thomasjolly, the artistic director, said he wanted the beauty of the sun to bathe paris, but he may not get his wish. the parisian precipitation may be winning the battle right now, but the forecast later is better. so what can we expect? many of the details are still secret, but a floatilla will entertain some 300,000 spectators along the banks of the seine, ending near the eiffel tower at trocadaro. it is definitely a huge talent, but think about that, on a six kilometre parade, the athletes are going to go through some parts of the history of france with an artistic shoe intertwined into the parade and the prodigal element. it is special and we want our games to be special. we have paris, it is a fantastic asset and we want to show to the world. for the first time you will see

paris. — for the first time you will see paris. you _ for the first time you will see paris, you will see the louvre museum. _ paris, you will see the louvre museum, the notre damejabari, all those _ museum, the notre damejabari, all those landmarks that make paris beautiful, — those landmarks that make paris beautiful, that will be the backdrop for all— beautiful, that will be the backdrop for all the — beautiful, that will be the backdrop for all the stuff you will see tonight _ for all the stuff you will see tonight. if the weather is nice or not nice. — tonight. if the weather is nice or not nice. it _ tonight. if the weather is nice or not nice, it is the same, for sure. musically, — not nice, it is the same, for sure. musically, i— not nice, it is the same, for sure. musically, i tried to bring as much honesty— musically, i tried to bring as much honesty and as much horsepower into the music— honesty and as much horsepower into the music and i think you will love what _ the music and i think you will love what we _ the music and i think you will love what we have organised because there are a lot _ what we have organised because there are a lot of— what we have organised because there are a lot of beautiful surprises. well, the games may officially open tonight, but action has already been under way for a couple of days. hosts france are through to the semifinals of the rugby sevens — antoine dupont�*s tap—and—go try sealing a 26—14 victory over argentina in the quarters. they will play south africa, while defending champions fiji play australia on saturday. the women's football has also kicked off. there were wins for world

champions spain and hosts france, while the usa opened their campaign with a comfortable 3—0 win over zambia in emma hayes�* first competitive game in charge. there has already been a world record set at these olympics in the archery witrh korea's lim si—hyeon shooting a new mark of 694 points out of a possible 720 to lead the way in qualifying for the women's individual event. meanwhile, the head coach of canada's women's soccer team has been removed from the role amidst the fallout from an alleged drone spying scandal. bev priestman voluntarily withdrew from their opening game on thursday, a 2—1 win over new zealand, but has now been suspended for the rest of the tournament, with assistant andy spence to take over. earlier this week, two canadian staff were sent home after allegedly using a drone to spy on new zealand's training. england are aiming to make it a series whitewash as they take on west indies in the third and final test of the series in birmingham.

they won the first two matches and are fielding first at edgbaston. coming up to an hour of play so far, west indies are currently a2—0. england defender harry maguire says criticism of their performances at the european championship is "a bit ridiculous". whilst they did make it to the final, gareth southgate�*s side came underfire for their style of play. maguire�*s manchester united teammate tom heaton was with the squad in germany as a training goalkeeper. iam not i am not quite sure when the narrative changed. through his own reign of manager there's been such positive aspect to it, he got to two semifinals, a final. yes, really strange from a players point of view inside the camp. we managed to shut it out, almost make it more of a

siege mentality and started to prove people wrong. siege mentality and started to prove people wrong. first practice gets under way in the next 45 minutes at the belgian grand prix. mclaren�*s lando norris tipped to be the man to beat, with championship leader, max verstappen, set for a grid penalty. at the last race in hungary, norris ceded position to allow team—mate 0scar piastri to win, but defied team orders for 17 laps beforehand. so does he regret how he handled the situation? the main point is we had a 1—2. i was super happy with that, the whole team are happy. yeah, could have done things differently? yes. i have discussed that with the team. coming into this weekend to try to repeat it in terms of results. so why is verstappen set for a grid penalty? well, he's likely to need an extra engine — one more than permitted for the season and thus incurring a ten place grid drop. he has won from 14th before around spa and triumphed from sixth last season, but is expecting more of a challenge this weekend.

imean, you i mean, you always try to look at tracks that are considered the best in the worst scenario, but it is going to be tough. the teams are all a lot closer to sea with mclaren probably the fastest. it is not going to be easy to recover from that. lots more on the website and app but you're up today from the bbc sport centre. let's return to our top story and events in paris where the transport has been hit by a number of attacks. it is being called a sabotage on the sncf high—speed railway network. they called it a massive attack aimed at paralysing the network. the french transport minister has condemned the attacks is coordinated

and malicious attacks. hundreds of thousands of people are impacted today. some quarter of a million people will be impacted today. 800,000 people over the weekend. these are pictures from northern france of people trying to fix the railway line there. the cables that have been impacted. the french sports minister has labelled the acts of sabotage on the network as an act of the athletes�*s games. the transport minister sent these games are for the athletes who have been dreaming of them for years and have been fighting for the holy grail of standing on the podium and somebody has sabotage that for them. she said the games have been prepared so carefully for almost ten years. there is a huge security operation throughout paris with some 70,000 police and soldiers deployed. security experts to keep the game

safe. the opening ceremony tonight along six kilometres of the river zen with 300,000 people expected to attend. lots of those people heading to paris today will be impacted. this is the scene outside the montparnasse station, where we have been told that trains will not be running until one o'clock local time. so we conwayjoins me in the studio. we time. so we conway “oins me in the studio. ~ ~' ., time. so we conway “oins me in the studio. ~ ~ ., ., studio. we know that three high-speed _ studio. we know that three high-speed lines _ studio. we know that three high-speed lines in - studio. we know that three high-speed lines in france | studio. we know that three - high-speed lines in france have been high—speed lines in france have been affected, the atlantic, northern and eastern lines. what that has led to some of those train services being cancelled, or they have moved trains of those high—speed lines onto what they call their classic lines, so slower lines, which is adding sncf are saying another hour and i half to journeys. are saying another hour and i half tojourneys. that are saying another hour and i half to journeys. that is the impact that we know about. what seems to be coming across at the moment is how long this could all take to return

to normal. the president of sncf said that this is going to have to be fixed manually, it will require hundreds of workers to fix those cables. what is on our live page at the moment are pictures of charred cables and what they are going to have to do is repair each cable. you can see why they are talking about disruption lasting the whole weekends and, as you said, 800,000 passengers over the weekend could potentially be affected. 250,000 passengers just today. in terms of eurostar, they are asking passengers if possible not to travel today. they are offering full refunds. we know that at the moment the latest news is that two of their services, the 331 and the 1901 heading to

paris are no longer running. at the moment the majority are still running, but with delays of more than an hour. the message coming across is unless you really have to travel. in terms of the knock on here in the uk, i have spoken to the operatorfor here in the uk, i have spoken to the operator for the high—speed here in the uk, i have spoken to the operatorfor the high—speed line operator for the high—speed line here operatorfor the high—speed line here in the uk, because it uses the same track as eurostar, south—eastern, and they say their services are not affected. at the moment there is not a sense that national rail services are being affected. so national rail services are being affected. ., ., ~ national rail services are being affected. ., ., ~ . affected. so we cannot thank you. we have been hearing _ affected. so we cannot thank you. we have been hearing from _ affected. so we cannot thank you. we have been hearing from the _ affected. so we cannot thank you. we have been hearing from the presidentj have been hearing from the president of the olympic committee. he says he has full faith and the authorities. i don't have concern. we have full confidence in the french authorities, all the measures are being taken and the french authorities are assisted by 180

other intelligence services around the world, not only by information, some of them are even deploying their human resources, so we have good reason to have full confidence. that is it from me for the moment. we will have plenty more coming up on the situation in paris in a few minutes. time for a look at the weather. hello. while some of us stay dry and sunny this friday, for others, there have been a few downpours already, some more to come through today. and then other areas will see the showers tomorrow. but the overall trend over the next five days, things become drier, sunnier and also warmer. now, the view from space earlier in the day shows that this is cloud from yesterday, but that's affecting northern france — that's crucial later. this is the clump of cloud that will affect us through tomorrow. but in—between, a lot of clear skies around to begin with. we've seen the shower clouds build up, but in—between, the shower clouds some sunshine. showers most frequent through parts of scotland, northern ireland and maybe less so in northern england. but the showers in scotland

could become heavy and thundery in the north—east later. away from northern england, midlands, southern england and wales, very few showers, many stay dry. and while we've got a slightly fresher feel there with the westerly breeze, it's still going to feel pleasant enough in those sunnier moments. 17—24 celsius, a little bit down for some north—western areas on where you want this stage injuly. i mentioned the cloud over france. thickens up later, as we head in towards the evening. crucial, of course, because it's the olympics opening ceremony. never mind lady gaga or celine dion — a greater chance of some heavier rain arriving as we go through the ceremony and into the first part of the night. for us, though, actually, many showers fade this evening and into the first part of the night, before returning across parts of southern scotland, northern england and later into ireland — that clump of cloud, i showed you on the satellite imagery. where you've got the clear skies, temperatures down a little bit on last night, into single figures in some rural areas. but where it's coolest, the best of the sunhine to start the morning. a bit more cloud in northern england, southern scotland, outbreaks of rain in ireland pushing away, so northern ireland will have a drier, brighter day.

western scotland will compared with today. but eastern scotland, northern england, wales and the south—west, a greater chance of some showers through tomorrow. parts of the south—east midlands, east anglia, south—east and channel islands staying dry throughout, and temperatures just up a little bit. and with high pressure then building in through the rest of the weekend into the start of next week, there will be more in the way of sunshine, but we start to bring in a bit more warmth from the south. on sunday, it will feel warmer, after a slightly fresh start, mist and low cloud in the west breaking up. lots of sunshine for many into the afternoon, strong sunshine at that, and temperatures more widely into the 20s, maybe 25, 26 in the south—east of england. could get 30 degrees here by tuesday, but across the uk, many will be dry into the start of next week and feeling very warm in the sunshine too. take care.

live from london, this is bbc news. life in paris, this is bbc news. hours before the opening ceremony, france's high—speed railway has been sabotaged in a coordinated attack on several key lines into paris, leaving 800,000 passengers affected. these are the live pictures coming to us from northern france as railway engineers work to repair the damage. we will be speaking to our

correspondent in london and paris on the impact of the disruption. the other main headlines this hour. former us president barack 0bama endorses kamala harris in the race for the white house. israeli prime minister bejamin netantyhu is to meet republican presidential nominee donald trump later. for the first time in nearly four years. and the leader of mexico's sinaloa cartel, one of the world's most powerful drug lords, is arrested in texas. hello. welcome to bbc news now. the countdown is on before the countdown is on before the the countdown is on before the paris the countdown is on before the paris 0lympics 0pening the countdown is on before the paris 0lympics opening ceremony gets under way. but within a matter of hours, there have been a series of fires hitting french high—speed real lines. the transport minister has

condemned what