hello. i'm gavin ramjaun. and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: barcelona want a piece of neymar again. this time, they are sueing the brazilian for millions over alleged breach of contract. england will face a showdown with new zealand in the women's world cup final thanks to a hard—fought victory over france. and a former olympic cross country skiing champion has her ban extended for using steroids in her lip balm. welcome to the programme. barcelona are suing neymar for at least ten million dollars for alleged breach of contract. barca are demanding he return the loyalty bonus paid after he renewed his deal with the catalan side in october last year. that was before he left for paris st germain earlier this month in a world record transfer worth $261 million. the club is also chasing an additional 10% in interest payments for a delay in payment. in a statement the club said: "barcelona have taken these actions in defence of their interests, after neymar‘s contract

was rescinded just a few months after he signed on until 2021." spanish football journalist, eduardo alvarez, told the bbc earlier that the lawsuit was something pending in the background. the sue happened in august the 11th. barcelona went to the judge just ten days ago and made the sue. so it is probably that neymar got news that he was being sued and answered through the media. now, barcelona have made public for everyone to see that they have already put action against neymar. specifically, this barcelona management has gone after others likejohn

barcelona management has gone after others like john la barcelona management has gone after others likejohn la porta. it is ha rd others likejohn la porta. it is hard for them to overcome when something goes wrong. this isjust another example. i don't think this will solve any of the issues of barcelona. out of principle, it would be better to let the matter go away. this sue only makes the neymar issue more important than it needs to be for them. it is not only the fa ns to be for them. it is not only the fans that are certainly frustrated, but also the coach, other staff, they wanted reinforcement and nothing has happened. nothing memorable. theyjust got 200 million euros. they want someone top—class. asi euros. they want someone top—class. as i was saying, specifically, this management of barcelona, it is doing very poorly in the past few years. it seems like the fans are now reaching a boiling point and are fed up reaching a boiling point and are fed up with the way this management is

doing things. now, napoli secured a 2—0 win over french ligue one side nice to make the champions league group stages. and they werejoined by the scottish champions celtic. but astana gave them a real scare earlier on tuesday when they launched a fightback in the second leg of their champions league play—off. the khazakstan champions put on four goals, with a double for patrick twumasi. but olivier ntcham and leigh griffiths made sure celtic survived to go through to the lucrative group stage. two—time champions, guangzhou evergrande, face an early exit from the asian champions league, after losing the first leg to shanghai sipg 4—0 on tuesday. two goals from wu lei and one from hulk put shanghai on the brink of a first semi—final. the second leg is in september. iran's persepolis came from two goals down, to draw 2—2 with saudi arabia's al—ahli in their first leg. england will play new zealand in the women's rugby world cup final this weekend. it's after they beat france 20—3, in the later game in belfast on tuesday. emily scarratt landing two penalties

and two conversions. the world cup holders will defend their title against the number one ranked side in the world, after they saw off the challenge of the usa. katherine downes was there for us. england are through to a second successive world cup final, beating france in the end, 23 points — three. it was so tight in the first half. just one kick a piece. three each on the board at half—time. in the second half, england gradually pulled away. first a try by sarah to give some daylight between england and france. and then at the final whistle, england pounced on the poll to get the 20— three victory. —— ball. and able verse new zealand after beating the usa in the earlier

final today. the scoreline was 45— 12. it was another very tight semi—final. much more tight than people expected from the usa. they really put up a fight against the mighty black ferns. it was very close at half—time, but gradually, new zealand found a second gear and pulled ahead to get to the final as well. it is the fairy tale semi—final everyone wanted to see in belfast on saturday. the top two teams in the world, england against new zealand, going head for the title. i cannot wait for that. norwegian cross—country skier therese yohawg's doping ban has been extended by five months, ending her hopes of competing in the olympic games next february, in pyeongchang. a warning, there is flash photography in the pictures we are about to show you. norway's olympic committee originally banned yo—hawg for 13 months, after she tested positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, last september, but the international skiing federation called for an extension. translation: i want to start by

saying i am crushed. my dream was to compete in the olympics, something i was told last night i would not be allowed to do. i have tried to the best of my ability is due get through the situation, training very ha rd every through the situation, training very hard every day to reach success. so this is really hard. i cannot understand the punishment i have received. i feel that it is unjust and that i have been treated unfairly. this is a hard mental challenge. i have said i will not quit until i will be able to compete again. i still live by this, but i don't know how my motivation will be in the coming time. less than five days until the fight between multi—weight boxing champion, floyd mayweather, and ufc fighter, conor mcgregor. mayweather is unbeaten after a boxing career that spans over 20 years. mcgregor has never fought in the square circle as a professional. mayweather‘s uncle, jeff, who fought as a pro and now trains

boxers, believes his nephew's pedigree will show. it is not a fight. it is an event. it is not a fight. it is an event. it is not a fight. it is an event. it isa it is not a fight. it is an event. it is a situation where you have a quy it is a situation where you have a guy who has done this is whole entire life. conor mcgregor did it once at one point in his life. but he did not master it. floyd mayweather is a master at this. he is one of the best fighters to ever put on a pair of gloves. he has taken months to prepare for it. so he is basically the best pound for pound fighter of this era. should he even be in the ring with floyd mayweather? not really. why is he in the ring with him? he is great at putting himself there. everyone knows what this fight is about, it is about money. it is not about who was going to win and who is going to lose. floyd mayweather has everything to lose. everything that he has done could go down the drain.

he has beat hall of famers pack a punch, guys that are bigger, stronger. there has been a big shock on the second day of the world badminton championships. three—time olympic silver—medallist lee chong wei is out after losing his opening match. the malaysian had been amongst the favourites to take the men's singles title in glasgow this week. nick hope is following the action for us. lee chong wei was hoping glasgow 2017 would finally be the tournament where he got a major gold medal. he got silver three times in his career and olympic silver a further three times, as you mentioned. but it was not to be. the 34—year—old survived two match points in the second set. the last of those on an appeal. it looked as if the momentum would go his way. the frenchman would not be stopped. he went to a 21— 17 victory

in the decider. i can play with no stress. i know lee chong wei, i know iam the stress. i know lee chong wei, i know i am the big—time underdog, but with pressure on myself i have to play well. i thought i would play my game. you can do it. it happened. well. i thought i would play my game. you can do it. it happenedlj did game. you can do it. it happened.” did not play so well. i did not play so did not play so well. i did not play so well today. i just did not play so well. i did not play so well today. ijust tried my best. today was very lucky. no such problems for china's olympic champion in the event, shen long, who beat her opponent in straight sets. the women's singles will number one from japan remains on course for gold in glasgow, clinching denmark in the opening round. lee chong wei's opening defeat was clearly the story in glasgow. with the fellow legend, lin dan, of china, going towards the end of his career, this could be known asa

of his career, this could be known as a changing of the guard in the men's singles tennis. that is it for me. 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. hi there. yesterday was a pretty humid day, wasn't it? we did have some sunshine coming through. the best in southwest england, temperatures climbing to 25 degrees in bute. it was not sunny everywhere, a couple of inches of rain in northern ireland, 15 millimetres in just four hours in county tyrone. rain not just heavy but also thundery. thunderstorms rumbling north—east across northern ireland through the night. to the start of friday, the band of rain has moved away from northern ireland and into scotland. a soggy start with some wet weather swinging into north—west england. mild and muggy to start for many of us, 16—17 degrees. wet weather still with us for a good part of the morning across scotland. for eastern areas, low cloud with fog patches around the coast and hills. an improving picture

in northern ireland. cloud breaking to give some sunny spells. starting to see things a bit brighter nibbling in across south—west of wales and south—west england as well. time to see what happens through the rest of wednesday. this area of cloud and rain is tied in with this weather front. slowly pushing eastwards across the country. ahead of that front, warm and muggy air across east anglia and south—east england. if the sunshine comes out through the cloud, it could become very warm. generally, the weather turning a bit fresher from the west as the day goes by. temperatures getting into the low 20s, perhaps even mid—

20s in the warmest areas in the west. further east, we could see highs of 27. to get that, we need some sunshine. 27 would be the hottest day of august so far. wednesday night, rain taking a while to clear from north—east scotland. through the night, showers from north—western areas. a fresh night, temperatures 13—14 fairly widely. the picture through thursday, a north—west, south—east split. a flat ridge of high pressure in the south, keeping weather largely dry for southern areas on thursday. close to the low pressure in the north—west, seeing a number of showers affecting northern ireland, scotland and the north—west of england. at times, those showers could merge in northern ireland, becoming a long flow with the winds. could be lengthy in places. friday, chances of rain across the west of the uk. the driest and sunniest weather across southern and eastern areas. that's your forecast. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to

oui’ welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a special report from yemen, where millions face starvation because of a saudi—led blockade. president trump wants afghan security forces to lead the fight against the taliban — but how ready are they to do that? as suspects in the barcelona attack appear in court, police reveal much bigger assaults were being planned. "numb and confused": princes william and harry talk to the bbc about the days after their mother's death, 20 years ago.