—— little resistance. liverpool keep their heads, dodge a green banana skin and go through to the fourth round of the fa cup. and the ryder cup captain get his hands on more wild cards. well, she is the in— form player in australia right now. great britain'sjohanna konta is through to the third round of the australian open in melbourne. herjapanese opponent had been tipped for greatness, having reached the last 32 in melbourne at her first attempt last year. but this was over very quickly. the number nine seed, konta, who reached the semifinals last year, beat the japanese teenager in straight sets 6—4, 6—2. it means konta will play the winner of the next match on rod laver arena between the former world number one caroline wozniacki and donna vekich of croatia. they are warming up right now.

then it's the men's defending champion novak djokovic against denis istomin. serena williams and rafael nadal finish off proceedings in the evening session. 0k, ok, you are up to date with the tennis. let me get you up to date with the football. liverpool, seven times winners, are through to the fourth round of the english fa cup. lucas got the only goal of the game as the premier league side beat league 2 plymouth. jurgen klopp‘s side knew they'd face a team well supported and focussed on defending — relief for the reds, then, when plymouth lost focus while lucas kept his head to score. an early goal was gift for liverpool. late in the game the lower league side hit the post which made this

awful penalty miss from origi all the more awkward for the premier league side. but they held on and klopp can turn his back on this tricky tie and move on. in the evening's other replays, matt richie scored twice for newcastle as they beat fellow championship side birmingham 3—1. gianfranco zola is still without a win after seven games in charge of birmignham. and shane long scored the only goal of the game, in the 90th minute, as southampton beat norwich. real madrid have lost again — after going a0 games unbeaten they have been beaten twice in four days, celta vigo winning the first leg of their copa del rey tie. over in italy, chesena came from behind with two late goals to beat sassuolo in the last 16 of the coppa italia. lazio‘s beat genoa and will face internazionale in the quarterfinals. at the africa cup of nations, the hosts gabon are still looking for theirfirst win of the tournament after being held to another 1—1 draw, this time against burkina faso.

they had to come from behind as well. pierre—emerick aubameyang equalised from the penalty spot. in the day's other game, cameroon came from behind to beat guinea—bissau 2—i. ed harry reports. for the hosts, the equation is simple. they will be quarter—finalists if they beat group leaders cameroon on sunday. draw, and it is out of their hands. lose, and it is out of their hands. lose, and they will be out of their own tournament. two goals here in gabon so tournament. two goals here in gabon so farfor the tournament. two goals here in gabon so far for the host nation. both we re so far for the host nation. both were scored by pierre emerick of amy yang. he came from the penalty spot to equalise after being brought down by burkina faso‘s goalkeeper. the same keeper redeemed himself wonderfully later on, saving from dennis blanco, the closest gabon came toa dennis blanco, the closest gabon came to a winning goal. in the late match, guinea's piqueti ran from

inside his own half to score a contenderfor inside his own half to score a contender for goal of inside his own half to score a contenderfor goal of the tournament. but greater strength and depth finally told for cameroon, who scored twice in the last half—hour to secure the victory. but going into the final round of group matches, any one of these four teams in groupa matches, any one of these four teams in group a could still reach the knockout phase. jeonbuk will not be defending their afc champions league title this season, having been banned from this year's competition over a match—fixing scandal in south korea's k—league. the ban relates to payments a club scout made to referees in 2013. 0ur football reporter john bennett has more. it follows a match fixing scandal which emerged in the public domain last year. the governing body of the asian football confederation say that they have been banned for indirect involvement in activities aimed atarranging indirect involvement in activities aimed at arranging or influencing the outcome of matches chewing the 2013-14 the outcome of matches chewing the 2013—14 seasons. —— during. in may,

prosecutors charged to macro freeze in south korea's top league with accepting bribes from a jeonbuk scout, and then in september they we re scout, and then in september they were fined and they also had nine points docked in the k—league, which eventually led to them not winning the league. so they were punished in south korea for match fixing and now they have been punished in the afc. they have been kicked out of the two and, they will not be able to defend their title, and isjeju united fc have taken their place in group h. europe's captain will be able to choose four players for next year's ryder cup in france. thomas bjorn will get to pick one more player than darren clarke was allowed last year. it's part of a revamp of the qualifying system after europe lost heavily to the united states in hazeltine. i was very keen on players that are on form coming into the ryder cup. i was very keen on putting something in place that is a better chance to

those guys to play well, last summer, riding into the ryder cup. with the points weighting of 1.5 from the b&w championship going forward , from the b&w championship going forward, it certainly gave us an opportunity to do that. —— bmw championship. we have a new series of events, the rolex series, that is of events, the rolex series, that is of huge importance to be tour. so to cou ntera ct of huge importance to be tour. so to counteract that i asked for a fourth pick, and those to lock together very much. surf i have a european player that goes and plays in america and is very successful in events across from the rolex series, i have an instant pick to try to make sure i get the best possible team. he has been practising his putting, tweaking his grip for his driver. no, he isn't! henrik stenson says he's not fully

prepared as he start the defence of his race to dubai title at the abu dhabi championship on thursday. the open champion has spent more time skiing than playing golf since finishing the year as european number one for the second time in four years. but now it is back to work. it was the best year in my career. i was very happy with what i achieved. i will try to be there again when it matters this year. any time you can put yourself in contention is great, and give yourself opportunities to win. likei and give yourself opportunities to win. like i said, i might not have too high expectations of my game early in the season, that i would love to win this event. i have come close a couple of times in the past and it is the only one here in the middle east i have not managed to win. soi middle east i have not managed to win. so i am going to try my hardest and matter what. south africa's ab de villiers has made himself unavailabe for miost of his country's test matches in 2017. de villiers, who missed the recent series against australia and sri lanka with an elbow injury,

was expected to return for the tours of new zealand and england. but he says he'll be missing for a bit longer than that. like i told you guys, i needed a bit of time away from the game. i need some more. therefore i have made myself unavailable for the new zealand series. to add to that, what ididn't zealand series. to add to that, what i didn't mention yesterday, is it is the new zealand —— it is also the england series and the bangladesh series after that. i am hoping to make a comeback with the tightens towards the end of the year in preparation for the series against india and australia next year. that is the plan. i am not committing to it, but i hope to make a comeback in test cricket. we're reaching the climax of the nfl season — and this weekend we'll find out which two teams will contest superbowl 51 in houston on 5th february. green bay packers travel to atlanta falcons in the nfc championship game, and then it's the afc championship game between pittsburg steelers and new england patriots — and much of the focus in the build—up to that game has centered on the two quarterbacks. well, i think it is two old guys who

have been playing this game for a long time. that is what a lot of the talk is. he deserves all the credit that he gets. it is obviously bigger than the two of us. i know he is used to it. this is two football teams and one championship, you know, we are going against each other. it is more than just one know, we are going against each other. it is more thanjust one man. we are not playing tennis, we are going out to play a football game with the 11 guys at a time. there is always something going on. it is important for us to focus on what out important for us to focus on what ourjob is, and that is to go out and play well. you know, ourjob is to show up and try to do a great job when we get the chance, and that is the way it has been all year for us. five seconds until the end of this bulletin. just time for me to say good night. see you later. there is definitely a pattern emerging with the weather.

i will say that for the weather over the last few days. here is monday's satellite picture. a lot of cloud across the uk under building high pressure. spot the difference on tuesday. a bit of sunshine coming in the south—east of england. and yesterday's satellite picture also shows a lot of cloud. again, the south—east poking out in the sunshine. you can guess what the forecast will be for thursday. another cloudy day for much of the country. the cloud will be thick enough as we go through the first part of the morning to give a few spots of rain in the midlands, maybe west england and wales. under this cloud it's a mild start for most. a touch of frost in aberdeenshire and certainly for southern wales and southern counties of east anglia it will be a cold day, under relatively clear skies. a widespread frost. but just as we've seen for the past couple of days there will be sunshine working across southern counties of england.

cold but bright. the weather front continues to move across central portions of wales and england, where the thickest cloud is. that's where we could see the odd spot of morning drizzle. temperatures about 6—9 celsius as we push in the northern parts. in scotland the cloud produces a few spots of rain. this is the picture through the rest of the day. a cloudy day weatherwise for most of the uk, but again some faring better for sunshine than others. southern counties keep the sunshine. breaks in the cloud across scotland. the best for eastern areas. generally the cloud a little bit higher in the sky across the northern half, compared to yesterday, so at least it will look brighter underneath the cloudy skies. that's thursday. through the night we've got this cloud through thursday night. again there could be a few mist and fog patches forming, a bit of drizzle through the night. with the clearest skies across southern england and wales we will have pockets of frost. maybe a bit of frost through northern ireland, but where it stays cloudy about 5—7 degrees.

on friday the high pressure is still with us and so is the cloud for a good part of the country. again, some breaks. the best towards southern england and parts of scotland. certainly it is cold underneath the cloud. temperatures near normal for the time of year. through the weekend and into the start of next week don't expect any major changes. we keep a lot of cloud, and at least there will be bright or sunny spells and a little bit cooler through the weekend as well. that's the forecast. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a final farewell to the white house press corps, but barack 0bama says he will still speak out to defend his "core values." i think we are going to be ok. we just have to fight hard and work for

it. and not take it for granted. and i know you always do. troops mass on the border of gambia, ready to force president jammeh to accept electoral defeat and step down. britain's foreign secretary appears to compare the french government to nazis. european leaders say brexit won't be easy. 0nce once a frontline in the syrian civil war, now very quiet. we have a report from the city of aleppo.