the german football association responds to mesut ozil's allegations of racism as he dramatically announces his international retirement. ryan lochte receives a ill—month doping ban after outing himself on social media. follow the leader, leader, leader — but who is leading team sky? we sit down with the top two in the tour de france. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. germany's football association has emphatically rejected allegations of racism from mesut ozil following the arsenal midfielder‘s retirement from international football. ozil says he no longer wants to play for germany, citing racism and disrespect within german football. the 2014 world cup winner says he received hate mail and threats, and was blamed for germany's disappointing world cup. the 5—time german player of the year was criticised by the german fa and in the german media after being photographed with controversial turkish president recep tayyip erdogan at an event in london in may.

as a third—generation turkish—german, ozil says he was simply respecting the highest office of his family's country. the german fa issued a statement on monday, saying: the dfb did concede that it could have done more to protect ozil from the abuse and had perhaps not handled the matter well but according to german journalist, raphael honigstein, the damage will take a long time to repair. the last thing you want to hear as a german fa president is you not only have dealt with this controversy properly, but perhaps i have even found the flame of the racism mezut

ozil has experienced. he's certainly pointing the finger of blame very much onto him, in the eyes of grindel, i was a german when we were winning and an immigrant when we lost. this goes to the heart of the matter. if mezut ozil felt more backing by the german fa, rather than seeing them as partly to blame for the ordeal that he has faced, in his words, he might still be a germany player. of course, they released a statement today praising themselves for all the work they have done when it comes to integration and social responsibility, but he's such a high profile case and the damage has already been done and it's going to ta ke already been done and it's going to take a long time to rectify. watch what you put on the internet, and what you put into your body, that's a lesson six—time olympic swimming champion ryan lochte might want to learn after he was banned for 14 months for a doping violation. the american posted a picture on social media of him receiving an intravenous infusion of permitted substances. however, it still triggered an investigation. the 33—year—old was found

to have taken a higher than permitted dosage. athletes cannot usually receive ivs unless related to a hospitalisation or via an exemption. i took too much... too much in an iv inclusion, it's 100 millilitres and what inclusion, it's100 millilitres and what i took was over. everything i do take you can get at cvs, walgreens, you name it. nothing i took was, and that's what i want to make the point of, nothing i took was a legal. everything i did was legal. rangana herath took six wickets as sri lanka beat south africa by 199 runs in the second test in colombo, to complete a 2—0 series sweep. a very young sri lanka side were just too good for a team flying high in the rankings. austin halewood was watching this one for us. the world's second best test side

but hardly playing like it. needing 311 with just five wickets left, south africa had a mountain to climb in colombo. but finally on dave four, bavuma and then another player showed exactly the kind of fight the tourists have been lacking. both batsmen making half centuries. finally something to cheer about. but the excitement was short lived. with lunch blooming, herat got the breakthrough. bavuma gone for 63, a 121 run stand broken. with with harassed in the mood, quinton the got gone forjust eight. the rain hung around long enough to make his maiden test century, but like any hope was soon quashed. bowled four balls later. and just two overs

after that it was all over. herat with his sixth wicket of the evenings, sri lanka's spinners taking all 20 in the match. south africa's test team leaving asia with plenty to think about. austin halewood, bbc news. it was a rest day on the tour de france ahead of the race hitting the pyrenees on tuesday. so a perfect opportunity for the bbc to catch up with the race leaders. team sky's geraint thomas is in the yellowjersey with a 1 minute 39 second lead over his teammate and compatriot chris froome. but when push comes to shove in the final week, are the two riders on the same side or now direct rivals? it's quite funny because everyone‘s so it's quite funny because everyone‘s so keen to try to talk up this rivalry between myself and g, but it doesn't exist. win on looking at each other as rivals, we're looking at the guys in third and for the fifth, they're the ones that could put us under pressure but between us, itjust put us under pressure but between us, it just doesn't put us under pressure but between us, itjust doesn't exist like that

—— we're looking. we've been teammates for years, we've been mates for years, we started out professionally cycling for me back in 2008. 0ur careers have sort of followed each other ever since. this is an absolutely dream scenario for us. but right now, g's ridden an absolutely faultless race. from the very first week, no issues, didn't get stuck behind any gaps or anything. i mean, as it stands right now, g's stronger, he's in the la jersey. now, g's stronger, he's in the la jersey. having won two stages already, back—to—back mountain stages, isjust already, back—to—back mountain stages, is just insane already, back—to—back mountain stages, isjust insane —— he's in the yellow jersey. stages, isjust insane —— he's in the yellowjersey. everything else isa the yellowjersey. everything else is a bonus and the longer i can stay up is a bonus and the longer i can stay up with the main guys, great. it's about keeping those main guys behind us about keeping those main guys behind us really and not riding against each other and letting someone else win, that would be the biggest, sort of, hiccup in... iwouldn't

win, that would be the biggest, sort of, hiccup in... i wouldn't say taught history but it would be pretty bad. we're in this dream position, first and second in the general classification —— for. if nothing trains between now and the -- if nothing trains between now and the —— if nothing changes between now and the final day, great, we win the tour de france. the next thursday, the european championships begin in glasgow with the likes of triathlon, golf and rowing all taking place. it's not normally best practice to warm up for a major competition by trying a totally different sport but four of the country's top sports people did just that. this is a clue! ben croucher went down to marlow in the south east of england for a job swap with a difference. now, we all had that friend at school when we were growing up which was pretty much good at every sport they tried, even some of the best athletes in the country picked up a couple before they focused on one they were particularly good at and with the european championships coming up in august, six different sports taking place all at the same time, we thought we would take a couple of golfers and a couple of rowers and get them to swap.

the golfers in question, they were practising a different kind of stroke. under the guidance of gigabits rowers adam sinclair, tom george and coach for the day, fletcher. going into the sculling world for the very first time is a lwa ys world for the very first time is always quite interesting, see how they do, seeing them on the earth goes and we have the technique down, it's making it happen in the board. even the locals weren't too troubled by the new bees and before long, being the competitive types, they even tried a quick race. when i realised we were quicker then then that was the funniest bit —— new bees. as soon as any element of racing came into play it was gone, i couldn't keep up honestly —— funniest bit —— banned them. couldn't keep up honestly —— funniest bit -- banned them. are needed to get to the gym. the -- i needed to get to the gym. the -- i needed to get to the gym. the -- i needed to get to the gym. annabel and amy on hand to point them in the

right direction with mixed results. again, they can just settle for a casual pitch and putt. three competitions, putting, chipping and a par—3 with team annabel and alan cumming out on top. no, it's really tough, it's really impressive seeing what they can do, so effortlessly. tough, it's really impressive seeing what they can do, so effortlesslylj let what they can do, so effortlessly.” let them stick with the golf and i'll stick with the rowing. with the european championships around the corner, they'll get used to competing against those in other sports. it's a different type of tournament for golfers to be a part of us well and to get to be involved with other athletes and to see their sport as well is really special. really cool, it will be my first time, it will be good to rub shoulders with people from other sports who you have watched on tv and you have seen and as byatt to get to their levels and to be able to share their feel of the game, it will be huge —— and inspired to get to their levels. ben croucher, bbc news, marlow. you can get all the latest sports news at our website,

that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, marc edwards, and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. well, the heatwave of summer 2018 is certainly set to continue for the next week and possibly beyond that. in fact, monday was the hottest day of the year so far, we had temperatures as high as 33.3 celsius at santon downham in suffolk. thursday, we could see temperatures as high as 3a or 35 degrees. so those temperatures building certainly over the next few days. tuesday, we're still drawing in this southerly flow of warm air, particularly across central and eastern parts of england. further north—west across the british isles,

some weatherfronts moving in, some cold fronts, so they're going to be introducing some slightly fresher conditions, particularly to scotland and northern ireland on tuesday. here's that weak front, a band of cloud producing a few spots of rain across parts of southern scotland, northern england and perhaps into wales as well. hot and humid to the south—east, fresher to the north—west. a few showers pushing into the western isles but the northern isles, largely dry and sunny. lots of sunshine across western parts of scotland. the chance of a shower in the east. temperatures in glasgow and in belfast too, 20 or 21 degrees in the sunshine. slightly cloudier across parts of northern england and wales. most places dry in the south—east. just a small risk of an isolated shower and temperatures once again getting up to 30 degrees or even a bit higher on tuesday afternoon. into the evening hours, looking dry across the country. tuesday night and wednesday morning, still hot and humid in the south and the east, temperatures here holding up into the mid—teens, slightly fresher further north—west, 11 or 12 degrees our overnight lows across scotland and northern ireland. now, through into wednesday,

it looks like a similar day once again. lots of dry weather, so a case of deja vu really with a forecast at the moment. just the odd shower and a bit more cloud in the far north—west and perhaps the chance of an odd isolated shower cropping up across eastern england, but temperatures in the south—east, 31 or 32 degrees, typically into the low to the mid—20s further north and west. now, looking ahead into thursday, we'll start to see an area of low pressure trying to approach from the west, bumps into high pressure sitting out towards the east but we may well see a bit of a change in air mass so that hot air that is with us at the moment will get gradually eased away towards the east, with slightly colder conditions likely to move in. so a fresher feel to the weather. across england in particular, we will hold onto that heat into the middle of the week, but temperatures you'lljust notice starting to dip down into the weekend. and further north and west across the country, although many places will be dry, there will be

some showers and it will cool down a touch into the weekend. bye— bye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: officials in greece say at least twenty people have been killed as deadly wildfires burn near the capital, athens. translation: we will do whatever is possible in order to control the fires. i'm concerned over the outbreaks around athens. north korea appears to de dismantling part of a key rocket launch site in the north west of the country. the uk government sparks a political row — saying it won't object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they're convicted in america. to control the fires. and — beloved by the base — why president trump has rock—solid