coming up on this programme: venus williams and sloane stephens are into a deciding set in their us open semi final. up next 20th seed coco vandewegheplays against her good friend madison keys and madison keyes complete the all american semi—final line up as they battle for the other place in saturday's decider. the premier league clubs vote to bring forward the closing date of the transfer window to before the season starts. and chris froome extends his lead in la vuelta a espana withjust three stages remaining. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the tennis news that the first of the women's us open finalists will be known shortly. two—time winner venus williams is playing american compatriot sloane stephens in what has been a compelling match, with the 24—year—old stephens winning the first set 6—1, before williams won the second without dropping a game. it without dropping a game. is currently two apiece ir

third it is currently two apiece in the third deciding set with advantage to venus williams on her own serve. the american theme continues shortly, with all the players from the usa in the last four for the first time since 1981. 20th seed coco vandeweghe plays against her good friend madison keys who's seeded 15th as both look to make a first ever grand slam final. venice last night said it very well, that the younger ones were looking at lindsey, jennifer, serena and venous and i think that is still... you know, we want it to be those same players in a later generation —— venus. you know, now that we are older we can actually put that into words but we all wanted to be there. imean, it i mean, it you know, it is really amazing, not only for myself but just for, you know, american tennis and... yeah, i am just for, you know, american tennis and... yeah, lam really excited and, you know, proud of all us for

getting this far and having it, you know, usa all the way. english premier league clubs have voted to shorten their summer transfer window. 1a of the 20 clubs voted to close the transfer window before the start of the season. it means they won't be able to buy players once the season has started, but they can still sell to clubs outside england until 31st august. here's our sports news correspondent, richard conway. all 20 premier league clubs have one ambition and that is to get their hands on this trophy on the end of the season but this decision to amend the transfer window says something else about their confidence. this is a bold decision to amend the summer transfer window. it shows that financially they can resist other offers from other clu bs, resist other offers from other clubs, they can act unilaterally to bring the day forward from the end of august to the middle of the month, two at thursday before the start of the season. the other

european leagues will have to sit up and take notice and decide perhaps in talks with uefa and fever ultimately about whether they follow suit, so too will the efl, the lower league clubs must make a decision about what they do, do they fall in line with the premier league and have a similar decision whereby they stop their trading, their purchasing certainly before the start of the season? premier league clubs made their decision very clear. they are going to go it alone and they have decided that they want to stop the trading and devote all their attention to the premier league season come attention to the premier league season come the thursday before the big kickoff. ben stokes took career best figures of six for 22 as england bowled west indies out for 123 on the opening day of the third test at lord's. but the hosts were struggling at stumps with bad light bringing the day to an end with them four wickets down for just 46 runs in response. 0ur sports correspondent joe wilson has more. well, you win the toss and you bat ina well, you win the toss and you bat in a test match, the default

position for captains around the world. but in england in september, with a very autumnal feel, the dark skies, floodlights on drizzle, bowling is a good option, and england enjoy that opportunity to bowl first, especially james anderson with a shiny red ball and dark skies, that is when he excels. conditions laid out, he will probably play test wicket until he is a0. two quick wickets before lunch and his historic 500th seemed inevitable. the reason he didn't get that today was because of ben stokes polling so well. among the other england bowlers perhaps he is the one with the skill set which is most similarto one with the skill set which is most similar to james anderson. certainly in these conditions. six wickets for him for 22 including a very good catch from james anderson in the slips, so 123 all out. england thought they were in control of the game. but you always have to bat as well in the test match and very quickly they lost four wickets with ongoing issues falling within batting, a failure to date for

westley a nd batting, a failure to date for westley and a reveillere forjoe root. two wickets for the west indies captain jason holder root. two wickets for the west indies captainjason holder before the end of play and i am sure he felt a lot better with his decision which he made at the toss. this match and series alive for sure. we believed and we check the forecast several times it would be the best day of the bat, win the toss, bat, and from my own career, i know some days it can be very flat and you get three or a00. and today, with a little in the wicket, it looks like something can happen every ball and clearly when england went into night, you know, guysjust don't want to go in and you are picking wickets at regular intervals, so it has made for an interesting day and as i say i am hopeful to boast a couple of more. it is still game on. it will be a great test match. bowling in the warmup this morning, the ball was swinging like it was. it wasn't surprising when obviously we saw how much the ball was doing. but you

know it was great conditions. it was overcast. and the lights came on. that obviously helps for any swing bowling. and special to be on the honours board again at lord's. yes, it is an amazing place to say that. it is the home of cricket. they can never take that away from you. special feeling to know that i am on there. nathan lyon starred for australia as they beat bangladesh by seven wickets to win the second test in chittagong and level the two match series 1—1. australia bowled out bangladesh forjust 157 in their second innings as lyon took figures of six for 60 giving him 13 wickets in the match. chasing just 86 for the win australia lost just three wickets and their next test series won't be until they face england in the ashes starting in brisbane on the 23rd of november. international cricket returns to pakistan next week for the first time in eight years. and on thursday, excited fans in lahore queued for hours to buy tickets for the independence cup twenty 20 series. since an attack on sri lanka's team bus in 2009, pakistan have been forced to play the bulk of their home games in the united arab emirates.

but next week lahore will host three t20 internationals between pakistan and an icc world xi — captained by south africa's faf du plessis, and led by the former england coach andy flower. pakistan are hoping the three—match series will encourage other countries to return to the country — to play all forms of the game. golf, and there's a three—way tie for the lead after the first round of the european masters at crans—sur—sierre in switzerland. the joint—leaders on 6—under—par include spain's miguel angel jimenez, who's looking for his first tour title in three years. australia's scott hend, and this man, tyrrell hatton, of england. they all opened up with a ga, and they're one shot ahead of the field overnight. the day began with a special presentation to the former world number one lee westwood to mark the fact he was playing in the 500th european tour event of his career. after the champagne and cake he went on to shoot a 1—over—par 71. there was a champagne moment, too, for the american daniel im. he hit a hole—in—one

at the par—three eighth on his way to a 66. he's a—under—par, two shots off the lead. drinks at the bar on that man! world number three lexi thompson overcame two bogeys to shoot a nine—under 63 on thursday morning to lead by a stroke after the opening round of the inaugural indy women in tech championship. played at the brickyard in indianapolis where the famous indy 500 race is held the course weaves through the famed motor speedway where the mode of transport by foot is a little bit slower than normal but the skill level is just as good in a different way with this second shot on the ninth by american thompson. former world number 0ne lydia ko of new zealand is also in the running sitting two shots off the lead thanks to chip shots like this one. the opening match of the new nfl season is under way.

tom brady's new england patriots are hosting the kansas city chiefs as they look to make it a third title in four years and start this season again as one of the favourites with quarterback brady still at the helm despite being a0 years of age. he has thrown the pass for the running back to get the touchdown and it is currently 7—0 in the opening quarter to the patriots. chris froome will take a lead of one minute and 37 seconds into friday's stage 19 of la vuelta a espana. the briton picked up 21 seconds on his nearest rival, vincenzo nibali of italy, as he looks to become the first rider since 1978 to win the tour de france and the vuelta in the same year. belgian sander armay won his first grand tour stage by 31 seconds but iit‘s froome who holds the upper hand heading into the 1a9.7km stage from the parque natural de redes to gijon. venus williams and sloane stephens are three apiece. the first set was

won by stephens, the second by venus. it is three all in the third set. that is enough from me. goodbye. hello. we're keeping our eye on three hurricanes in the caribbean. hurricanejose hot on the heels of hurricane irma, not quite as strong as irma but still the potential for damaging winds off the northern leeward islands over the weekend. hurricane irma is heading turks and caicos, heading towards cuba through friday, eventually florida by the weekend and hurricane katia in the gulf of mexico more a rain maker, with a lot of damaging wind. somewhat quieter over here at home but still an unsettled end to the week, thanks to this area of low pressure driving the weather. and there'll be strong winds

at times particularly across southern coastal counties and the north—west of scotland and northern ireland as well. here, there will be some showers from the word go. not quite so many showers here first thing tomorrow across the eastern side of scotland, maybe some sunshine coming through, but always a lot of cloud. and showers never too far away across northern england. there'll be some spells of sunshine coming through across northern parts of wales, but again there'll be showers here through the day. and the showers already getting going across south—west england and across the southern coastal counties of england. they will start to become a little bit more frequent and the rain more persistent. the showers merging, really, to give a longer spell of rain. so it's quite an unsettled feel to the end of the week. for many northern parts of england, parts of scotland and northern ireland, it's a day, really, of sunshine and showers. but for wales, southern and central parts of england, those showers, as i mentioned, becoming more frequent and merging togetherfor a longer spell of rain. you could well even catch a rumble of thunder during the afternoon. temperature no great shakes, really,

somewhere between 16 and 19 celsius for most. there'll be further heavy showers and longer spells of rain around tomorrow evening. slowly, we start to lose the energy, but there will be more showers around overnight, so nowhere reliably dry. but there should be some lengthy clear spells in between the showers. a slightly fresher night, lows of 11 or 12 celsius. but for most still in double figures. and it's still a fairly unsettled weekend with sunshine and showers i think should just about cover it on saturday. the emphasis more on dry weather and not as many showers. but again, nowhere reliably dry, and the temperatures still not much higher than 18 or 19 celsius. and we do it all again on sunday. many places should get off to a reasonably dry start, then in the north—west something unsettled is happening here with strengthening winds, and spells of rain, light to very heavy, sweeping across the country. the weekend here, yes, wet at times, rather cool and quiet, windy as well.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: hurricane irma devastates the islands of the eastern caribbean. barbuda and st martin pick up the pieces. irma heads for haiti and then florida where mass evacuations are ordered. an unfolding humanitarian disaster. families flee myanmar were buddhists are targeting rohingya muslim villages. and a special report on nightmarish conditions in a refugee camp in libya. hello. hurricane irma, one of the strongest storms ever