coming up on this programme: naomi osaka becomes the first japanese woman to make a grand slam semi—final in 22 years, as she beats lesia tsurenko at the us open. and it is japan's day, as kei nishikori beats marin cilic in five sets, to gain revenge for his loss against the croatian in the final four years ago. and the world surf league take the lead and announce they will be paying equally across both men's and women's events from next year. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the tennis news that naomi osaka is through to the semi—finals of the us open at flushing meadows in new york. the number 20 seed from japan, who was playing in the quarter—finals of a grand slam for the first time in her career, came through in straight sets against the ukrainian lesia tsurenko. osaka won 6—1, 6—1, injust 58 minutes, to become the first japanese woman to reach the last four of a major since kimiko date 22 years ago. you feel like every young person

playing, they want to win grand slams and they want to be number one. so of course that's my goal. but again, i am not trying to put too much pressure on myself. i know i'm ina too much pressure on myself. i know i'm in a position that i can possibly do that, but i want to really think, like, that i'm grateful to be in the position that iam in grateful to be in the position that i am in the first place, and ijust wa nt to ta ke i am in the first place, and ijust want to take it one point at a time. and i know that the players that are at these final stages of the tournament, they are really good, so i know that everyone wants to win this tournament. it has been a good day forjapan, because kei nishikori is through to the semi—finals of the men's singles after beating marin cilic in a marathon five—setter on arthur ashe. the number 21 seed came from a set down to lead 2—i, winning the third set on a tie—break. cilic then levelled by taking the fourth set. but nishikori won the decider 6—4, to reach the last four of a grand slam for the first time since 2014. that was the year cilic beat him in the final.

the remaining semi—final places will be decided in the next few hours in the night session on arthur ashe stadium. in the last of the women's quarter—finals, carla suarez—navarro, who beat maria sharapova in the last 16, is playing last year's runner—up, madison keys. coming up after that, novak djokovic plays roger federer‘s conqueror, the unseeded australian john millman. golf, and the european ryder cup team was confirmed on wednesday when captain thomas bjorn named his four wildcard picks for this year's matches against the united states. of the eight players who had already qualified via the european tour's money list and the world points list, five of them were rookies, with only francesco molinari, justin rose and rory mcilroy having previous ryder cup experience. bjorn countered that by adding four ryder cup veterans, including henrik stenson, sergio garcia, ian poulter and paul casey, who rejoined the european tour this year in the hope of making the team.

i only wanted to be putt of the ryder cup team if i felt i could be a great contributor to them, which i know i can be. and once i announced my intentions to thomas, you know, it was full tilt. so to finally reach that goal, and this was obviously just the tip reach that goal, and this was obviouslyjust the tip of reach that goal, and this was obviously just the tip of the iceberg, we've now got to push on and go to paris and win. yes, so excited to get back to somewhere i feel like i belong. you know, i'm getting goosebumps just standing here, talking about it. i absolutely can't wait. it's been a tough two years. 208 in the world rankings two years. 208 in the world rankings two years ago, and, you know, that little gold trophy kept my heart beating. and, you know, to be putt of that again is magical. denmark were forced to field a starting 11 which included a salesman, a student and an internet star for wednesday's 3—0 friendly defeat in slovakia. the national team is involved in a commercial rights dispute with the danish

football association. players from denmark's top two divisions and those based overseas were unavailable and will likely not play in the nations league against wales on sunday. danish futsal players also featured in the makeshift starting 11. we got 2a heroes who were called in, about 48 hours we got 24 heroes who were called in, about 48 hours ago, and play in a very, very low division, compared to their opponent, slovakia, who has got world—class players. so i'm proud, i'm shocked that these players who was on the pitch, and ultimately these players who didn't come on the pitch, the friendship and what they did was absolutely amazing, andi and what they did was absolutely amazing, and i will neverforget this defeat. this is my best defeat

in my career. understandably, the republic of ireland manager, martin o'neill, is frustrated as his team are also in the same group as denmark and wales. he expects uefa to act over the danish dispute which threatens to turn ireland's nations league group into a farce, as his side may have to face a full—stregth denmark when they play them. well, if it does develop like that, then i think that they will certainly be a degree of unfairness about it. i think that everyone would accept that. if that is the case, i mean, if... if denmark do not play one of the top players playing, as we mentioned earlier, about the players playing from the lower divisions in the game, it would certainly give a massive advantage to their opposition. the situation might get resolved in the next couple of days, and perhaps maybe denmark might be able to play theirfull maybe denmark might be able to play their full strength side. maybe denmark might be able to play theirfull strength side. i don't know in what advanced state they are now, at the moment, but i think we

really just have to wait to see that. stepping back from a job you have done for 12 years isn't an easy decision, and for england cricketer alastair cook, it was one that he had been considering for over six months. but on sunday, the opener told his teammates he would be stepping down from international duty after the final test against india, which starts on friday. he has been speaking to our sports correspondentjoe wilson. one last time. there are many of us who still struggle to imagine an england cricket team without alastair cook in it. 12 years of record—breaking batting and here, in his final test match. the thing is, alistair, people will say and have said that the way the yueh broach cricket, and maybe the way you approach life, but theyjust cricket, and maybe the way you approach life, but they just won't be someone who does it that way again, that in that sense you are irreplaceable. i mean, they are properly right, aren't they? i'm definitely not irreplaceable. i think that's... there'll be another good player coming on, iam sure.

but with the same attributes as you? that's not for me to say. or like i say, it's hard for me to talk about this, i still have one game to play and i am determined that play well. is very nice the kind words everybody said, as if i died and it never would be around again. it's obviously been a surreal couple of days, but i am trying to play well in this game and win 4—1. you also play in an era when people are concerned about cricket's status. do you think cricket is in a better or worse place than 12 years ago? it is just better or worse place than 12 years ago? it isjust different than the first time i watched test cricket, you can see the change in mentality. it has definitely changed, and i think it has changed for the better, in the sense that everything changes. everything moves on. if you stand still, things will overtake you, andi stand still, things will overtake you, and i think it is only good that the game goes on. clearly the responsibility of people in charge has distilled protect cricket as

well, whether we play less of it, or they might be another way of doing. it is special. it is said that when don bradman —— don bradman came out to bat for the last time, he struggled to see the ball because of the tears in his eyes. is that going to happen to you? i don't think so. there might be tears afterwards, in the change room, but i will be determined to score runs. thanks for all your time over the years. the world surf league has announced that it will give equal prize money to male and female competitors starting from next season onwards. the decision means the wsl becomes the first us—based global sports league to achieve prize money equality, and earlier, ii—time men's world champion kelly slater told me that it sends out a strong message on behalf of the sport. hopefully get some traction with the world at large, with the larger sports world, and people start the kind of recognised the precedent being set here, the message being sent out, and challenging other

people to do the same thing. as i said to someone yesterday, in the lead up to this, i hope this is the norm and not an outlier in the future, people look back and say remember that time when there was... you know, men and women won't pay the same? we see it across a lot of businesses and career paths, so it'd be nice tojust businesses and career paths, so it'd be nice to just equalised that, and make it the normal way of life. and that surf was at the sir french weatherman‘s and women's events were taking place —— surf ranch. italy's alessandro de marchi has taken his third career stage win, proving the strongest from a large breakaway in stage ii at the vuelta a espana. he pushed clear of colombia's jhonatan restrepo as heavy rain fell in the final stretches. britain's simon yates finished level with his main rivals to once again defend his red jersey. he maintains a one—second advantage over alejandro valverde. you can get all the latest sports

news at our website. that is bbc.com/sport. but, from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. we're ending this week on something a lot more unsettled than how we started it, that's because we're replacing high pressure with an area of low pressure. at the moment, we're still in between systems. there is a developing area of low pressure out across the north sea. but we've got high pressure dominating, i think, for much of thursday morning, a couple of weather fronts around too. now, they're going to bring outbreaks of rain to the northern isles, this weather front trailing down into northern england, north—west england, parts of north wales. barely anything on it, just a line of cloud and the odd spot of rain. we could see further showers returning to western scotland, too, first thing this morning. and where we have the cloud, the temperatures generally starting and where you have the cloud, then temperatures generally starting

in double figures, otherwise clear skies and single figure values, on the chilly side. in fact, today will be feeling cooler right the border, especially across the north. and we're starting the morning off with a good deal of sunshine around. showers will start to get going across scotland, and then we'll see another feature, another weather front moving out of ireland across the irish sea into wales and the midlands and south—west england, as we head on into the afternoon. so conditions go downhill for many central and southern parts of england and wales. could see still a little bit of sunshine across the far south—east, where we could make 20 or 21 degrees. further north, a lot more cloud, outbreaks of rain, temperatures in the high—to—high teens celsius. but it's going to feel cooler than that further north. for the far north of england, northern ireland, scotland, sunny spells and scattered showers, and some of them could be heavy and maybe even thundery across scotland. now, as we head on in towards friday, we start to see this area of low pressure develop. now, most of the very heavy rain will stay offshore,

we think, but as we head through friday it looks like it could be quite wet across parts of scotland and north—east england. now, some of this rain could be quite heavy for time through friday morning across eastern scotland, north—east england, with another spell of rain pushing into northern scotland. but, further south and west that you are, it should be generally drier and brighter. but with the north, north—west winds, it's going to feel on the cool side across the board, temperatures ranging from 15—19 degrees. and those winds quite a feature, i think, across the eastern side of the country. that area of low pressure continues to spin around, moving a little bit further eastwards into the north sea. we see another feature run into wales and the south—west of england as we head on into saturday. a bit of uncertainty to this, but this is the feature i'm talking about. could bring some wet weather to parts of england and wales through the day. meanwhile, low pressure to the north of the country continues to bring showers to much of scotland. so i think saturday, you see that rain spreading eastwards, and then on sunday, probably the better day, the drier and slightly brighter day. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a senior aide to donald trump accuses him of "amorality" and reckless decision—making. the president calls the attack "gutless" and "phony". britain names two russian military intelligence officers as suspects in the novichok nerve agent attack, but how could moscow be held to account? a daughter enslaved by the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, is freed, but thousands more yazidis are missing or dead. we report from northern iraq on a community in crisis. to! -- translation: this is where isis killed my people. these loans are evidence