hello there, and welcome to the programme. we've not long to wait now until the return of the premier league. we've had the euros, and the olympics in the meantime but the drama is back as of friday night. whether it's manchester city going for five in a row, their rivals attempting to dethrone them, or even for the relegation—threatened a calming comfort of mid—table mediocrity. every one of those 20 clubs have something to play for in the new premier league season. it all kicks off at old trafford, where manchester united host fulham. united's new signings, mattias de ligt and noussair mazraoui, will be in the squad. manager erik ten hag is concerned his team aren't ready. the new players have onlyjust arrived and he says he has injury concerns across several key positions. it is not able to play those who are not available. last season was about the players who are available and we had a

good group and can make a strong selection and put out a strong team and that is what we will do. ipswich are back in the top division for the first time in 22 years — they'll begin their campaign at home to liverpool on saturday. they managed to keep hold of their highly rated manager kieran mckenna — and are set to strengthen with a loan move for manchester city's kalvin phillips. but the players know what awaits, with tough matches to open their season. we are not naive to think it will be plain sailing. it will probably be one of the biggest challenges we have is a football club. it will eclipse what we did last year which is to get into the premier league. we also have massive belief in our manager and our teammates as well to the able to compete and compete well at that level. ipswich have been given a boost with the news that one of their biggest and most famous fans has bought a minority stake in the club. singer ed sheeran, who's been the team's main

shirt sponsor since 2021, has bought 1.4% of the portman road club. so the part of the build—up to any new premier league season is to familiarise ourselves with all the new faces. these are the most expensive imports from outside the english top flight so far. nearly £2.5 billion was spent on transfers last summer. this time around, just £1.5 billion. still a lot. and there are just over two weeks before the window closes. half of the biggest ten deals to be done were by premier league clubs selling players, with the most money changing forjulian alvarez to join atletico madrid. in fact, despite being one of the richest clubs in the world, manchester city have made a transfer profit this summer because of that deal and the only team lower than them in the premier league spending table is liverpool, whose outlay is zero. it has been remarkably slow but actually the combination of a couple of windows where everything has been slowing down because of profit and sustainability rates. the

charges we saw clubs last season and the way the clubs are now battling to balance their profit loss balance sheets. is that the future then? ebbs and flows depending on how much you spend? it should have been and when it was first introduced we | were expecting to see a slowdown or more control for players out in order for players to come in. we've not seen that but those regulations are starting to hit home with the penalties for everton and nottingham forest last season and there is a much more cautious market. next year there will be a change when they go to a different form. tottenham have suspended yves bissouma for their opening premier league game at leicester on monday after footage appeared to show the midfielder inhaling laughing gas. bissouma has apologised for his actions after he posted a video of him online inhaling from a balloon. but spurs boss ange postecoglou says the midfielder needs to rebuild trust between him and the squad.

he has responsibilities, responsibility of the club and responsibility to his teammates, responsibility to our supporters and everyone associated with the club and he has failed in those duties so they must be sanctions for that. he will not be available for monday and we have suspended him from monday's game but beyond that there is also some trust building that needs to happen between he and i and he and the crew and that is what he needs to work hard out from now on to and win that back. the women super league in england is regarded as one of the world's best — but over in italy, ac milan have recently introduced the groundbreaking policy for all female players and staff and will offer a contract renewal to their pregnant players with a one—year extension. the italian team's captain is scotland international christy grimshaw, and she hopes it can spark more change in the women's game. the choice of being a mother or being a player is one that in the past, definitely, many

women had to take. to be granted this opportunity where an enormously, there are many other options and other policies have been introduced as well but this one really feels extra special. jack draper came back from a set down to beat world number 11 stefanos tsitsipas at the cincinatti open — the british number one taking the round of 32 victory 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. there was a big shock as the fourth seed daniil medvedev was knocked out. he was beaten byjiri lehecka 7—6, 6—4. a great result for czechia's lehecka — who'd only returned to court this week after being out for three months with a back injury. a shock too in the women's draw with second seed coco gauff knocked out — but no problems for the third seed aryna sabalenka.

she beat the italian elisabetta cocciaretto 6—3, 6—4 to book her place in the last 16 — where she'll face elina svitolina next. the australian breakdancer whose performance at the paris olympics was criticised, leading to an online petition calling for an investigation into her selection says the backlash has been devastating. rachel gunn, who's known as b—girl raygun, lost all three of her round robin battles without scoring. but she's received support from the australian olympic committee, who have condemned the petition, now signed by more than 50,000 people, as bullying and using falsehoods aimed at inciting hatred against her. she's asked for the press to stop harassing herfamily. i just want to start by thanking all the people who have supported me. i really appreciate the positivity and i am glad i was able to bring some joy into your lives. that is what i had hoped. i did not realise that that would also open the door to so much hate which is, frankly, has been pretty devastating. when i went

out there and i had fun. i did take it very seriously. now to a possible basketball star of the future, although he might have to grow a bit yet. six—year—old luther is already showing enough talent that he's caught the eye at a recent nba training camp in greece, as stuart pollitt reports from liverpool. he can dribble, he can dummy. and with a bit of help he can slamdunk. he has the moves and the ambition for a career in basketball. can you remember when you first started playing? at three. you were three when you first started? how good are you now? good. when he was three he picked up a ball and he has not been able

to put it down. we always say at dinnertime come and sit at the table and he just does not. he has to get up and dribble the ball around. former nba michael bradley spotted lou the's potential at a spring nba training school in greece. he will head back there in the summerfor one—on—one sessions. he does have a lot of skills. he was easy to work with. he understands the game. he has a high basketball iq and he knew what the skills were that were being taught. he advanced in his time here and you can tell by somebody�*s co—ordination and after two or three minutes of looking at him you can tell if they have potential but the potential will only take you so far and that is what i stress to these guys. he has always had dexterous fingers since it was a baby. he could play drums and when he touched a basketball, his fingertip control, he just had it. what do you like about basketball?

when you are shooting and dribbling. his father also coaches in an elite junior basketball programme which provides sporting opportunities in the area. we have free basketball sessions for everybody on friday night. it is funded by the merseyside police and we've just moved up the rankings for child poverty so we all field we are doing something important for the community in building a community. hundreds of kids pass through our doors every friday and just gives me a new found joy for the game. i cannot get enough. we have a fantastic day where we trained together and it is amazing. and with skills sharpening all the time, luther hopes for a big future on the court. 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. the summer holiday season is in full swing, and if you have plans for the weekend, well, it looks likely that the weather is going to behave itself. it will be largely dry, sunny and pretty warm. now, we have got a little bit of rain clearing away from the south and east as we speak and this area of low pressure to the far north—west. that's at risk of driving in a few isolated showers, chiefly to the north—west of the great glen, and here, a brisk wind with it as well. but elsewhere, a lot of sunshine. any early morning residual cloud will ease away from the kent coast. the sunshine break through and temperatures should peak between 15 and 20 degrees in the north, highs of 25 in the south. that comes at a cost if you are a hay fever sufferer.

certainly across england and wales, we are likely to see high pollen levels through friday afternoon. but as we go into the start of the weekend, we'll have clear skies across england and wales. still a bit more of a breeze and a few isolated showers to the far north—west. but that means during the early hours of saturday morning, under those clear skies, temperatures will fall away to single figures in a few spots. so a slightly fresher, more comfortable night for sleeping. but we've got high pressure building in from the south and west, quietening things down. again, that low to the far north could still drive in just one or two isolated showers, but on the whole, it's a dry picture for many of us through the weekend. we will be chasing cloud amounts around, particularly with that south—westerly wind. some cloud lapping onto west—facing coasts. here, not quite as warm, but these temperatures are where they should be really for this time of year, ranging generally from mid—teens in the north to the mid 20s in the south. then on sunday, scattered showers

are likely to be continuing into the far north and west, maybe one or two through the irish sea — very fleeting, few and far between. we keep the sunshine for most. and once again, if you are planning any outdoor activities, the weather should behave itself then into next week. there is a potential for weather fronts to push its way into the far north—west. just how much rain we'll have in the south—east corner is really subject to question. here is where we're likely to see the driest of the weather, but a little more unsettled further north and west, and as a result, not quite as warm. bye— bye.

live from washington, this is bbc news talks for a ceasefire in the israel—gaza war are expected to continue into a second day. it comes as health officials in gaza report more than 40,000 people dead after ten months of fighting. and the kremlin plots its response to ukraine's offensive into russia's kursk region. plus, five people are charged in the overdose death of friends star matthew perry. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you are very welcome.

talks for a gaza ceasefire and hostage—release deal will reportedly continue into a second day. high—level delegations from qatar, egypt, and the united states are in doha trying to broker a peace agreement between israel and hamas and which they hope will prevent a wider war. a us official said thursday saw a "constructive" first day of talks and that they will resume friday. our middle east correspondent wyre davies is injerusalem and spoke about the continuing talks. that in itself is a sign of progress but do not expect hostages to be released overnight. do not expect there to be a ceasefire overnight. these are very much talks about talks, about the framework to move on because the one thing that everybody in the region of fears is that the talks in qatar will collapse and that will allow iran or permit iran to follow through with its vow, with its promise to follow through with military action in response to the assassinations, assumedly by israel, which took place in iran and southern lebanon of a senior hamas figure and a senior hezbollah figure.