with spain hoping for a gold medal to add to their women's world cup. while andy murray has played the final singles match of his career, concentrating on the doubles only as he prepares to retire from tennis after paris. hello again. for all the new sporting stories paris is ready to tell over the next two and a bit weeks, its olympics start — officially at least — with something truly unique. the opening ceremony will take place for the first time not inside a stadium but along the river seine. it's just hours away and is demanding the largest security operation

france's history as our sports editor dan roan reports from paris. it was meant to be playing out in front of more than half a million people, the spectator numbers have been brought down to just over 300,000 because of security concerns. but of course, that's the big question. it's quite hard to overstate the level of this vast security operation we are having to negotiate along the banks of the river seine, with thousands of metal barricades set up, tens of thousands of officers on duty for this opening ceremony, of which there will be many world leaders who have been welcomed here by president macron, a huge thing for him and those in the country. i met up with the deputy mayor of paris and asked him whether or not the city was ready. we are definitely ready to welcome the olympics and the world, and the olympic athletes are already arriving for us. the venues are totally ready, and we are in the last preparations for the opening

ceremony, for sure, because we have two day remaining before it. but we have worked on that project for more than eight years now, so no worries, especially — we just look at the weather to know what we will have for the opening ceremony, and i hope no rain. but except for that, i'm totally confident, security is right for everywhere. this is the third time this city has hosted the olympics, the first time in a century — but there's lots of innovations, as well, the organisers making a great play about how sustainable it is, because 95% of that infrastructure is existing or temporary, they say it will have half the carbon footprint and emissions of rio and london, for example, and others will contest that given the number of international contestants flying in for this event. but there's an awful lot at stake for the olympic movement, at a time when the ioc is under greater

pressure to justify the expense both financial in terms of the environment, with regards to these mega sporting events. millions of tickets sold, billions of euros having been spent — but the ceo told me he was confident it would all go to plan and would be worthwhile. it's a national project, everybody has been gathering to show what this country has to offer, to be able to again put the best of france for the athletes of the world, the best athletes in the world, to thrill the world and bring some emotions. the opening ceremony should be a spectacular start, very ambitious plan, never been done before — just how big a challenge does this opening ceremony represent to the organisers? it is definitely a new challenge if you think about it, on the 6km parade,

the athletes will go through some part of the history of france with an artistic show intertwined into the parade, and the pratical elements. we want our games to be special. there is a vast security operation in place ahead of this opening ceremony because of the way it's been done — can you guarantee those coming here that it will be safe 7 i can tell you know stones have been left unturned, it's been now years we are working with the government authorities in order to make sure that this ceremony and games are safe and secure. because there's no party if there is no security. after the covid affected games in tokyo three years ago where spectators were largely barred, the ioc, the organisers and those watching on will hope this represents a return to the olympics in all its glory. the usa have had a successful start to their campaign to try and win the women's football gold for the first time

in 12 years. and they provided a win in new manager emma hayes�* first match in charge, beating zambia 3—0. meanwhile spain began their attempts to add an olympic gold to last year's world cup with a win over japan. they came from behind to secure a 2—1 victory through mariona caldentey�*s winner. defending champions canada also fought back from a goal down to beat new zealand 2—1. evelyne viens scored the winner 11 minutes from time. hosts france needed two goals from marie—antoinette katoto to win their opening group game 3—2 against colombia. 2016 champions germany beat australia 3—0, while brazil also started with a victory — 1—0 over nigeria. two time rugby sevens gold—medallists fiji are through to the semi finals of paris 2024 beating ireland in their last eight match at the stade de france. australia also made the semis as did south africa who stunned top—ranked new zealand14—7 to progress to the last four.

skipper selvyn davids opened the scoring and then set up the try for tristan leyds to leave the all blacks still searching for an olympic gold. south africa will play france after the hosts stormed to a 26—14 victory against argentina. antoine dupont�*s spectacular solo tap—and—go try capped off a successful night for france who are chasing their first rugby sevens olympic medal. the first world record was sent earlier in the archery by a south korean archer. she achieved _ south korean archer. she achieved an _ south korean archer. she achieved an incredible score, 694 from a possible 720. andy murray admits he �*ran out of time' after announcing he's withdrawing from the singles event at the paris 0lympics. his final competition before retiring and will compete

in the doubles only. murray has won an olympic gold something novak djokovic is yet to do. and the 2a time grand slam champion paid tribute to someone who has now played his final competitive singles match. i heard the news about andy and i heard the news about andy and i hope that he will have the best possible farewell and in his last competitive match here in the olympics for him and his country. he has been a legend, he is a legend of our sport and has been an important player for tennis. someone who won't be competing at the paris games is britain's three—time 0lympic dressage champion charlotte dujardin. she's been suspended after a video emerged of her "excessively" whipping a horse during a training session. it's something she's called an error ofjudgement that she's deeply ashamed about. the sport's governing body, the fei is now investigating

i was shocked and disappointed but we will now conduct an investigation and follow—up on this. the fact that a video that apparently is already a couple of years old, though that will need to be established, is now released on the eve of the olympic games is no coincidence but we are very confident that the new plan and the work of our equine lobby commission will turn into an action plan and help us in the future. we have many riders and many athletes and many horses in our sport so it is only a very low percentage. in every case is one case too many. and thatis case is one case too many. and that is why we need to constantly educate our athletes because what was allowed 30 years ago or acceptable 30

years ago or acceptable 30 years ago or acceptable 30 years ago is probably not today. education is very important. i also believe that it is good that we have this whistleblower mechanism and we want people to speak up because as the guardian of our sport in the guardian of horses we need to work together with our community. ben stokes has claimed england bowler mark wood is getting �*closer and closer�* to bowling at 100 miles per hour. wood has kept his place in the team to play west indies in the third and final test which starts at edgbaston on friday. despite having to leave the field for treatment to an injury during the previous match. the fast bowler has clocked 97 miles per hour before, including during this series with no player having yet recorded 100 in test cricket. stokes says his county teammate has �*got it in the tank�* while he's also hoping to complete a clean sweep over the windies. when you look at how we performed over the first two

games it is pretty hard to look past any changes. i think we have been to very impressive all—round team performances so we are looking to cap off this series with a win. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello there. thursday brought with it quite a humid feel and a lot of cloud across the country. at times, it was thick enough for some heavy rain, some poor visibility across the channel isles and some choppy seas, so not a day for being by the seaside. but as we move into next week, high pressure is going to build. that will quieten things down considerably, with some sunny spells around,

and certainly warming up, particularly down to the south. but for friday, we're still under this influence of low pressure, still the wind direction coming from the west, so not the warmest of sources. and that is going to drive in a few scattered showers, chiefly to the far north—west to begin with. but as we go through the day, anywhere along the west, we'll see those showers drifting further inland, perhaps across east anglia and south—east england staying fine and dry. but still those temperatures disappointing for this stage injuly. a scattering of showers into wales, 20 degrees the high here. more frequent showers into northern ireland and southern scotland, and some of these possibly heavy. so temperatures again a little bit more subdued. we're looking at highs of 15 to 19 degrees. so that is how we close out friday afternoon. friday evening, into the early hours of saturday, sees the isobars open up, the winds fall light, clear skies for a time. but we have got this little weak weather front starting to develop, enhancing more showers out to the west. but it means low single figures

to greet us first thing for the start of our weekend. a quiet start for many, particularly in sheltered eastern areas, but once again, we'll continue to see a few showers breaking out from the west, and these will move through the irish sea into wales, across north west england are you and into scotland by the afternoon. again, to the east of the pennines, we are likely to see the best of the drier, sunnier weather, but those temperatures still not particularly exciting for this time of year, once again ranging from 15 to 23 celsius the high. but after saturday, an area of high pressure will start to build in from the west. as we go into next week, that's going to quieten things down considerably. weather fronts will try to topple in across the high, but all in all, it looks quite decent, with that south—westerly flow allowing those temperatures to climb potentially into the high 20s. and for many of us, there's going to be a good deal of dry, settled, sunny weather to look forward to for at least a few days.

live from washington, this is bbc news. vice president kamala harris meets with israel's prime minister after skipping his address to congress. israel has a right to defend itself. and how it does so matters. the us justice department announces the arrests of two leaders of a mexican drug cartel. and researchers warn the world has marked a dangerous climate milestone.

hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. us vice president kamala harris says she will not be silent on the suffering of palestinian civilians, and says she conveyed that message to israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, in a white house meeting thursday. in a signal of the change of tone that might come if she's elected in november, the vice president told reporters that while she would continue to affirm israel's right to defend itself, she said it was time to end the "devastating" war and get a hostage deal done. in remarks after the meeting, ms harris, the presumptive democratic presidential candidate, described her conversation with mr netanyahu as "frank". and amid tense protests coinciding with mr netanyahu's visit to washington, dc, she concluded her remarks with a call for unity. it is important for the american people to remember the war in gaza is not a binary

issue. however, too often the