and we catch up with world heavyweight champion joseph parker 11 days before his showdown with anthonyjoshua. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that the head of world cycling says there's unlikely to be a resolution over chris froome‘s salbutamol case before the start of the giro d'italia in may. froome, who's seeking his third successive grand tour title, returned a positive test for elevated levels of the drug ahead of winning la vuelta a espana last september. the investigation has been ongoing for over six months with uci president david lappartient stating his inclusion in the race which begins injerusalem would be a disaster for the sport while the case remains open. froome continues to deny wrongdoing over the adverse drugs test. meanwhile, over the adverse drugs test. doctor richard mclars the meanwhile, doctor richard mclaren, the author of the key report into russian state—sponsored doping, says

there are exemptions shouldn't be scrapped in sport, but in exclusive interview with david ornstein, mclaren said he does believe the system is being abused. therapeutic use exemptions is an area of abuse for sure and it needs correction and it needs correction on the medical side in terms of how actually provided, and it needs correction on the athletes‘ side in terms of don‘t use your material thatis terms of don‘t use your material that is prescribed beyond what the prescription provides for. if it‘s puffs and an inhaler, three puffs only and any more is a doping infraction. retroactive tues are unacceptable, except when it‘s an emergency, that‘s understandable. you need to have a retroactive tue. but otherwise i think it‘s a necessary pa rt but otherwise i think it‘s a necessary part of the system and what we need to do is be more rigourous in how it is used.

welsh footballers are in china ahead of their opening match of the china cup and star attraction gareth bale was given a rapturous reception from local fans was given a rapturous reception from localfans eager to was given a rapturous reception from local fans eager to capture a glance of the welsh forward. there‘s flash photography in tomos daffyd‘s report. bale—mania has reached china. here in china there is no doubting gareth bale‘s popularity. for one of world football‘s biggest stars, this chaos is the norm. and for the organisers of the china cup, his presence here in valuable. he arrived a day later after his teammates because of club commitments but for these fans it was worth the wait. how was it to meet gareth bale? very exciting. very emotional. cristiano ronaldo, messi and nxt is bale. top three for

me. playing to the pitch, bale made it to the stadium for i‘m takes‘s training session. hear his team will ta ke training session. hear his team will take on china on thursday but the players admit they don‘t know much about their hosts. we haven't looked too much at them yet but we are looking at clips and that‘s what training will be focused on today, how we play against them. organisers of the china cup say having a side of the china cup say having a side of the china cup say having a side of the welsh‘s stature can only raise the profile of their national team. having the likes of gareth bale and ryan giggs here has certainly caught the public imagination with all 60,000 tickets sold for thursday‘s and at. tomos daffyd reporting. afghanistan‘s dream of playing at the 2019 cricket world cup is still alive after they beat the uae by five wickets in harare. khan took five wickets in harare. khan took five or gets. afghanistan collapsed 254—5 in reply

but a run partnership between naib and zadran helped them over the line. they still need to beat ireland by a big line. they still need to beat ireland bya big margin in their final game on friday and hope other results go their way. the time of the year when golf journalists again asked rory mcilroy if this is the year he wins at augusta. the masters is the only major which eludes the former note, world number one, afterward in his first pga tour a event since 2015 at the weekend, the timing couldn‘t be better with two weeks to go until augusta. i‘m happy with my game before the first major of the year. even if i hadn‘t won last year, to see the signs my game was in good shape would have been good enough to me going into augusta i was ready to play well. ipad three goes at

winning the slam, this will be my fourth. i‘ve played in 12 or 13 majors before i won the first one, you could say the first one was a bit more hard, i had a few more chances, you only get one chance a year at augusta. the last three yea rs year at augusta. the last three years it went 0k, year at augusta. the last three years it went ok, i played well, not well enough, hopefully i put the last piece of the puddle in there this year and get it done. whether he won last year or not he's always a force, he just needs to be healthy. just being rested, healthy and on the right path meant this year and going forward rory is rory. he should always be a favourite at any event. we‘re less than two weeks away from one of the biggest heavyweight boxing bouts in recent history. a unification fight between two unbeaten world champions. anthonyjoshua, holder of the ibf and wba titles — againstjoseph parker, the new zealander who has the wbo title. joshua‘s profile of course

famously rose after he beat wladimir klitsckho at wembley stadium last year — but what do we know about the man in the other corner? 0ur reporter alex gulrajani spent some time with parker during his training camp. 0ne one of new zealand‘s biggest sporting stars is about to go global and that‘s beenjoseph parker‘s plan since he first put on a pair of boxing gloves. my dad will be holding up his hand, punch, punch, punch, that‘s probably my first memory. i‘ve always wanted it to be a career, this is bridgey cool, getting to beat up on some people, released the anger. and he‘s donejust released the anger. and he‘s done just that, working released the anger. and he‘s donejust that, working his way to world champion status. but the work is now done away from home, his base is in the us working with trainer kevin barry and his family. moving out of new zealand, i‘m close

to my family, that was the hardest pa rt to my family, that was the hardest part but what made it easier was kevin‘s family treated me like family. having a family environment was important to keep me relaxed and calm, when it comes to training we know what we have to do, we are focused, we know what we have to achieve but when we are at home, fun and games, pranks, a lot of laughter and games, pranks, a lot of laughter and joy. it is here in henderson, nevada wherejoseph and joy. it is here in henderson, nevada where joseph parker and joy. it is here in henderson, nevada wherejoseph parker is preparing for the biggest fight of his life, just ten miles from las vegas, the fight capital of the world, but his attention is on the united kingdom and unifying the heavyweight division. a short carjourney to his other american home, the boxing gym, here the walls are adorned with special times gone by but now the focus is on the future and anthonyjoshua. i‘m looking forward to it. it‘sjust going to be a great atmosphere, a great experience, just more excited. not nervous, not scared, just looking forward to fighting for

other people, fighting a great challenge in anthonyjoshua and hopefully putting on the best performance of my life too. this is a big fight for heavyweight boxing. this is a fight that we need. we need to see champions fighting champions. this is what the boxing world needs. this is an exciting fight against two real exciting fight against two real exciting young prospects who are getting better and better and boater, both who have titles, both who are prepared to put it all on the line. after training at another shortjourney, this time to the cryotherapy centre, the only place to find snow in the desert. parker hopes all this preparation will come together perfectly in the ring. hopes all this preparation will come together perfectly in the ringlj think i can cause a lot of trouble with the style that i bring. i think ican with the style that i bring. i think i can cause trouble with movement, with speed, with angles, with combination of punches but the most

important thing for me is to execute the plan. if i execute the plan that i know i can, i knowi the plan. if i execute the plan that i know i can, i know i can win, i know i can be victorious, i know i can geta know i can be victorious, i know i can get a good result. time will tell! and finally, how about this for a penalty kick? we think this mightjust about be the best we‘ve seen. the video was shared on social media by the former manchester united defender rio ferdinand. it‘s of a street football match in argentina and how about this for skill! nice use of the heel! i don‘t think i‘d like to try that one myself, though. it would take a bit of practice. just watch again. keeper‘s rubbish, ref, keeper‘s rubbish! 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. hello again.

tuesday brought us some beautiful, sunny weather across northern ireland and scotland. that‘s where the best of the sunshine was, and what a beautiful end to the day it was as well. this was the scene in 0ban, argyll and bute, looking out over the scottish islands as the sun set in the west. some changes, though, working in for wednesday. got some thicker cloud working into the north—west of the country. so, for scotland and northern ireland, a cloudier start to the day. some rain on the charts edging into western scotland as well. so for some, it will be a damper start as well. whereas further south, for england and wales, clearer skies overnight. well, that means, for early—risers, we‘ve got something like this. a widespread frost developing, even in the towns and cities.

head into the countryside and a really a cold start to the day. temperatures could be down as low as —6 in the coldest spots wales. a cold start then, yes, but beautiful sunny skies in england and wales for most of the morning. into the afternoon, cloud thickening from the north and west. sunshine will make the sun hazy elsewhere, but probably the thicker cloud won‘t reach the south—east until the evening time. further north a different story. cloudy with outbreaks of rain working into western scotland fairly quickly in the day. any rain not lasting long in northern ireland. but could be slow to clear in western scotland. eastern scotland will be prone to seeing occasional bright spells through the afternoon. and here, temperatures will lift into double figures, probably one of the warmest spots in the uk. even further south, those temperatures going up. and, crucially, we will have lost the bitter wind. looking at the weather picture for thursday, a decent start to the day for many of us, with some bright and sunny spells. we‘ve got a weather front coming in from the atlantic bringing heavy

rain to western areas later in the afternoon. also some pretty strong winds edging into wales and south—west england, where we could get gales developing around the coast later in the day. looking towards the end of the week, an area of cloud and rain pushing across the uk. and then another area of low pressure set to swing in off the atlantic and moving towards the south—west of the uk. some uncertainty about exactly how far north the band of rain gets. we may see a stronger area of low pressure develop, and if that happens, the rain might not get quite as far northwards. so, that is a possibility for friday. 9—11 for most of us. but the position of that rain is really important for the weather we‘ll have across scotland and northern ireland on saturday. at the moment, we‘re forecasting rain. but if the low pressure area is a bit more developed, it could be clear and a decent day on saturday with bright or sunny spells. as i say, quite a bit of uncertainty at the moment, but we will keep you posted. welcome to bbc news,

broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: facebook‘s problems get worse. politicians in europe and the us demand answers about alleged misuse of personal data. an incendiary device in the texan city of austin, but police say it‘s not related to a spate of bombings. a bbc investigation finds rohingya girls who fled violence in myanmar now trafficked into prostitution in bangladesh. and six months after hurricane maria, we find life is definitely not back to normal in puerto rico.