coming up on this programme: arsenal are through to the europe league semifinals, after seeing off napoli 3—0 on aggregate. top seed and world number one novak djokovic is through to the quarter—finals of the monte carlo masters. and jarrell miller says he'll appeal against the decision to deny him a licence to face anthonyjoshua in new york. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the footballing news that arsenal are through to the europa league semi—finals after beating napoli 3—0 on aggregate over the two legs of their quarter—final tie. the gunners took a 2—0 lead from the opening match to naples and after a tense opening period, the north london side scored through alexandre lacazette making it a real struggle for the hosts who required four goals at that point, something that was unattainable.

for me and for us now, the premier league is a very important competition and today, napoli, with their supporters, they wanted to do something important here and if we won there, it is because we worked really well. i think arsenal is an intelligent team. they played well in front and when they needed to defend, they defended well together. they were well organised offensively and defensively. it is not the team that... play in my opinion fantastic foot while but i really intelligent team because when they needed to defend they defended together and they did a good job and they deserve

they did a good job and they deserve the victory and i hope them all the best in the europa league. elsewhere eintracht frankfurt stunned benfica, winning 2—0 on the night for a 4—1; aggregate score, taking the german's through on the away goals rule. valencia won the battle of the spaniards as they made light work of villarreal, while chelsea had a much more difficult tie. maurizio sarri's side were 4—3 winners over slavia prague in the czech republic for a 5—3 aggregate win. and the semi final draw pits chelsea against eintracht frankfurt with the first fixture of the two legged tie to be played in germany, while arsenal host valencia first up. the opening legs will be played on thursday the 2nd of may and the return fixtures a week later. to tennis now where the top two seeds at the monte carlo masters were untroubled on thursday as both novak djokovic and rafael nadal progressed to the quarter—finals. but the 3rd and 4th seeds alexander zverev and dominic thiem respectively won't be going any further, both losing in straight sets. craig templeton rounds up the action. the clay—court season has not always

been the kindest to novak djokovic but this is a tournament he has won twice before in his path to the quarter—finals was straightforward. the top ranked will now play medvedev. he has had the last best 15 months of his career. he is a close to the top ten of the world and he is one of the up—and—coming rising stars. big serve, great backhand, step scent but also he has improved his movement a lot compared toa improved his movement a lot compared to a few years ago. we played along match in the australian open this year but the first time on plate so we will see. obviously, he is in good form and i am too so let the better player win. the spaniard,

nadal, going through. the defending champion continues his bed for a record extending i2 champion continues his bed for a record extending 12 titles at this event. he will pay pella. he is playing great. he has had great victories and he will have confidence and i hope to be ready to keep playing well. i know it will be a tough one but it is a quarter—final and it is great news after their injury, to be back on to and to be able to play this level of tennis is great news. not such great news for third seem zverev, fognini winning. the italian is afraid to a faith atp masters 1000 quarter—final where he will take on coric. thiem

will not be around either. he had his chances but these are saved seven to progress. to boxing where jarrell miller will appeal against the decision to deny him a licence to face anthonyjoshua in new york on the 1st ofjune. that's after he returned an "adverse finding" in a drug—testing sample. former welterweight world champion paulie malinaggi has told the bbc that the sport needs drug testing on a "more strict and more regular basis". he has an opponent fortune face and 110w he has an opponent fortune face and now he does not. where do you go? are you going to be preparing for a right—hander and suddenly put yourself against a left—hander? i find that hard to believe. i would like to see maybe dillian whyte stampede but regardless, it really

isa same stampede but regardless, it really is a same and this is happening more and more often. you hope this can be fixed. the ufc are testing more often and more strict. boxing needs to make a change. yourfavourite fighters are probably dirty and you do not even know it. it's 50 days until the start of the women's world cup in france and the nominations have been revealed for the bbc women's footballer of the year award. it's an award that you — the fans — can vote for yourselves, right now and up until the 2nd of may until we announce the winner right here and the shortlist of five players is a stellar line—up. hey, i'm pernille mosegaard harder and i play for vfl wolfsburg, in germany, and i'm a forward. i think i've always dreamed about it. i wrote an essay when i was, like ten years, that i wanted to be the best player in the world,

and i've always been working hard for it, but i'm not sure i thought it really would happen. my name is ada stolsmo hegerberg, i'm a striker for lyonnais, in france. i grew up in a family with equal rights. i have a mum which gave me that voice. my dad as well. i never looked at myself as different than a men's foootballer. i'm lindsey horan. i play midfield. i play for the portland thorns and the us women's national team. football is everything to me. sometimes i would miss class to go wathch champions league. sometimes i would miss class to go watch champions league. it show a passionate young girl that, you know, wanted to watch games, wanted to go train and do

all these things. sam kerr, striker, chicago red stars, australia. i think my best skill is my pace. i play off a lot of instinct and sometimes am quicker than a lot of people and i don't think maybe it's a skill but maybe it'sjust something that i'm gifted with, having, you know, quick insticts and i guess being a goal sneak. translation: i take pleasure from football. it's life and it's my passion. if football doesn't exist, i can't express myself. without football, life is less interesting and too serious. the vote is now open — go to bbc.com/womensfootball and make your choice for who you think should win the bbc women's footballer of the year award. you can find full details

and our privacy notice on the bbc sport website. shane lowry leads the the rbc heritage in south carolina by a stroke after the opening round, shooting a 6—under 65. he leads a group of five players but everyone had to be on the lookout for this alligator who was prowling. as was ryan palmer as he lifted himself to within a stroke of lowry thanks to this birdie on the 2nd which was his 11th hole having started on the back nine. world number one dustin johnson, coming off a second—place tie at the masters last week, rallied with two birdies in his final seven holes leaving him three shots back. and francesco molinari who led at augusta by three last sunday before imploding is struggling here as well on three over par despite this effort. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. the nba is happening. philadelphia

leading into the second quarter by two points. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. for all four nations of the uk, thursday was the warmest day of 2019 — so far, that is. 23.3 was the top temperature, that was recorded in west sussex but over the easter weekend, those temperatures are set to climb a little further. widely into the 20s but towards the south—east corner on saturday, 25, possibly even 26 degrees and with that, high pressure keeping things predominantly dry and holding these weather fronts at bay in the atlantic for the most part, as i will show you in a moment but for good friday, we don't have to worry about those weather fronts. in fact, after any early fog has cleared, most of us are looking at a blue sky day

with lots of sunshine. we may see patches of cloud drifting into northern ireland and western scotland but as far as the temperatures go, widely up into the high teens or low 20s celsius, 22 in glasgow, for example. somewhere further south, we could get up to 2a degrees. friday night will be fine for most of us. we may see one or two fog patches developing they'll be quite isolated but if they do form where you ara, the fog could be quite dense. also some cloud you will notice, creeping into the far west of northern ireland in north—west scotland associated with one of those weather fronts i showed you. the fronts trying to make inroads on saturday, the odd spot of rain in northern ireland, the far north—west of scotland, certainly more cloud here. come further south and east, predominantly sunny. we may see fog patches lapping onto north sea coastal areas but in the sunshine on saturday, this is likely to be the warmest day of the week and 20—211 degrees, maybe 25, 26 in the south—east corner.

contrast that with the so—called holiday hotspots of southern spain. here, a wet weekend to come, persistent heavy rain which could bring flooding and even further east to the mediterranean where it is drier, northerly breeze in cool weather, 17 degrees in athens, much cooler than for many of us at home and the second half of the weekend, that area of high pressure mostly holds on. these weather fronts will always be there to the north—west, wriggling around and threatening to move in, some uncertainty about the extent to which these fronts will make progress, always the chance of some cloud into northern ireland, north—west scotland, may some rain in the far north—west but away from these areas, again, a lot of sunshine on easter sunday. again, those temperatures well up into the 20s. and for easter monday, it is more of the same. more spells of sunshine, more warmth, but always the chance of some of that cloud and maybe a bit of rain into the far north—west.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: robert mueller‘s long awaited report on russian interference says there was no collusion with russia by the trump campaign in the 2016 us election. the heavily redacted report doesn't exonerate him and it also raises questions of obstruction of justice. but president trump says it's game over. they are having a good day. i'm having a good day as well. it is called no collusion, no obstruction. hundreds of thousands of people in sudan demand a civilian run government.