barcelona win on aggregate to reach the copper the lorraine semi—final. —— copa della rej. woods makes his return to competitive golf after a year out with injury hello and welcome to the programme where we start with tennis news with the australian open reaching its climax in melbourne. on thursday marin cilic secured the first of the places in the men's final while the women's final line—up was confirmed with the top two seeds set to face off as austin halewood reports on paper it looked like it was going to be one of the clashes of the tournament and the match itself did not disappoint. world number one at simona halep against angelique kober. it was the top seed the race to an early lead. the kerber serve rack and twice as simona halep took

the first set. despite the defence at the back of the court, kerber found her way through. at one set all, it was then the real match began. matchpoint saved kerber by. with matchpoint miss by the german as well, at 87 at the ara finally came. simona halep going through to the final. confidence is very high and the fact that i have played so many matches and i have spent so many matches and i have spent so many hours on court but the fact that i have won this match and i can play the final again. world number 37 was trying to cause an upset in the other semi—final. she was taking on world number two caroline was the aki he was never one grand slam final before but you would not know it. despite a brief wobble, the

world number two found her best game in the tiebreak. the second seed through to the final on saturday with not only a grand slam title on the line but also the number one ranking. it is another final, another great two weeks and regardless of what happens now, i have done my best and on saturday you have everything to win. in the men's draw, the fairytale tournament for england's kyle edmund came to an end. semi—final against for england's kyle edmund came to an end. semi—finalagainst marin for england's kyle edmund came to an end. semi—final against marin cilic was a step too far. the croatian was rarely challenged in the first. the second more competitive. marin cilic two experienced and in the end, too good. taking the match in straight sets to book his place in a second grand slam final out of three.

marin cilic is waiting for the winner of the second final between roger federer and hyeon chung. and the contrast in experience could hardly be greater. federer — who beat tomas berdych to reach the last four — is the defending champion, and remains on course to win a record—extending 20th major. he's aiming to reach a 30th grand slam final and this will be his 43rd semi—final. by contrast chung is playing in his first grand slam semi—final. in fact, it's the first time he's made it past the third round of a major. the world number 58, who beat novak djokovic and both zverev brothers to reach the last four, still can't believe he through to the semis, but knows he'll have plenty of suppport back home. i think all the people watching the australian open now because we have made history in korea. a really do

not know i made the semis, i beat good players and they were playing in the grand slams a lot. lam very i am very excited to play chung a 40 played an incredible match to be novak djokovic. it is one of the tough fence to do in our sport. i believe novak was not 100% but he was right and was giving it a fight until the end and to close it out, that was mighty impressive. holders barcelona are through to the semi—finals of the copa del rey. they overturned a first leg deficit against their city rivals espanyol to seal their place in the last four. luis suarez scored for barca after only nine minutes — to wipe out espanyol‘s i—nil lead from the opening leg. midway through the first half,

lionel messi made it 2—nil — and that put barcelona ahead in the tie for the first time. espanyoljust needed to score one to go through on away goals, but barcelona held on to win 2—1 on aggregate — and they join leganes, sevilla and valencia in friday's draw. a former manager at real madrid wasjose mourinho who on thursday committed his future to manchester united after signing a contract extension until 2020. he's been preparing his team for their fa cup fourth round tie with fourth tier yeovil town on friday night. and facing the media prior to that announcement, mourinho praised the deal done to bring alexis sanchez from arsenal, something he called a great bit of business for both clubs. in the premier league, he has shown a ready the quality he has so we have one of the best technical attacking players in the world and i think united made a fantastic deal, arsenal make a fantastic deal. i got fantastic player and arsene wenger

got a fantastic player. he changed from a fantastic club so it was a great dealfor from a fantastic club so it was a great deal for everybody. tiger woods made his competitive return to golf on thursday at the farmers insurance open at torrey pines in california — 12 months after he last appeared on the pga tour, at this event. woods opened up with a level par round of 72. he's 7 shots behind the leader tony finau. welshman jamie donaldson was on course to shoot the first ever 59 on the european tour before having to settle for a io—under—par 62 in the ist round of the dubai desert classic. he's still top of the leaderboard — one shot clear of england's anthony hall and david horsey. spain's defending champion sergio garcia and northern ireland's rory mcilroy, continuing to make his comeback, are also in contention.

rob heath reports. just as the skyscrapers appear, rory mcilroy seems determined to call his way back to the top of the world. he is currently ranked 11th after an injury plagued season but steadily, his rebuilding his game. he finished tied third in abu dhabi. even in the shade, the outcome was invariably right. he heads into round two tied third. it is nice to be excited to go into play and excited to be in a tournament. i feel really enthusiastic and i am really happy in with where my head is at the moment. in contrast, sergei garcia had a 2017 not worth remembering. ——

to remember. he started solidly. five shots off the pace. the new kid on the block, tommy fleetwood is now at europe's number one player not that he's prepared to rest on his laurels he is lurking. but fleetwood and the rest are looking up to jamie donaldson with a round of 59 without having to make do with 62. a towering performance all the same. staying with golf brooke henderson of canada leads after the first round of the lpga classic in the bahamas. she carded a 5—under—par 68 — and she's one shot clear of the field. there are two players in a tie for second place — australia's sarah—jane smith, who briefly led the tournament outright. and luna sobron galmes of spain — who ended the day alongside smith on 4—under—par. one of the shots of the day was this effort from michelle wie. an eagle at the par 5 11th was the highlight on her way

to a level par round of 73. she's five shots off the lead. the third and final cricket test between south africa and india resumes later on friday. south africa have already won the series. this match has been exciting despite being low scoring. the indian bowlers dominated in the same way south african bowlers had dominated on the first day. that is a bout all we have time for. don't forget for anything else go to the website. from me and the superb sports team it is bye—bye. hello.

friday will be the coldest day of the week but, with lighter winds, most of us seeing some sunshine at some stage of the day. our perception may well be, as we are in between weather systems with lots of dry weather, it's the most pleasant weather day of the week but weather fronts are coming in for the weekend as we will show you in a moment. this is how it looks for early risers. a few showers dotted about through parts of england and wales. and cold enough for a touch of frost where you've been clear for any period of time overnight, particularly across parts of scotland, into northern ireland and maybe north—west england, some spots in wales as well. a few fog patches into northern ireland to begin the day will take a few hours to clear. and as i mentioned, a few showers dotted about, particularly through central and eastern parts of england. very hit and miss. by no means for everybody will catch one, but be aware that is a possibility first thing in the morning. we are more likely to be seeing some sunny spells once the sun is up into wales and south—west england.

some spots will be around four or five degrees for 8 o'clock in the morning. not going to get too much higher during the day, but as you can see there's a fair amount of sunshine around. though, even though the showers are going to clear away from central and eastern england, some of us will have more cloud compared with thursday. even here, a few sunny spells coming through into the afternoon. fairly light winds, and as you see, temperatures top around 4—5 degrees in scotland. 7—9 in northern ireland, england and wales. going into the evening, the breeze picks up. we get outbreaks of rain into northern ireland scotland, and that pushes further east as we go through friday and into sunday morning. the lowest temperatures will be in the east. there could be a touch of frost developing in places that have been clear overnight. here is the big picture into the weekend. weather fronts coming in. as you can see, initially through western parts, with some heavier bursts

as the day begins. it also all starts to move eastwards. in england, early sunshine, outbreaks of rain pushing into the afternoon. just touching into northern scotland. a milder day there. the wind picks up even further on saturday night and into the first by the sunday across the far north. there could be some severe gales. still a lot of cloud on sunday, with patchy rain across western parts. heavy rain in northern scotland. mild and windy. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the un warns one and a half million people are "on the brink of famine" in south sudan. violence is forcing farmers to flee, and slowing the supply of aid. president trump is accused of leading the middle east

towards chaos after he warns the palestinians he'll cut aid unless they co—operate with the us. casey affleck pulls out of presenting an award at next month's oscars. he's been under pressure over claims of sexual harassment. which he denies. and rewriting our origins. a new discovery suggests humanity could have a much longer, more dramatic history.