the heavens open in cincinnatti, but simona halep needs just five minutes to finish off her match. welcome. the top flight in spanish football, la liga, has announced a 15—year deal to stage matches in the united states. la liga's presidentjavier tebas has called it a ground—breaking agreement but details about which game will be played abroad and the season it starts are still to be revealed. the deal‘s designed to increase revenue from sponsorship and media rights in north america. spanish football journalist eduardo alvarez believes it's long overdue. la liga knows that it has taken very few and very timid steps in becoming a global product, using the image of players like messi to their own

benefit, and you can see when the spanish national team travel abroad that the players that people would know in south africa and asia were the players playing in the premier league, like fernando torres, and the rest of the spanish team wasn't as much as known and that is because la liga could not compete until now with the global reputation the premier league has, so this is obviously a huge step for la liga to compete on that front. most fans have been complaining that la liga is not known abroad at all but now they complain that one match is going to be played and what's going to happen with the season—ticket holders. the players association has also complained because they were not consulted on the issue and they would like to have a say on this. but as an outsider, if i think, as an outsider, this is a good move and it is long overdue. the russian side, zenit st petersburg, pulled off the biggest europa league comeback in 33 years

after overturning a 4—0 first—leg deficit against dinamo minsk to win their third round qualifier. zenit managed to score the four goals they needed to take the game to extra time, that's despite having a player sent off. but they then went 5—4 down to minsk, before coming back again to score four more goals, winning 8—5 on aggregate. meanwhile, sevilla thrashed lithuanian side zalgiris 5—0 in their second leg to win 6—0 overall. steven gerrard's rangers side are also into the final play—off round after a goalless draw against slovenian side maribor ensured a 3—1 aggregate win. and burnley are one round away from the group stage too after a 1—0 win over istanbul basaksehir in extra time. it was somewhat inevitable after they lifted the world cup last month, france have been named as the number one team in the men's fifa rankings, which were announced on thursday. didier deschamps‘ side rose six places to take the top spot

from germany after winning the world cup for the second time, moving them ahead of belgium and brazil. runners—up croatia climbed a massive 16 spots to fourth, while semi—finalists england have moved up six places to sixth. tournament hosts russia climbed 21 spots to 49th after reaching the quarter—finals, but the 2014 world champions germany have slumped to 15th after their disappointing exit in the group stages. host nation france beat defending champions north korea 1—0 to reach the semi—finals of the under 20 women's world cup. amelie delabre scored the winning goalfor the french in the first half. the win sets up a semi—final against spain who beat nigeria in thursday's other quarter—final. now, to cricket, and england head coach trevor bayliss says the decision to include ben stokes in the squad for the third test against india was taken for the all—rounder‘s wellbeing. it's after stokes was found not guilty of affray earlier this week, following a fight outside

a nightclub last september. but bayliss said it's not yet certain if stokes will play at trent bridge on saturday. our sports editor dan roan has more. just two days after emerging from bristol crown court, today ben stokes walked out to more familiar surroundings, the england star still the main attraction at trent bridge as he was welcomed back into the england squad after being cleared of affray. but while stokes could play against india here on saturday, the fallout from his trial following a brawl last year continues, and he's now being encouraged to publicly apologise, having already said sorry to his team—mates. certainly. i think it was important to actually apologise to the boys in the team. i'm sure something will be forthcoming. he will certainly pull his weight from now on going forward.

i'm sure it's been a wake—up call for him. ben stokes must still await the outcome of a cricket disciplinary commission hearing, which in the next few weeks could decide to suspend him if he is found to have brought the game into disrepute. but for now, the all—rounder is back in the england fold. stokes said he had been acting in self—defence when he became involved in this fight and then arrested. and on tuesday, a jury acquitted him after a seven—day trial. but one former england captain told me the player's reputation had still suffered. knowing the england cricket fans as i do, they will give him a reception. i don't think he deserves that. he's certainly not a hero, as some have portrayed him to be. he has bought the game into disrepute, but i do think the punishment and the fact that he missed the whole winter in australia is enough and now he's got the not guilty charge, i think he should be able to play cricket. while there is no guarantee stokes will play against india, england say he is back in the squad for his own well—being,

his challenge now to avoid any more mishaps. dan roan, bbc news, trent bridge. england rugby union international danny cipriani has pleaded guilty in court to charges of common assault and resisting arrest at a nightclub on the island of jersey. he's been given a $2500 fine and has been ordered to pay $300 compensation to a female police officer. cipriani said in a statement on social media that he was mortified by the way he acted and apologised to his club gloucester, his teammates, supporters and the police. american golfer brandt snedeker has become only the 10th golfer to shoot a sub—60 round in the history of the pga tour. it's after he carded an 11—under—par 59 on the opening day of the wyndham championship, including this incredible eagle on the 6th. needless to say, nobody else got near that, which means he has a four—shot lead over fellow american ryan moore.

isaid, you i said, you know what, you've got to embrace it, and i said i'm not going to have a better opportunity than this, the greens are perfect, they are soft, if you can't do it now you're not going to be able to do it, so figure out a way to get it done and luckily i was able to do it. angel yin of the united states is the the overnight leader on 8—under par after the first round of the lpga's indy women in tech championship in indianapolis. sweden's caroline hedwall, jing young ko of south korea, and the americanjane park are all on 7—under. it's been raining for much of the day at the cincinnati 0pen and the schedule‘s been badly hit. simona halep needed just five minutes to finish her interrupted second round match against ajla tomljanovic. the number one seed, who won the canadian open on sunday, rattled through two games to beat the australian qualifier by two sets to one. she faces another australian, asheligh barty, in the last 16. czech number eight seed

petra kvitova advanced to the quarter—finals with a straight sets victoy over kristina mlah—denovic of france. kvitova won 6—4, 6—2. formula one news and carlos sainz has signed a deal to become the replacement at mclaren for fellow spaniard fernando alonso. the 23—year—old is currently on loan at renault from red bull and has signed what mclaren descibe as a multi—year deal. sainz is currently 11th in the f1 championship and says it was a childhood dream to join mclaren. alonso announced on tuesday that he was stepping down from the team at the end of the season. it wasn't the right pictures on that one. and finally, with the european football season underway, it didn't take long for the new goal celebrations to appear.

but there is one that's caught the imagination of fans and taken social media by storm. have a look at this. after dele ali scored in tottenham hotspur‘s 2—1win at newcastle on saturday, this is how he celebrated. but the strange movement has confused teammates and fans alike as they try to copy the england star. can you do the dele? this is about as good as it gets i think for most people. you can see others... it is not as easy as it looks, is it? there are plenty of people having an attempt. it is just probably easier to have a go at that. it is all in the wrist action. that is all your sport news for now. stay with bbc world. hello there.

well, we should get off to a pretty sunny start across eastern areas of the country before things generally turn cloudier later today, and that cloud will hang around into the weekend as well. weather front brought the rain yesterday. that's clearing out into europe, clearer skies following but then we've got this next wodge of cloud. this weather front, this warm front, that's going to bring warm air across the uk, yes, but also we'll have outbreaks of rain spreading in as well. so, the forecast in a bit more detail. for the early risers, clear skies to start the day across england and wales, but further north and west, the clouds that bit thicker and there'll be a few showers for western scotland and northern ireland. for the early risers, temperatures just into double figures, but in the countryside, single figures, so there will be a certain chill in the airfirst thing in the morning. now, quite quickly, england and wales and should get off to a sunny start on friday before the cloud tends to thicken. it will stay bright across eastern areas, mind you, but later in the afternoon the cloud probably thick enough in southern parts into the bristol channel to give us some light rain or drizzle. further north and west, we've got some wet weather moving into northern ireland.

the rain quite heavy here at times. that wet weather spreads to western scotland, north—west england and north—west wales through the day. the temperatures, high teens to low 20s. into the weekend, we'll continue to have this feed of pretty warm air across southern parts of the uk. so even though we won't see much in the way of sunshine, temperatures still widely into the low—to—mid 20s. fresher conditions across the north of the uk. this low pressure bringing some strong winds as well. so, we get off to a blustery start to the weekend. into scotland, exposed coasts and hills could have gusts of wind of 50mph, maybe even 60mph. but it is quite a blowy start wherever you are. a lot of cloud around. some limited brighter spells possible. the best of these probably heading into eastern england and also the far north—east of scotland, but in between we've got a weather front, a weak one at that, that will bring the thickest cloud across northern ireland, parts of northern england and southern scotland, where we could continue to see occasional spits of light rain or drizzle. and then for the second half of the weekend, we're taking a look at this. this is subtropical storm ernesto, and it's going to be bringing some

heavy rain to the united kingdom on sunday. now, probably the worst of the rain getting away across northern ireland, northern england and in across scotland for the first part of sunday should tend to clear through. in the south, cloud tending to thicken up, so we might well see some spots of rain, but not really amounting to too much. look at the temperatures, mild, quite humid in the south, we've got the fresher air across more northern parts. so, to sum up the weekend, we are expecting it to be quite cloudy, and it will be quite wet at times, particularly in the north—west. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: aretha franklin, the queen of american soul music, has died at the age of 76. tributes pour in from musicians worldwide and former presidents, praising her contributions to music and to the fight for social justice.

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