and moscow says it's fighting ukrainian troops on its territory —— as the russian region of kursk is the scene of ukraine's cross—border incursion. welcome to paris. it's the last day of the olympics and the closing ceremony has just started. unlike the opening ceremony just over 2 weeks ago, the closing one will take place in the stade de france so lets take a closer look now at what we can expect from the ceremony this evening. there will be the traditional parade of athletes with flagbearers like antoine dupont for france katie ledecky for the us alex yee for team gb.

bryony page. the ceremony will celebrate and thank the 16,000 volunteers who have worked tirelessly and for free to help make the games run smoothly. the medal ceremony for the women's marathon, which was won by the netherlands sifan hassan. we will also see the extinguishing of the olympic flame, which will be brought from tuileries, where the cauldron has been on display and visited by tens of thousands of fans. then comes the proclamation of the end of the olympic games, delivered by the president of the international olympic committee, thomas bach and the handover of the olympic flag from anne hidalgo to karen bass — the respective mayors of paris and los angeles. and in terms of things we don't really know? well, we think tom cruise will be performing some type of stunt at the ceremony.

in los angeles billie eilish and the red hot chilli peppers look set to perform and have their performances beamed into ther stadium..and the uniquitous snoop dog will be involved too. let's show you some pictures now of fans arriving at the stud to france they bought tickets, there are already two go into the stud france. they'll plenty of dancing. the people who organised the opening ceremony will be the ones who organised the closing

ceremony but before we say au revoir let's take you through the results from today now that all the sport is official over. the netherlands' sifan hassan won gold in a sprint finish to claim her third medal of the paris olympics — she set a new olympic record in two hours 22 minutes 55 seconds. ethiopia took silver and kenya finished in bronze in the final of the modern pentathlon at the palace of versaille, hungary won the gold, france claimed the silver medal, much to the delight of the crowd, and south korea took the bronze. after much controversy, it's the last time equestrian showjumping will feature — in la 2028, it will be replaced with an obstacle course. team gb�*s emily campbell has won a bronze medal in the women's 81kg weightlifting category. 30—year—old campbell lifted a combined 288kg over the snatch and clean—and—jerk disciplines,

to finish behind the defending champion from china and south korea's silver medallist. and in the last hour or so the last event of these games ended in thrilling fashion. the united states winning byjusti point over france in the women's basketball gold medal match. it's us women's eighth straight olympic gold medal. now, we're not in los angelesjust yet, but paris 2024 has delivered an end to competition that not even hollywood could write. the final result in the women's gold medal basketball match came down to less than a second, half a step, and an excruciating one point for france. neck and neck for much of the game, in the final moments, needing 3 points to draw a tie, the french team launched the ball down to gabby williams. she took aim, ball shot for the basket — and it was good. but she was less than a step inside the 3—point line. the game was over, the us victorious, 67 to 66. a thriller if ever there was one.

we've been hearing from american sports reporter cheryl rae stout who said it was one of the best games the us team has ever played. take a listen... this was really a great game. gabby williams, i know her. she was with the chicago sky and she had 19 points. she really played well. the defence on both teams was really, you know, a chequered match, you know, to figure out who's going to do what. i thought that kahleah copper for the united states — again, somebody i know, she used to be with the chicago sky — she really was the game setter when it came to the second half. she had 12 points, she had rebounds. she forced the action. so it was a great game. and a'ja wilson, 21 points, 13 rebounds, four block shots. this was a game for the ages. i mean, it was just unbelievable. and the thing with the french, they had the crowd so much on their side. the atmosphere in there, it must have been just out of this world. the us now eight olympics in a row.

is there any way to beat the us women's basketball team? i think the way all the other countries are moving up, up and up, that could happen in la. that would be interesting if it happened in la in 2028. but the thing is, with the us, they have a lot of women there. they all play in the wnba. we're going to see some of the new stars that we didn't see this time in the 2028, so it's going to be a really good challenge for them. let's talk about the men, because the men played yesterday, and theirs was again a really amazing match, and the us men dominant at the end. you got to say steph curryjust knows how to be a moneyball winner. you know, he was hitting his three—point shots. that was really key for them. this was his first olympics. you would think all this time he's been playing in the nba, this was his first olympics — to see him do that. and of course lebronjames was named the mvp of the tournament. he's the one that coalesced all these players to decide to play for the united states instead

of taking vacations. so that was a big one. and i have to compliment france — they were in both games. they were both, you know, close to being able to win those games. so it was a great, great tournament. let's bring you a few more stills of that closing ceremony... we saw emmanuel macron taking his place, together with dignitaries, as he was at the opening ceremonies. let's look at another photo that has come into us. that audience members... at the stadium is immense and the sound and the energy that is in their is

immense as well. at the moment we are seeing the big cauldron flame i think they're going to be sending that olympic flame, all the way to the stadium where it will be extinguished and the move made for the next olympics. the olympics might be finishing today but of course the paralympic games start in just over two weeks' time. there's a lot of excitement about them here in the city. earlier craig spence, from the international paralympic committee, told me it would be a games to remember. well, i think we can expect the most spectacular paralympic games in history. i mean, we've had the test event, which is what we jokingly referred to as the olympics. i think everything is said here for a wonderful games. tremendous iconic venues.

the athletes are going to be the best prepared they've ever been, and i think we are going to see a really game changer event that's going to set the paralympic movement on a great course for la 28. it's incredible, isn't it, how the paralympic movement in the olympics have gone from strength to strength with every olympics. absolutely. the first paralympic games where in 1960 and the games have grown bigger and better every addition. i mean, these games are going to go to an estimated cumulative audience of 4.25 billion people and 165 countries. and it's great to see. and the athletic performance increases each addition. we've got to paralympians who will compete here whose times and distances would've been good enough to win olympic medals. that's the standard of competition we are going to see here. are you worried about paris itself? because having travelled around the metro every day, i've seen it isn't as accessible, really, as it could be in some areas. is that a worry for you? paris is one of the world's most

historic and beautiful cities. when it was built hundreds of years ago, accessibility was in front of mind. know what the city of paris have done here is they have realised you can't change the metro in seven years and make it fully accessible. so what they've done is focus on overground transport, and 100% of bus lines in the city are now accessible. and there is a fleet of 1000 accessible taxis to get people around. what they've done is do what paralympians do, let's not focus on what doesn't work, let's focus on what does, and that is the overground transport too. now, the closing ceremony for the olympics is happening this evening. you told me as we were walking up here that the same organisers are organising the opening ceremony of the paralympics. are we expecting something amazing? it's going to be absolutely fantastic. for the first time ever in our history, we are doing the ceremony outside of the stadium. we are going to be using the urban park from the olympics counting down the days until the 28th of august. i know that you love all olympic sports and paralympic sports. if you had to pick one, that you really, really advise people, watch this come is going to be

amazing this year. we have some great stars. which one would it be? i would probably say in athletics the men's long jump. the german long jumper, he is a single leg amputee, and his world record in long jump would have won him every single olympic title since barcelona 92. that's how good he is. look at that sunset the weather is still warm and as i talk the olympic stadium is hosting the closing ceremony. president macron is arriving with dignitaries. there are so many people waiting there for the biggest show in town. it's all about images isn't it?

earlier i caught up with some people behind the shots ap photographers abbie parr and david shots goldman, they've been pretty amazing. i think this will go down as one of my most memorable assignments. and of all the olympics that i did, for a lot of reasons, this might be my most favourite. abby, you've had fun? it's been amazing. i was assigned primarily to covering gymnastics, so i was covering simone biles for a majority of the time here. and, abby, it's interesting you mentioned simone biles there because i want to talk to you about this photo that you've taken of the three gymnasts on the podium, including jordan chiles in bronze place. that medal has since been stripped from her. what an iconic photograph. tell me about that moment. yeah, being there in that moment, it gave me goose bumps. i mean, honestly, i got a little bit emotional seeing that happened because i could in the moment kind of see jordan signalling to simone. i wasn't really sure what she was signalling her about, but i saw that they were kind of planning something. so when i saw them bowing down

to rebecca, it wasjust incredible. i mean, it really made me emotional. and it's just what the olympics is all about. with athletes from all over the world coming together and supporting each other. and it was beautiful and honour to see in person. david, let's take a look at one of your photos. this is an absolutely beautiful scene in a french cafe bistro. itjust encapsulates, doesn't it, what paris has become? if you walk around the city, this is what it looks like. and it has that feel, doesn't it? gives me chills. you know, myjob at the olympics is a roamer. and to be a roamer, you sort of... you float around like a butterfly and you're not assigned to any particular sport. they use you maybe one day here if they need an extra person, or they tell you to go out and just sort of capture the pulse of the city, give people a sense of place. and those are very special days when you're sort of left to yourself alone and you can just go out and capture... you didn'tjust go out, did you, david? you jumped in the water. you were in the seine. yeah. there was a photo you've taken here of the seine, but you actually went in the seine as well. what was that like? idid, yeah. and that was very challenging. i've done three olympics now

where i've photographed in the water one of the open water swim events. but this was very unusual because it was the current that was the issue, and it was just a very fast moving river. so i wasn't worried so much about the health, bacteria people were talking about. it was more that i was worried i was going to float down the river and end up in the field of play. were you ok afterwards? any tummy troubles? no, i've been fine. that's great. yeah. so as all the athletes have been pretty much. yeah, yeah. and, abby, let's take a look at another photo of yours. and this one is of the romanian gymnast sabrina monica voinea. i wanted to ask you, how difficult is it to capture moments like this during a gymnastics event? because they are... you just don't know what they're going to do. yeah, right. it's something that i love covering gymnastics is how the photos canjust have such a big, a different range from what you're seeing in the images. so like with this photo, ijust, i like being able to show off how flexible this gymnast is and just how incredible the moves are that we see. and i like tojust try to make

photos that just look different than more thanjust the basic kind of gymnastics photos of someone doing stretching on the beam. but i like to really create images that show off how incredible these athletes are. gorgeous. you can't see part of her. itjust kind of looks quite mysterious. yeah. and david, there's another photo of yours, which i absolutely love, and that is of the iconic balloon. the cauldron, the flame cauldron. the colour of that sky. i've seen a few sunsets like that in paris over the last three weeks. how was that for you? you've got the lamp in front of it. it's just beautiful. yeah, that was also a very special moment because i hadn't planned on covering the cauldron. that was the first night after the opening ceremonies, and i photographed the lighting of the cauldron the night before. and this, i'd just happened to stumble upon hundreds of people gathering at the tuileries garden, waiting to see this thing go up. and there was this real moment of community and anticipation. and i love the guyjust standing, clinging to the lamp post, trying to get a view of it before it goes up. and when it did go up, there was this collective like, "ah", moment. i wish i could see that. i wish i could go and watch that. yeah, it was very special.

it was a really, really special moment to be part of. now, you told me earlier, you've done five olympics, you've done three. how does paris compare in terms of organising sports? everything. you know, the whole feel of it. how does it compare to the ones you've done before? abby, if i can ask you first. it's been really special, seeing the amount of unity between the athletes. so specifically, like with that photo of mine with simone, andrea and jordan just seeing everyone coming together, especially after the last two olympics having been impacted by covid—19, i think it's been really special to see all the fans come together too and to really add to the atmosphere and to reallyjust make this a special one. fantastic. for me, this is a very special olympics. i mean, it's an iconic city. it was beautiful. everywhere you looked was a postcard. i think they did a terrific job of organising it. i was a little bit worried that there was no media transportation, but that forced me to rent a bike for a month. and basically i spent a month biking around the city, taking pictures. was it one of those electric bikes? no it wasn't. i wanted to get some exercise. so you're super fit now, then? i hope so, but we'll see.

superfit riding around on his bike, i don't envy him. there is a nice swimming legend, looking lovingly at that flame, what he does next is i can tell you he takes it with him all the way to the stadium. i wish i could find someone who looks at me the way lyon looks at that flame. i'm just looking myself at the flagbearers coming out... ford team gb. let's go and look at the other

sports. hello from the bbc sport centre. after over two weeks of competition — the paris olympics are about to come to an end, with the closing ceremony all the medals have been won — and the last of them was done so in the most extraordianry way with big ramifications. in the women's basketball final, with three seconds to go, this free throw for the usa gave them a three point lead against france — but the hosts thought they'd levelled in the very next move — only for the basket to have been worth two — meaning france lost by a single point. the united states winning their 40th gold medal — which ensured they moved above china and finish top of the medal table. well, 13 gold medals were on offer at the start of the final day — with events in cycling, weighlifting and volleyball all drawing to a close.

the first of those 13 golds on sunday — were won by sifan hassan of the netherlands — what a finish this was in the women's marathon. after 26 miles through the city of paris — the race came down to the final 100 metres — hassan out sprinting ethiopia's tigist assefa to take gold in an olympic record time. it's hassan�*s third medal of the games — after she took bronze in the five and ten thousand metre events. great britain picked up two more medals on the final day — taking their final total to 65. emma finucane won a bronze in cycling's individual sprint — taking her personal tally to three. whilst emily campbell won bronze in the 81 kilogram weightlifting event — adding to the silver she won in tokyo three years ago. campbell finished behind korea's hyejeong park — who won silver — and china's wenwen li who took gold. but this is for campbell an epic

moment where she ensured her place on the podium. it's not been a good day though for american gymnastjordan chiles — who has had her bronze medal taken away following a ruling by the court of arbitration for sport. chiles was upgraded to third in monday's floor final after an appeal — but an inquiry found that her appeal was lodged 4 seconds too late — so romania's ana barbosu will now take the bronze medal instead. and so with all that taken into account — here's how the final medal table looks from paris 202a. usa finish top with a0 gold medals — that women's basketball gold taking them ahead of china. japan make up the top three, with australia fourth and the hosts france in fifth. well, now all eyes turn to los angeles — where the 2028 games will be held —

but will there be a new man in charge of the international olympic committee by the time those games arrive? the current world athletics president lord coe says he will give "serious thought" to running for the role of president of the organisation. the current president, thomas bach, announced on saturday that he would stand down next year following 12 years in the role. a new person will take charge next summer following elections in march 2025. the final two quarter finals of the canadian open are underway in montreal. america's sam korda is up against alexander zverev later on sunday, whilst the 2022 runner up hurbert hurkacz is in the second semi final — playing australia's alexei popyrin. the first semi final in toronto on the women's tour is underway —

amanda anisimova taking on fellow american emma navarro. and that's all the sport for now. here in england, the funeral has taken place for the first of three young girls fatally stabbed at a taylor swift dance class in the northern town of southport. the service for nine—year—old alice da silva aguiar was held at st patrick's catholic church in the town, where her parents were joined by family and friends. hundreds of people lined the streets as alice's coffin was brought to the church in a horse—drawn carriage. ribbons and balloons were tied to lampposts and garden walls, as fiona trott reports from southport: a public display of love.

trying to ease a parent's private pain. alice's father carried her on his shoulder. but few fathers or mothers, have the strength to speak on a day like this. instead, their words were read by alice's uncle. you moved our world with your confidence and empathy. being around you was a privilege. we cherished every milestone. you completed us. little alice knew nothing about politics and division. how confronting it was acknowledged here today. you have shown great courage in asking me to be here today, to speak, to give a message from you, alice's family, to say that you do not want there to be any more violence

on the streets of the united kingdom, in the name of your daughter. i am ashamed, and i'm so sorry that you've had to even consider this in the planning of the funeral of your beautiful daughter, alice, and i hope that anyone who has taken part in the violent disorder on our streets over the past 13 days is hanging their heads in shame at the pain that they have caused you, a grieving family. this is the last photograph taken of alice, the moment she went into the taylor swift dance class that day. but it's her love of dance, her outgoing personality that people are choosing to remember now. hey guys, today is me. i got my makeup on to test my teacher. and now, guys.

alice was just nine, but today everybody learned about the impact she made in her short life. fiona trott, bbc news, southport. will be returning you to paris shortly. will be returning you to paris shortly. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it's been a very warm day today for all of us, but tomorrow some parts of the country could get even hotter. and i'll show you where in a moment. it won't be for northern areas. because here tonight and tomorrow morning we've got the threat of heavy rain, thunder, lightning and even some large hail that could bring some disruption further south where it's going to be dry. well, this is where we've got the core of the heat and high humidity. and tomorrow afternoon in cambridgeshire, perhaps temperatures could reach 35 degrees. that'll easily be the hottest

day of the year so far through this evening. in the first part of the night, many places still dry with clear skies. few thundery showers are beginning to break out, running northwards, but the really wet weather, gusty winds, thunder and lightning sweeps into northern ireland later in the night and towards western scotland by tomorrow morning. eastern scotland a little bit cooler the rest of the uk. it's an uncomfortably warm and muggy night for sleeping, but we soon see the back of the rain from northern ireland. sunny skies follow this heavy rain and thunderstorms pushes across scotland, perhaps northern england, to clear away during the afternoon, with some sunshine following on behind. further south, the threat of storms is much, much lower. there'll be a lot of sunshine around and this is where we've got the core of the heat and humidity. midlands parts of eastern england, temperatures in many places getting over 30 degrees further west and further north. things are going to be quite a bit cooler and it will feel fresher, particularly after all that wet weather sweeps through. now this sudden surge in the heat has come up from spain and from france.

but all that heat is getting pushed eastwards across europe this week, and even the whole of western europe will turn cooler over the coming few days as we get atlantic winds arriving as well. and those atlantic winds are steering in this weather system from the atlantic. that area of low pressure actually contains a little bit of what's left of tropical storm debbie. that brought all the rain in the eastern side of the us. we're going to see some lighter, more patchy rain coming into western areas on tuesday, the winds picking up a bit as well. but ahead of that rain the midlands and eastern england still dry, still sunny, not as hot or as humid as monday, but it is going to be a very warm day on tuesday. but after that noisy start to the week with all those thunderstorms and heavy rain and the heat and humidity, things get back to normal. the temperatures gradually slip away over the rest of the week, but it's still unsettled.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the closing ceremony of the paris olympics is getting under way in the stade de france, bringing down the curtain on more than two weeks of sporting drama that have thrilled the host nation and audience a funeral is held for nine—year—old alice da silva aguiar — one of three young girls killed in a knife attack in southport.

russia says its armed forces will deliver a "tough response" to ukraine's incursion into its western kursk region. the comment came as the ukrainian army forged ahead on day six of its surprise ground offensive. presidentjoe biden has given his first television interview since ending his re—election campaign three weeks ago. he told cbs news that he pulled out of the race for the white house because he had become a distraction, and said donald trump had to be beaten for the us to maintain its democracy. now to the olympics, where the closing ceremony is in full swing. let's join my colleague maryam moshiri for all the latest. she speaks french iam in i am in shock. that is absolutely brilliant. you've outdone yourself. i think a gold medalfor the effort

of learning french so