hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: will be germany. germany beat turkey in the race to host the 2024 european football championship. in the coming hours, the 42nd ryder cup takes to the course in france, as europe look to regain the trophy from the usa. and australian ashleigh barty, the last remaining seed, moves through to the wuhan open semi—finals. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with football and the news that germany has been chosen to host the european championship finals in 202a. their bid, led by world cup winning captain philipp lahm, was chosen ahead of turkey in a meeting of uefa's executive committee in switzerland on thursday. it'll be the second time that germany has hosted the tournament, having previously held the championship in 1988. now at the moment we are very happy

because i think we did everything in the last month and the last year to get this chance to host this tournament, 202a. so we are happy and we would do everything to have a good tournament. we sought it to thousand six in germany, the people got so emotional, all the world, they came together and it was a really big party. we will do our best that we feel the same in six yea rs. first of all, the procedure was transparent, the voting was democratic, every attractive decision is the right decision. i can only say i look forward to go and see the fantastic euro in 3024.

-- 2024. thursday's decision will be a huge disappointment for turkey, who've never hosted a major tournament. this was the fourth time they'd bid to host, or co—host, the european championship finals. our sports editor dan roan explains why germany may have been chosen ahead of turkey. they were the favourite. it was seen very much as the safe did for uefa's executive committee to choose when it came to pass. especially after a u efa it came to pass. especially after a uefa report associated risks with tu rkey‘s uefa report associated risks with turkey's bid. identifying the fact that there may not be enough hotels in certain host cities. albums with infrastructure, both transport and stadium infrastructure. also there was concerns over security stadium infrastructure. also there was concerns over security and the human rights record under president erdogan. —— erdogan, germany have a history of hosting events. this will be historic for them, the first european championships since unification. this will be a great relief to germany. turkey will be

bitterly disappointed, they have tried and tried again to bring in major sports events to their country. they have read for four of the last 5 euros, they have failed, they tried to bring the with it and failed at that. cannot seem to lead a major sports event, it will happen one day eventually but it is disappointing for them. the rivalry was somewhat tense at times because of that backlash and the fallout from arsenal's knesset personal, who has to guess ancestry and was photographed with president erdogan and then quit the germany team after the world cup, saying he was a victim of racism from certain quarters of the german football. that tension was part of this race, but in the end, germany prevailed. in italy's serie a, milan dropped further points on thursday when they were held to a 1—1 draw at empoli, their third consecutive draw. the rossionerri took the lead after only 10 minutes when a shot from lucas biglia was deflected into his own goal by

leonardo capezzi. midway through the second half, biglia was penalised for this challenge on francesco caputo, and caputo himself put away the resultant penalty and that leaves milan 12 points behind the leaders juventus. in the night's other game, sassuolo won 2—0 at spal to move up to 3rd in the table. there were three games in spain. alaves missed the chance to move third in la liga after they drew i—i at home to getafe, while elsewhere there were wins for real vallodolid and real betis. in portugal, benfica missed the chance to go three points clear at the top of the table when they drew 2—2 at chaves. twice they led with goals from rafa silva, who scored his second just six minutes from the end. but each time they were pegged back, with gevorg ghazaryan scoring both goals for chaves. benfica had german conti sent off just before ghazaryan scored his second equaliser in the fourth minute of injury—time. benfica lead the table by one point from braga. the 42nd ryder cup gets underway in the coming hours

with the fourball groupings heading out first. holders usa have sent out brooks koepka and tony finau to start proceedings, and they're playing europe'sjustin rose and john rahm, teeing off at 6:10 gmt. the americans haven't won on european soil since 1993 and this is the first time france have hosted the prestigious tournament and john watson is at le national golf course outside paris looking ahead. the tournament is officially under way after today's opening ceremony. the captains here,jim way after today's opening ceremony. the captains here, jim furyk of the united states and thomas bjorn taking centrestage before announcing those pairings to come tomorrow. this is what they had to say. ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow the match will start in the tradition continues. there is nothing like it in the world. let the ryder cup again. applause. -- begin. this

great sporting occasion is the one—time where europe is united. applause. this is the one time we play under that flag and this is the week, more than any other, that that flag truly represent boundaries of all of europe. books capture and tony finau. —— brooks koepka. justin rose and don rahman. all eyes on the european pairing ofjustin rose and jon rahm. they take on brooks koepka

and tony finau. patrick reed being paired with tiger woods. so much has been spoken about tiger woods coming into this, they will go up against tommy fleetwood and francesco molinari. dustinjohnson tommy fleetwood and francesco molinari. dustin johnson and tommy fleetwood and francesco molinari. dustinjohnson and rickie fowler will ta ke molinari. dustinjohnson and rickie fowler will take on rory mcilroy and tjorn olson. tennis — and the semi—final line—up is in place at the wuhan open in china. australia's ashleigh barty was the only seeded player to reach the quarter—finals and she's now made it through to the last four after beating russia's anastasia pavlyuchenkova in three sets. barty, who was the runner—up at this tournament last year, won 6—2, 5—7, 6—4 and will now play bela russian aryna sa balenka for a place in the final. in the other half of the draw, local favourite wang qiang remains on course to win a second tour title in as many weeks. the chinese world number 34 is through to the semi—finals and a match against estonia's annett

kontaveit after beating the olympic champion monica puig in straight sets. wang, who won in guangzhou last week, came through 6—3, 6—1. reigning champions india take on bangladesh in the final of cricket's asia cup on friday. india have won six of the previous 13 editions of this tournament and they come up against a bangladesh team who have featured in two of the past three finals with indian batsman shikhar dawhan aware of the threat their opponents pose in dubai. it is tough to beat bangladesh in bangladesh. you have seen all the overseas teams, and they are really strong. i believe selections are more stronger than words —— actions of. they are showing by their performances that they have gotten so performances that they have gotten so much better. and they have experienced players in their side that know the game. india is a far better team, the number one team

that know the game. india is a far betterteam, the number one team in the world. they are coming here as the world. they are coming here as the favourite team. as i said, you never know. anything can happen. we have to be mentally strong and fight until the last. it —— last ball. in major league baseball, the colorado rockies made it seven in a row with a 5—3 victory over the philadelphia phillies on thursday taking them top of the national league west with three games remaining. the crowd in denver showed they were behind their team no matter what. and it was trevor story who helped put them out to a solid lead in the second inning with this, his 35th career home run, and despite a comeback of sorts from the phillies in the 9th inning it was too little too late as colorado closes at home with three games against the washington nationals and already is assured its most winningest season since 2009. one of the greatest words in the

english dictionary. 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, good morning. it's fair to say yesterday across england and wales felt a bit more like summer. in the sunshine in lincolnshire, we had temperatures here as high as 25 celsius. now, today, still going to be dry in most places. there'll still be some sunshine around, but it will feel much, much cooler. we've got high pressure sitting to the west of the uk, the warmth is getting pushed away into the continent, and around the top of the high pressure, we've got these cooler winds coming in behind a band of cloud, which, in the morning, is affecting southern counties of england. it will clear away, you could get

one or two light showers coming in on a north—easterly wind into the south—east corner of england, the north—westerly will bring more cloud into the highlands and islands and a few scattered light showers here. temperatures, though, will be significantly lower for the likes of newcastle. six degrees lower than yesterday in london. those temperatures will fall away sharply underneath the clear skies, with the winds falling light. northern half of the uk sees a little bit more breeze, some cloud perhaps pushing into northern ireland and especially the north—west of scotland. not quite as chilly here, but it will be much colder further south, 2—3 into northern parts of england and wales. sunshine, though, will boost those temperatures on saturday, lighter winds too. a bit more of a breeze across the north, more cloud coming into scotland and northern ireland, rain into the north—west, may be arriving into the central belt later on in the day. but ahead of that, it will feel a bit warmer, with temperatures 17 or 18. that weather front coming into the north—west is very weak, not amounting to very much and as it heads south, more a band of cloud with little or no rain on it at all. there's the band of cloud moving

into england and wales. sunny spells following on behind that. the north—westerly wind will start to drop the temperatures and a fair number of showers coming into scotland, some of those in northern scotland could be quite heavy as well. sunday will feel a little cooler, those temperatures 12—16 typically north—south. high pressure out to the west of the uk, those showers getting pushed away into the north sea. a northerly airflow as we head into monday, that's never a good direction, and that means some sunny spells, yes, but we will see quite a chilly feel on monday. and into the north—west of the uk, the next weather system arrives, clouding over in scotland and northern ireland, some more substantial rain into the north—west by the end of the day, but temperatures struggling between 11—14 on monday. that rain will push southwards overnight, leaving us with a more westerly airflow. not quite as chilly by day or by night. there will be a lot of cloud, and probably not much rain. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: senior republicans discuss the next steps in the process to confirm donald trump's nominee for the supreme court. it follows a day of dramatic testimonies on capitol hill from judge brett kavanaugh and dr christine blasey ford, who's accusing him of sexual assault. doctor ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe that cavanagh certainty do you believe that cava nagh assaulted you 7 certainty do you believe that cavanagh assaulted you? 100%. i swear today, under oath, before the senate and the nation, before my family and god, i am innocent of this charge. also on the