hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm marc edwards. less than 48 hours before euro 2024 kicks off in germany, we catch up with the scotland team tasked with spoiling the hosts�* opening night party. india qualify for the t20 world cup super 8 but are made to work by the usa. the gold standard for keely hodgkinson. she tops the european championship 800m podium with the olympics just around the corner.

hello and thanks forjoining us on sportsday. we start with football. france's star—studded squad have arrived at their euro 2024 headquarters in germany — and they've got straight down to training. fronted by kylian mbappe, france are many people's favourites to win the tournament. they're second in the world rankings, behind only argentina, who they lost to on penalties in the world cup final two years ago. they begin their campaign against austria on monday. borussia dortmund captain emre can has been given a late call—up to the germany squad. the former liverpool man replaces bayern munich's aleksander pavlovic who was forced to pull out with tonsilitis. pavlovic is just 20, and he only made his international debut just over a week ago, but he was named injulian nagelsmann�*s squad for the tournament. the hosts kick off their campaign on friday against scotland, who are now well settled into their base in the bavarian ski resort of garmisch—partenkirchen. midfielder billy gilmour says the excitement is building, and he's looking forward to coming up against the likes of toni kroos.

i think toni kroos is unbelievable. you've seen what he's done in the game. and just to watch on tv, he's unbelievable. the way he moves the ball past the simple things and it's100% perfect. and if i do get the opportunity, i'll be excited. of course, one of the greatest midfielders of the game and to test myself and compete with that is a great opportunity. england meanwhile, prepare to face serbia in gelsenkirchen on sunday, and one player who could feature is adam wharton. it's been an incredible year so far for the crystal palace midfielder and january he was playing in a blackburn rovers side, struggling in the championship. fast forward five months and the 20—year—old is in the mix for a starting spot at england's opening euro 2024 match. it's a surreal feeling. honestly, i wasn't really expecting it. i've obviously onlyjust gone into the premier league, so i wasn't expecting anything.

it was more just sort of a bonus kind of thing if i did get in. so, absolutely delighted. and yeah, just got to do what i love at the top stage. can't beat it. to cricket, and india have continued their unbeaten run at the t20 world cup to reach the super 8s, but they were given a fright in their seven—wicket win over co—hosts usa, chasing a modest iii. india made a spluttering start. usa bowler saurabh netravalkar, with one to tell the grandkids, dismissing superstar virat kohli for a golden duck. and he took another quick wicket to leave india reeling at 10—2. but in the end an assured 50 from suryakumar guided them to victory with 10 balls to spare. england coach matthew mott says he hopesjosh hazlewood's comments were "tongue in cheek", after the australian bowler suggested they could potentially have a hand in knocking england out at the group stage of the competition. australia reached the super 8 unbeaten, leaving england and scotland to fight it out for second place in the group. australia play scotland next — and the scots�* run—rate

could see them through. in this tournament you potentially come up against england and as i said, they are one of the top few teams on their day. we have had some real struggles against them in t20 cricket. if we can get them ahead of the tournament, that's in the best interest of ourselves and probably everyone else, but it will be interesting to see. we have never been in this position before as a team. whether we have discussions or not, we willjust play the way we did tonight. and here's what matthew mott had to say about the comments. i'm going to be totally honest, i haven't heard them in the context. i was informed about them this morning, but knowing josh, he's got a pretty dry sense of humour. i'm hoping it was very much tongue—in—cheek. i don't think it's ever going to play out. i think having grown up in australia, the will to win every game that you are in, i'm sure that will come to the fore. i'm very much hoping it was just an offhand remark by a really good bloke who is having fun. and with 43 days to go until the start of the olympics

in paris, some of the stars hoping to shine at the global extravangaza were in action on the last day of the european athletics championships in rome. keely hodgkinson taking one of two golds for great britain while jakob ingebritsen and armand duplantis were also among the winners in the italian capital on wednesday. natalie pirks has more. well, the final night saw a high drama here in rome. for britain, keely hodgkinson retained her european title in the women's 800 metres, despite battling an illness overnight, which almost tempted her to withdraw. she told us afterwards she believes in the power of manifestation and she's been manifesting a golden summer. she already has world and olympic silvers. britain's women delivered gold in the women's four by 100 metres in a european lead to propel britain to third in the medal table. it was dina asher—smith's second gold of the championships and she told us she believes that team can go even faster in paris. elsewhere, ireland's women won silver in the four by 400, crowned their most successful

european championships in history. the olympic champion, norway's jakob ingebrigtsen, won the men's 1500 metres at a canter to make it a hat trick of doubles after winning the 5000 metres and the 1500 metres at the last three european championships. it also earned him this new golden crown, which is a performance bonus of 50,000 euros. mondo duplantis also won a golden crown in the pole vault, but he couldn't quite break his own world record after three attempts at six metres 25. in the women's long jump, germany's malaika mihambo took gold with a jump of seven metres 22 — the best for anyone in the world this year. and in the final race of the night, italy stormed to the four by 100 men's gold, also with a european lead. a fitting way to bring the curtain down on their most successful european championships in history with 11 golds, 24 medals in total. now, despite winning three

olympic gold medals, adam peaty says he's happy being the underdog as he prepares for paris 2024, where he'll be defending his 100 metre breaststroke title. peaty stepped away from the sport last year to prioritise his mental health. since returning, he's won bronze at the world championships, along with the british title, and he's very happy in his skin. when i look myself in the mirror, i'm very peaceful. and i think as soon as you stop running from yourself, i think that's when you start living your true self and your true life. and in sport terms, i think that's when you're the most dangerous for everyone else because you're just so at peace and... i'm not afraid to lose. i'm not afraid to win. and you know, how can you beat an athlete like that? i don't know. but at the same time, i know i can't control what anyone else does. paralympic champion stephen miller will retire from athletics at the end of the season, after a career spanning four decades. miller was born with cerebral palsy and is one of paralympic gb�*s most decorated athletes, winning 34 major international

medals, including three golds in the club throw at the games. two of the biggest names in tennis have been paired together for the doubles at the olympics. reigning french open champion carlos alcaraz will represent spain in paris alongside the king of clay, rafael nadal, the tennis, of course, being played at roland—garros — where nadal is a 14—time winner. defending champion katie boulter sailed through to the quarterfinals of the nottingham 0pen — at the venue where she used to train as a junior. the british number one is from nearby leicester — and she beat canada's rebecca marino in straight sets. victory at this event last year kick—started an impressive season in which she moved into the world's top 30. dan evans is also through to the last eight, thanks to a straight—sets victory overjunior wimbledon champion henry searle. it wasn't straight forward though — both sets went to tie—breaks, in a match lasting two hours. evans will face another briton, charles broom, in his next match.

and jack draper came through a three—set battle against the american marcos giron, who knocked out andy murray in the first round. draper missed the entire grass court season last year due to injury but he's now gone ahead of cameron norrie into the british number one ranking in the live standings. the world's top three golfers will tee off together in the opening two rounds of the us open at pinehurst in north carolina. scottie scheffler, xander schauffele and rory mcilroy are all in great form going into the tournament — but our golf correspondent iain carter says it's hard to see past scheffler for the win. he seems to be up for every challenge that is put in his way at the moment. the reigning masters champion. it took an arrest at the last major of the pga to derail his hopes of a grand slam. even with all the trauma there, finished in the top ten, he won at memorial last week on a very tough set up. so he comes in here with so much confidence, so much of an aura as well. the other players know

that he is the man to beat and he has ridiculously short odds for a golf tournament attached to his name, but they feel like they are completelyjustified. as long as he can make that putter behave, his ball striking from tee to green really does set him out to be the man to beat this week. and finally, the nba legend jerry west, whose silhouette inspired the famous league logo, has died at the age of 86. west featured in nine nba finals with the la lakers and was an all star in every season of his 14—year playing career. he was the third player in league history to reach 25,000 points and later became a coach and basketball executive. and that is sadly all the time we've got left for now. from me, mark edwards, and the rest of the team here at the bbc sports centre, we'll see you very soon. bye bye.

hello there. it's turning more unsettled across the uk for the end of the week. we're picking up low pressure off the atlantic. that's going to bring wind and rain increasingly so across the country during thursday. although we start the day chilly and bright like we have the last few mornings, however, we cut off that arctic airflow, the blue colours, then replace it with something milder for the end of the week. however, that comes with wind and rain all tied in with this frontal system linked to low pressure. before it moves in, though, it's going to be another chilly start to thursday up and down the country. these are towns and city values could be low single digits. again, rural spots. so plenty of sunshine around chilly one or two mist patches. rain already getting into northern ireland will spread across the irish sea through the morning, reaching western britain around lunchtime.

some of this rain will be quite heavy at times. the winds picking up too, eventually reaching eastern areas. all but north—east scotland and east and south—east england. here it'll stay dry until after dark. 17 or 18 degrees will be the high. that's pretty decent considering the fact there'll be a lack of sunshine. now through thursday night the heavier the rain pushes northwards across scotland and the northern hours elsewhere, it's going to be clear spells patchy cloud and a few showers. but look at these temperatures. vastly difference how it's been the last few nights. a mild one to come with temperatures in double figures, low teens celsius pretty much across the board for friday. for friday, low pressure sits across the uk bringing showers or longer spells of rain. longer spells of rain will be affecting the northern half of scotland without weather fronts. elsewhere, it's sunny spells, scattered showers. some of these will be heavy and thundering places, particularly central, southern and western areas. but in between some good spells of sunshine and that'll lift temperatures up 18 to 20 degrees in the warmest spots. friday night will be very mild again. and as we head into saturday, low pressures withers again, showers or longer spells of rain. some good sunny spells in between, though.

if you avoid the showers and stay dry all day, it could be quite pleasant. again, those temperatures into the high teens, closer to the mid—teens across scotland where we have more cloud and rain. 0ur area of low pressure just hang around, though, for part two of the weekend, even into the start of next week. but it could be that southern parts of britain on sunday could see drier, sunnier weather at time with the rain across the north. but there'll be further showers as we head into the start of the new week as well.

live from washington, this is bbc news. a fleet of russian warships arrive off the coast of cuba, as tensions rise with the west over ukraine. america's top diplomat tells israel and hamas that it is "time for the haggling to stop" as he pushes for a ceasefire deal. and a damaging un human rights council report accuses both israel and hamas of war crimes and human rights abuses since the october 7th attacks. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. thank you forjoining us. four russian naval vessels arrived in havana bay, a port in cuba, as tensions between moscow and the west grow over the war in ukraine. havana bay is just about 90 miles from the us state of florida. 0ur media partner cbs reports the us navy used sea drones to watch the ships as

they got closer to cuba. on wednesday russia's defence ministry said