to try to slow it down as much as possible and that's what i'm doing. and yorkshire cricket's former chairman apologises for racism at the club as his controversial return moves a step closer. hello again. he says he'll always be a patriot but after 2a years of historic success, bill belichick is leaving new england. regarded by many as the greatest coach in nfl history, he and tom brady took the franchise to six wins from their nine super bowl appearances, both records for a coach and quarterback. but, since brady left, things haven't been as good, and after the 2023 season handed belichick the worst win—loss record of his 29—year coaching career, belichick has parted company with the patriots.

it's likely he was pushed rather than choosing to go, and this is what he said in a typically brief media appearance on thursday alongside team owner robert kraft. robert and i, after a series of discussions, have mutually agreed to part ways and for me this is a day of gratitude and celebration. we had a vision of building a winner, building a championship football team here and that's exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations so i'm very proud of that and always have those great memories — i'll carry those with me for the rest of my life. coach belichick will forever be celebrated as a legendary sports icon here in new england and i believe

go in as a pro football hall of famer on the first ballot. why? because he is the greatest coach of all times. well, tom brady agrees, posting on social media that he could never have been the player he was without belichick. the coach is now 71 years old but only 1a wins short of the nfl all time record held by the legendary don shula. so even though he's known very little other than new england, he's not retiring. i don't think there's much out there in the world that interests bill belichick other than football. if you want to talk about something other than football you'd need to find somebody other than bill belichick to do it with because that's all he's about. being part of a team, breaking down film, that still gets him up in the morning, gets him excited and i think it is the only thing he really cares about. former england manager sven goran—eriksson has revealed he has, at best, a year to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

eriksson was the first foreign coach to manage england, reaching three major championship quarter finals in a row. after spells in english and italian club football, he was most recently working at klaastad in his native sweden before stepping down eleven months ago. eriksson says he will "fight for as long as possible". i have cancer and i have a cancer where you can't operate and you have to try to slow it down as much as possible and that's what i'm doing. i thought i was fully healthy but suddenly i got like a stroke, small strokes, so i fell and my children took me to the hospital and after one day

they told me that i got five small strokes — but that's ok, they said no problem, you will recover 100% from that, but they also said you have cancer which we can't operate and we will give you treatment medicine and, like, it — you will live as long as possible, of course. i live a totally normal life, not in hospital. now and then, yes, i go for a visit but i live at home and i have friends here and christmas, new year, the whole family was here, a lot of people. and i'm going out, i try to exercise as much as possible which is less of course than it was one year ago, but i have a normal life and... when you get a message like that i think you appreciate every day and you are happy when you

wake up in the morning and you feel 0k, so that's what i'm doing. ireland head coach andy farrell will lead the british and irish lions when they tour australia next year. farrell is named as head coach of the lions for the first time having served as assistant to warren gatland when they triumphed in australia in 2013 and again when they toured new zealand four years later. farrell has just signed a new contract to be in charge of ireland until the next world cup in 2027 but will miss next year's six nations to concentrate on his work with the lions. it feels fantastic, it actually feels great that it's finally over, i know there was a lot of speculation or whatever but it's great for me to start the process and off we go from here. i wouldn't take this on if i wasn't excited about trying to do the best job i could possibly be and ultimately that's to be successful in a british and irish lions tour to australia. i know how difficult that is to do and to achieve and the work that has to go into that, well, that's what i love, that's what i'm passionate about, the coaching of all that. this is what touring's

all about, embracing all of that — and i'm talking about the length of the tour, the pressure of the tour, the games that are coming rapidly the whole time, playing games closer together that you've not done for so long, having no excuses, trying to make sure that you mix with absolutely everyone and everyone becomes your best mate and what you're trying to get on the back of that is memories and bonds that will last forever. that's what it's all about. yorkshire cricket club has approved a takeover bid by a consortium headed by its former chairman. colin graves was in charge for part of the period during which the club was eventually fined for failing to address the systemic use of racist or discriminatory language. the takeover bid will now be voted on by the yorkshire club's members. but the former player at

the centre of the allegations azeem rafiq says the move will "empower racists". our sports editor dan roan reports. yorkshire cricket club has struggled to recover from its racism scandal. the county fined last year for failing to tackle the systemic use of discriminatory language. despite being chairman for some of that period, colin graves is now set to take over the club and having being criticised for describing some incidents as banter, today he said sorry. in a statement, graves said... promising fresh investment, graves�* return will save yorkshire from the brink of administration. the county owing his family trust around £15 million after a bailout 20 years ago. the club's chief executive today telling me why the board approved the takeover. this is the viable option that keeps yorkshire cricket operational. so it's a good day

for yorkshire cricket. as we know, it has been controversial. do you understand that, do you accept it's not a good look, given everything that's happened at yorkshire? i appreciate people have their own opinions, i absolutely do. i also believe that now is the time for people to understand the dire financial situation that this board has picked up due to the allegations that were previously put in place. colin and the new board coming in should be given the second chance. but with cricket under scrutiny over its record on discrimination, some see this as a backwards step. former yorkshire player azeem rafiq whose revelations of suffering racism there plunged the county into crisis said he is dismayed. a lot of anger, frustration, and all it does is confirms and sends the message loud and clear to south asians that cricket's not a welcoming place and a safe place for us. you know, i've had enough. for a very long time i've seen this as my club. i no longer do. the ecb today said it was vital that work at headingley and beyond to make cricket more

inclusive continued, but with graves�* divisive takeover voted on by yorkshire's members early next month, the controversy is set to continue. dan roan, bbc news. ronnie 0'sullivan is through to the semi—finals of the masters snooker for the fifteenth time, despite calling himself awful in his win over barry hawkins. it was a scrappy match at alexandra palace in london with both players making mistakes. this miss by hawkins when he was 50 points ahead in the ninth frame cost him dear as 0'sullivan cleared the table to win by six frames to three. shaun murphy survived a scare against jack lisowski. potting this black avoided losing a third frame in a row and the 2015 winner secured a 6—3 victory to set up a semi final against 0'sullivan on saturday rory mcilroy looked anything but rusty as he opened the new golf season with a flawless round of 62 at the inaugural dubai invitational. he sank nine birdies to go two shots clear of the field.

mcilroy hasn't played since finishing a distant 22nd in the dp world tour championship in november, and he said he'd even surprised himself, with how well he'd played at the dubai creek resort. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello there. it was another day where some of us had sunshine, some of us had cloudy skies on thursday. the cloud, again, was coming in from the north sea, bringing with it some patches of drizzle for east scotland, eastern areas of england. but as the cloud came around the area of high pressure that's dominating to the northwest, it actually mixed in some slightly drier

airjust above the cloud layer as those winds went across the mountains and that drier air evaporated the cloud. and so, what a glorious day it was across parts of the highlands, with not a cloud in the sky. we're going to have a similar kind of weather prospects, really, over the next day or so. with these clear skies in place in scotland, it's a very cold night in places, temperatures getting down into minus double figures, —10, —12 degrees, something like that. whereas where we keep the cloud, that is across large parts of england, wales and northern ireland, it'll stay largely frost—free. and so, for friday morning, it's another day where cloud will vary quite a lot. the cloud thick enough across eastern areas of england to bring us a few patches of drizzle at times, particularly during the morning, the afternoon tending to become a little bit drier. the best of the sunshine —

well, scotland, cloud might break in northern ireland, and the northwest of both england and wales could also see some breaks in the cloud. now, temperatures give or take around about six degrees, bit colder than that, though, in the sunshine in scotland. 0n into the weekend's weather prospects — we start to get a northwesterly wind moving in. thicker cloud brings the threat of a few showers for northern scotland, maybe an odd spit of rain for northern ireland, too. still quite cloudy across englandand wales, but probably a better chance of seeing a few cloud breaks, little bit of sunshine coming through, and it continues to be cold for the time of year. but then, as we get into the second half of the weekend and into monday, across northern areas of scotland, northerly winds start to blow harder and we start to get showers turning to snow. elsewhere, though, through sunday and monday, little overall change in the weather picture. some sharp frosts, a lot of dry weather, some spells of sunshine. beyond that, though, into next week, we could see some areas of snow affecting northern areas of the uk early in the week and maybe a system coming up from the south later in the week. there is still quite a bit of uncertainty about those kind of features, but the potential for seeing some disruption is certainly there. the highest risk initially across parts of northern scotland. bye for now.

live from washington. this is bbc news. the us and uk lead strikes on houthi targets in yemen in retaliation for attacks on commercial ships in the red sea. as taiwan's presidential election nears — we look at what it means for the island and for china. thousands of soldiers fan out across ecuador as the president says the country is fighting a war on gangs.

hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. a multilateral coalition led by the us and uk launched strikes on houthi targets in yemen just hours ago. it's in retaliation to the group's attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea. the houthis are an iran—backed rebel group that control a large part of yemen. dozens of strikes have been reported on houthis positions, including in the capital, sanaa, and on hodeidah, the houthi red sea port stronghold. houthi positions in saada and dhamar have also been hit. both the us and uk have released statements confirming the strikes. president biden said in a statement: