and a double shock as both defending champion petra kivitova and world number one naomi osaka are knocked out of the madrid open, osaka losing in three sets to belinda bencic. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that arsenal will play chelsea in the europa league final. pierre—emerick aubameyang's hat—trick helped arsenal to a 4—2 win in spain over valenica in their semi—final second leg, handing them a 7—3 aggregate victory. gunners manager unai emery is through to a major european final in his first year in charge of the north londoners, and will be looking for a fourth title in this tournament, having won it three times with sevilla. watching on at the mestalla was alistair bruce ball. a commanding waiter influenced for arsenal under the man who has the midas touch in this competition has

taken them through to their first european final since 2006. the home fa ns european final since 2006. the home fans certainly made it tough, cranking upa fans certainly made it tough, cranking up a raucous atmosphere, and valencia got off to a flyer as well, with kevin gameiro‘s goal after just 11 minutes. well, with kevin gameiro‘s goal afterjust11 minutes. but arsenal a lwa ys afterjust11 minutes. but arsenal always knew an away goal would mean valencia had to chase the game, and in pierre—emerick aubameyang and alexandre lacazette they have two world —class alexandre lacazette they have two world—class strikers who also have a world —class world—class strikers who also have a world—class partnership. pierre—emerick aubameyang soon thumped in the equaliser and alexandre lacazette scored five minutes into the second half, and valencia suddenly needed five. kevin gameiro got one of them to make it 2-2, gameiro got one of them to make it 2—2, and they kept coming, aubameyang converting and then completing his hat—trick with a thumping finish into the roof of the net. we can be proud of the players, of the work of our supporters who are here today with us, and it is not finished, the success. there is one step more, to play the final. and we are happy, but also we know it is going to continue to be

difficult to win. but it is not easy. defeating us. arsenal will face fellow london club chelsea in the azerbaijan capital of baku, after the blues won a penalty shootout against eintracht frankfurt. the match finished 1—1 after extra time, and ian dennis watched that one. for the first time ever, all four final births in european competition will be filled by one country. sari says it is because of the high standard in england but for a moment chelsea was under threat. after a loftus—cheek goal, they were pegged back via jovic and the germans twice when it went to extra time had effo rts when it went to extra time had efforts cleared off the line. it was a penalty shootout that settled it, and after two saves to swing it back in chelsea's favour, hazard, possibly for the final ever kick in the blue at chelsea, at stamford bridge, booked a baku trip to face arsenal. tennis, and it was a thursday to forget for two of the biggest

names in the women's game at the madrid open. defending champion petra kvitova lost out in straight sets to kiki bertens, in a reversal of last year's final, the dutch seventh seed winning their quarter—final 6—2, 6—3. while earlier, world number one naomi osaka went out to belinda bencic. rounding up the action, here is colm harrison. awinfor a win for naomi asarco would have guaranteed her place at the top of the world rankings for another week at least. she was playing switzerland's belinda bencic for a place in the semifinals, and a routine victory looked to be on the cards when osaka took the opening set 6—3. after winning the second set 6—3. after winning the second set 6—2, bencic then took the decider as well, coming from for having five down in the process, when osaka was serving for the match. the unseeded swiss, ranked 18 in the world, ranked three games in a row to seal her place in the last four. bencic will now face the number three seed, halep. twice the champion in madrid, she is bidding to reach the final there the fourth time in six years. she came through

against the number seed from australia, barty, but they were ha rdfoug ht australia, barty, but they were hardfought sets. halep17—5, 7—5, and if the champion in 2016 and 17 can take the title in 2019 as well she will retake the world number one spot next week. in the bottom half of the draw, sloane stephens is through to the semifinals. the american eighth seed who came through couple of tough three setters in her previous two matches, beat martic in three sets to reach the last four. stevens 16—11, 6—3 as he builds up to another tilt at the french open where she reached the final last year. she may have been expecting to face kvitova next, but she was second best in her quarterfinal against kiki bertens. she avenged her defeat against kvitova in the madrid final with a relatively straightforward straight sets victory, winning 6—2, 6—3. in the men's singles, top seed novak djokovic is through to the quarter—finals.

the two—time winner in madrid and the world number one is chasing the 48th masters series title of his career, and he came through in straight sets against the frenchman jeremy chardy. djokovic raced through the first set 6—1, but was taken all the way to a tie—break in the second. he will face marin cilic in the last eight. djokovic remains on course for a semi—final showdown with roger federer, who is playing in a clay court tournament for the first time in three years. he also beat a frenchman to reach last eight, seeing off gael monfils in three sets, but not before saving two match points in the decider. federer plays dominic thiem next. in the other half—draw, rafael nadal is into the quarters, and he will face stan wawrinka, who the spaniard beat in the 2013 final. four—time champion nadal accounted for american frances tiafoe as he searches for a first tournament win this season. and defending champion alexander zverev is into

the last eight. he defeated polish qualifier hubert hurkacz. but he had to do it in three sets, winning 3—6, 6—4, 6—4, and he will now play greece's stefanos tsitsipas. now to european tour golf, where england's matthew jordan battled wet and chilly conditions to shoot 63, for a two—shot lead on nine—under after the first round of the british masters in southport. tommy fleetwood, who is hosting the event, is five shots further back, on what turned out to be a chilly opening day in north—west england. but it was the 23—year—old jordan, in only his 12th event as a professional, who sunk nine birdies to sit on nine under par, with fellow englishman matt wallace and sweden's marcus kinhult both on seven under. just from the get go, it kind of just started perfectly, and from then on ijust kept going, really, and just tried to shoot as low as i could, because i thought the guys up there, they are good as well, so just to keep going. i got the feeling of, you know, i had to shoot low, and that was just to keep going

as well. i had shot low previous to this, but obviously on this stage, to go and do it in this kind of course is... well, impressive to me, anyway. two it was nice to get down to the gulf, and i enjoyed playing, andi to the gulf, and i enjoyed playing, and i felt like i to the gulf, and i enjoyed playing, and ifelt like i played really well. i felt like i and ifelt like i played really well. ifelt like i controlled most of the day. so it was good, and i enjoyed it a lot, a lot of guys came out in that kind of weather, and it is pretty good. i know they are going to do that, but it is still nice to see, and still nice to play with them. while on the pga tour, japan's hideki matsuyama is four shots off the pace after the first round of the at&t byron nelson in dallas, whilejordan spieth, despite some good putting such as this, saw a double—bogey on the par—four ninth leave him five shots off leader denny mccarthy, who is on eight—under. well, the golf went on, but across the irish sea, the persistent rain put paid to the one—day cricket international between ireland and bangladesh in dublin. the tri—nations game was abandoned at malahide shortly after 13 gmt

without a ball being bowled. ireland's next game is against west indies on saturday, by whom they were heavily beaten in their opening match and they'll be keen to bounce back. we obviously need a couple of wins 110w. we obviously need a couple of wins now. we've got the west indies, —— quite a quick turnaround. the lads are ready to go today, so it was a long day hanging around. you have been there yourself when you have these long days. but the lads will be ready to go with the last series. we had a disappointing performance the last series, we had a two day turnaround and we bounce back with that win. that was mentioned after the game. not everything goes your way. it was disappointing, especially after the england game, but the enthusiasm is there to bounce back. very disappointing. love to play these matches, but you can't do anything with the weather. we knew that there can be ran, but the whole day ran, you have to acce pt the whole day ran, you have to accept it. this year's giro d'italia teams

were officially announced on thursday ahead of the year's first major race. the first of the three grand tour races gets under way on saturday in bologna. this year's edition will feature a handful of favourites, including 2017 winner tom dumoulin, vincenzo nibali and simon yates, who led last year's race for two weeks before falling back out of contention. but last year's winner, chris froome, is missing, to concentrate on the tour de france. reigning world champion sebastien ogier set the pace on the first of thursday's shakedown runs in concepcion, ahead of the rally of chile — but only just. the french ace was 0.1 seconds quicker than his world rally championship title rival and the current points leader, belgium's thierry neuville. the action gets going for real on friday with six special stages. six more follow on saturday, with four on sunday to conclude the event. it is the first time that chile has played host to a rally on the world championship calendar. from me, and the rest of the team, it is good both —— goodbye for now.

hello there. we've got a couple more showery days in the forecast, before things start to settle down during the weekend, as high pressure begins to build in. we should start to see temperatures rising, as well. in the short term, though, we've got this low pressure which is still influencing the weather across the country. and the weather fronts through central parts still generating some showers. so it does look like it's going to be a showery start through more central portions of the country this morning. a little bit of wintriness over the higher ground, too. but for the rest of scotland, the north—east of england, it's going to be actually a cold start. out of town, could see a little bit of frost again, but less cold across southern areas. so through today, we will have some sunshine to start the day across the south and across the north—east. more cloud through central areas, with some showers from the word go, and then showers are likely to develop elsewhere as the temperatures begin

to rise in the afternoon. and some of these could be heavy, maybe thundery and slow—moving showers, ‘cause the winds will be lighter as well. but in the sunshine we could make 16 or 17 degrees in the south—east, and double—figure values elsewhere too. this area of low pressure moving into france could bring some wet weather to the channel islands, southern england through friday night. and then, into the weekend, high—pressure begins to establish itself. now, it will be quite a chilly start to the weekend, with the blue colours still lingering, but slowly we'll begin to import some warmer air from the near continent from sunday onwards. so we could have a few showers around at the start of the weekend, before it starts to turn drier and starts to turn a little bit warmer. so let's have a look in a bit more detail, then, with saturday. it's a chilly start in light northerly winds. there will be plenty of sunshine around, but then showers will develop, most of them through central and eastern areas, and there will be the odd heavier one too. better chance of staying dry further west, closer to the area of high pressure, and in sunny spots we could make 17 celsius. but a milder day elsewhere. on into sunday, i think

high—pressure is slap bang on top of us, so it looks like it's going to be a largely dry day. could see a little bit of cloud bubbling up into the afternoon, with the odd isolated shower, but most places will be dry, and temperatures responding as well. 18 degrees across some of the warmest spots. high—pressure still with us again as we head on to the start of next week. moving a little bit further eastwards, so we'll be drawing some of this warmer airfrom france and from spain. so it's going to be a fairly cool start, going to have a little bit of mist and fog through the morning. that should fade away, and into the afternoon, widespread sunshine, as you can see here. and it's going to be warmer — temperatures 18 maybe 19 celsius, central scotland, and in towards the south and the south—west. and it stays fine throughout the week, but there are signs we start to pick up a north—easterly. it could turn a little bit cooler by the end of the week.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: last—ditch talks as american and chinese negotiators try to salvage a trade dealjust hours before the us imposes new tariffs on china's goods. on course for a win but after years of corruption scandals, has the anc done enough to shore up its support in south africa's general election. lives caught in conflict, as syrian government forces attack the provinces of idlib, northern hama and western aleppo — the last rebel—held areas in the country. a mafia—style shooting leaves an argentine politician seriously