major winners spieth and koepka among the first round leaders at the open golf. one step closer. chris froome on the brink of a fourth tour de france title after stage 18. india beat six—time champions australia by 36 runs to reach the women's world cup final. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. the 146th open championship at royal birkdale is underway and it's been a fantastic opening day for us golf fans. there's a three—way tie at the top of the leaderboard and america's jordan spieth is there with his compatriots matt kuchar and us open champion brooks koepka. austin halewood was watching the action. it is the one everyone wants to win. golf's oldest major macro, the open championship. what with the biggest prize comes the biggest challenge. not for america's charley hoffman, who had just about the best start. and eagle on the first. in typically

british conditions, it was englishman ian poulter who set the early pace with his best start to a major, three under for the day. henrik stenson played some of the best golf the open championship has seen, but as defending champion it was a modest first round. despite this tee shot on the 70 finished just a shot underpar. but the first day was all about the americans. jordan spieth leading from the front. after winning back—to—back majors in 2015, he hasn't hit the same heights since, but he was back on song at birkdale, especially on the greens. and by lunchtime on day one at five under without dropping a shotjordan spieth was the man to catch. newly crowned us open champion brooks wasn't far behind,

digging his way out of trouble and need to share of the lead at five under. into the afternoon as the weather improved so did the goal. matt kuchar racing out of the blocks, four under after his first six. another american sharing the lead. rory mcilroy was paired with world number one dustin johnson. lead. rory mcilroy was paired with world number one dustinjohnson. a dream for fans but around that turned into a nightmare for rory mcilroy. bogey on the opening hole. that was his first of five in just the first few holes. but with a much better back nine, he managed to keep himself in contention, just. so let's take a look at the leaderboard following the end of the opening day's play. spieth, kuchar and koepke on five under, one ahead of england's paul casey and former masters champion charl schwartzel.

while four time major winner rory mcilroy as we heard in austin's report is six off the lead. the rest of the field will be at the mercy of the weather two and it could get interesting according to bbc weather man philip avery. the weather on day one to give the players are relatively easy ride. whether you are playing or spectating on the second day it looks as though friday is going to bea looks as though friday is going to be a real tester right throughout the day and for those who survived the day and for those who survived the cut and make it on into the weekend, the conditions for another test of another variety. the showers are there right from the word go, perhaps merging together through the day to give longer spells of rain. some of that quite sharp. the wins will be ever present. players will play both the course and those

conditions. saturday, a mixture of sunny spells and showers. there won't be so much wind, but it will be from a different direction. i suspect the caddies will be checking those yardages again. on sunday a of sunny spells and showers, but again the wind is from a different direction. if the players want to hang around and save the local delights on monday it will be a lovely day. one very happy defending champion in the shape of britain's chris froome after stage 18 of the tour de france. the team sky rider taking a giant step towards what would be an incredible fourth title at the oldest and most prestigious of the grand tours. this was billed as the last realistic chance for chris froome‘s rivals to wrestle the yellow jersey from him. they didn't come close. that climb was timed perfectly to ta ke that climb was timed perfectly to take his biggest win on the day he secured an unassailable lead. but

behind him they never looked close to having chris froome and team sky on the ropes. but they had a go. the pair had to chase the yellowjersey near the end. chris froome now leads by 23 seconds in the overall standings, with a run deferred at 29 seconds. it'll be an england versus india final at the women's cricket world cup, after the indians beat defending champions australia by 36 runs. a victory set up by an astonishing innings from harmanpreet kaur who smashed 20 boundaries and seven sixes on her way to an unbeaten 171. the highest score by an india player at a world cup and there was a big—hitting cameo from alex blackwell, which gave the aussies hope, but they were bowled out for 2115 with 11 balls left. paul frostick rounds up the action ina in a match reduced to 42 overs because of rain, india won the toss and batted first. they slipped to 35

for two in the 10th over. harmanpreet kaur was the mainstay of india's innings. is she struck an unbeaten 171, the fifth highest score in women's odis. it began badly for the aussies. beth mooney went for one in the second over. then this player was caught and bowled 413. but, like india, they did find some form. this pair shared a century partnership for the fourth wicket. when their wickets fell australia still required 142 more i’u ns australia still required 142 more runs from 95 balls. alex blackwell did her best to carry them across the line. but it was a target too far. she was the last to fall. india are through to their second women's world cup final.

manchester united'sjesse lingard says they will be challenging for major honours this season. striker romelu lukaku has been added to a squad that won the europa league and league cup last season, whilst even more will be expected of home grown talent like marcus rashford and lingard, who's been speaking to us about staying grounded. ijust think i'm a normal person. i can walk on the street, play football with the kids. it is good to give back to them because when we we re to give back to them because when we were young we were looking up to the stars, the stars of football, so it's always good to give back. you know, it's a great feeling. what

about marcus rashford 7 know, it's a great feeling. what about marcus rashford? he's only 19. it's frightening. he will be coming in the three years. he is so good. we will obviously fill out a bit more, so he will be frightening and wonderful in a few years. he will be a challenge for the major trophies. i can't see why we can't go all the way. we got a strong enough squad to go on and do it this season. i think it's all about belief and, you know, oui’ it's all about belief and, you know, our coach put about belief in us. we have a great team spirit. our staff and players. i don't see why we can't go all the way. the africa cup of nations will be expanded from 16 teams to 24 for the 2019 edition in cameroon, although a decision on whether to move the tournament tojune and july is yet to be ratified at a meeting in morocco. the timing of the nations cup has long been contentious, as it's played injanuary

and february, which clashes with the european season. cameroon won this year's tournament despite several of their european based players refusing to play. the tournament will continue to be held every two years. two—time champions norway are on the brink of elimination from the women's euro 2017 taking place in the netherlands after a surprise 2—0 defeat by belgium. having lost their opening match to hosts the netherlands, who kept their 100 record at the tournament courtesy of a shereeda spitse from the penalty spot after 20 minutes. they beat the danes 1—0. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. a number of schools have just started their long summer break but i'm afraid right on cue we have low pressure bringing disturbed weather rather than the big area of high—pressure settling things down nicely, encouraging you to get away to the seaside or out into the fresh air.

what does that low pressure mean? first up it means a wet and windy start across the western side of the british isles. further east is not a cold start, but a dry and fine one, with sunshine for the east of england and the north of scotland. right from the word go the winds will be really quite noticeable. gusts inland could push towards 30—40 mph and there will be showers if not longer spells of rain. dry further east, right up to the eastern side of the pennines. not wall—to—wall sunshine but a good deal drier. northern ireland, an atrocious start if you're out on the roads. an awful lot of surface water and spray around and a fair breeze as well. the north of scotland, having had such a wet end to thursday, well, a glorious start to the new day on friday. all the while that low pressure churns away very slowly, just sitting over the southern parts of the republic of ireland and that weather front is really struggling to make meaningful eastward progress.

so that's good news for the eastern side of england, but it will turn and stay very wet indeed for a good part of northern ireland well into the afternoon and wales, down into the south—west. that will be a really tough day at the office for both golfers and spectators alike for the second day of the open. a lot of cloud around and i think the early showers will to be longer spells of rain. the breeze there all the while. the cause of the low pressure, heavy showers around. breezy for a time. there will be drier interludes as well. not a write—off by any means. here we are on saturday. breezy in the circulation of the low and that's where we have the bulk of the showers. maybe a rumble of thunder. a scattering of showers developing further north of england and wales, up into the borders of scotland and northern ireland. the further east you are the drier it will be and in the north of scotland make the most of saturday

because he is sunday. an onshore wind and this is rain rather than showers. the showers are there to be had further south across many parts. not everybody gets to see them, but the odd one thrown in there will be heavy. a lot of cloud at lords and the chance of a shower. unbroken play throughout the day, i think that's very unlikely indeed. enjoy your weekend. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: after nine years injail — us football star oj simpson is granted early release from his thirty—three year prison sentence for armed robbery. the political crisis in venezuela continues — one person is killed during street protests in support —— three people are killed during street protests in support

of a nation—wide strike. chester bennington — the lead singer of us rock group linkin park — dies in an apparent suicide. and digging up dali — one of the greatest surrealist painters — salvador dali's body is exhumed in a paternity case.