something similar in armenia as well we have seen similar attacks in belarus before a full—fledged invasion of ukraine, the kremlin was regularly cutting of the supply to ukraine as well and certain issues and always exaggerated and no compromise was solved. it's a very cynical tactic when talking about such an energy rich region. very quickly, if you would, ukraine at the moment takes some of its electricity from slovakia were pretty annoyed by the fact that the gas types of been turned off in the gas taps they receive through ukraine, what is the tit—for—tat situation there what effect might that have on ukraine? tt there what effect might that have on ukraine?—

have on ukraine? it is important _ have on ukraine? it is important to - have on ukraine? it is important to point - have on ukraine? it isi important to point out have on ukraine? it is - important to point out that have on ukraine? te 3 important to point out that the security supply for central europe which was based on the transit of russian gas for ukraine is safe and over the last decade, the region has worked tremendously on building up worked tremendously on building up its connections to western europe to the facilities in the baltic sea and so, there is no problem getting alternative gas, the problem for slovakia is that they're going to lose roughly 5 million euros in transit fees and those is why it's like he has threatened to stop the power supply to ukraine but this is probably a bluff because under the eu energy competition rules, this will be a severe breach of the law and probably slovakia would face significant consequences from the european commission. i do not think this will actually happen but the last ditch effort by slovakia to pressure ukraine into some kind of a

deal. let's not forget the slovakian government is a pro—russian and by the most pro—russian and by the most pro—russian countries. pro-russian and by the most pro-russian countries.- pro-russian countries. more instability — pro-russian countries. more instability at _ pro-russian countries. more instability at the _ pro-russian countries. more instability at the beginning l pro-russian countries. more| instability at the beginning of the year. thank you wendy for coming on the programme we have made contact with our best. —— thank you very much for coming on the programme.

greater manchester is reeling from the floodwaters, which followed several days of heavy rainfall. a major incident was declared new year's day with scores of homes evacuated, hundreds rescued from a hotel. there were sixteen flood warnings still in force around greater manchester this morning athough all but one of them have since been lifted. hampering the clean up are the sub zero temperatures which are now coming in behind that rain. cold weather alerts have been issued for much of the country — with snow and ice forecast for most of the uk over the weekend.

with me tonight the deputy chief fire officer of the greater manchester fire and rescue service — ben norman. i was listening to the mayor of greater manchester this morning who said the emergency services were taken by surprise to some degree, no named storm come in warning from the authorities, could you have been better prepared if that information had been forthcoming? yes, certainly better— had been forthcoming? yes, certainly better prepared - had been forthcoming? te: certainly better prepared when you have something that we will see in certain weather events in these locations and we did have low—level warnings and to be fair to the agency in relation to these matters, escalating from the yellow warning which is the lowest level of warning that provide an another warning of the evening of new year's eve to say that we would see significant rainfall across the region and greater manchester and that will give us some opportunities to start this preparations and the challenges is knowing exactly where that rainfall will actually land and what impact that will have on a

specific location and always well prepared and more equipment and better trained firefighters because the severity and the increase of the complexity and frequency of these events. the the complexity and frequency of these events.— these events. the floodwaters are extraordinary _ these events. the floodwaters are extraordinary we - these events. the floodwaters are extraordinary we have - these events. the floodwaters are extraordinary we have had j are extraordinary we have had major roads submerged in the relief road around wigan in the westbound on the and 56, what sort of damage as this left behind? ., ., behind? the damage, the greatest _ behind? the damage, the greatest tell _ behind? the damage, the greatest tell from - behind? the damage, the greatest tell from it - behind? the damage, the greatest tell from it is - behind? the damage, the| greatest tell from it is still to be calculated and clearly, a lot of silt and mud and love damage to peoples gardens and a small number of cases, water and homes will require refurbishment which we know will take many months and i do know that my partners working across this emergency services particularly over the last 2a

hours and rescue peoples have been reported in those so still ongoing with the reports of the reinstatement of electricity and property and providing electricity and 5000 homes yesterday and they continue with that work today and at the type of work that remains outstanding but we are under no illusion that the real impact of this is yet to be filled as businesses may not be or to recover we have for today about the six figure investment in the six figure investment in the gymnasium and the bill where, my brave colleagues and bring firefighters looked after 400 people on the floors and let them to safety once the water and levels are dropped in the incident and the stockport, yeah. the incident and the stockport, eah. ., ., ., the incident and the stockport, eah. t, t, t, t, , yeah. the amount of water is there is quite _ yeah. the amount of water is there is quite extraordinary. | there is quite extraordinary. yes, it was a large quantity and we talked about the rainfall being the case and it's the impacts of

infrastructure that is been there hundreds and hundreds of years and we are seeing the impacts of climate change and certainly talking about the three decades of my career, i have not seen frequency and scale and what we have just witnessed here, the river has had its highest tide in 2022 that of a massive impact on greater manchester as communities and in the area of manchester they is and more reason to believe the academic research that tells us we are going to continue to and therefore, vigilant.- going to continue to and therefore, vigilant. lots of communities _ therefore, vigilant. lots of communities around - therefore, vigilant. lots of. communities around europe facing similar things but this is the implication of it all and the pressure that it and

how is that complicating the clean—up and the rescue effort? it is difficult and it presents further incidents for us and treacherous conditions for those trying to travel to work in this region and do the things they need to do. so many people were cautious today and minimising travel does help us but many are still earned during the ongoing christmas breaks and kids are back from school and it does pose for the risks to us that we are going to see increased levels of road traffic collisions and other forms of accidents that relate to it but in relation to the resolution today, some many emergency service workers and those working for utility providers out in the cold and provi