grand slam equalling 24th grand slam singles title. we will head live to new york shortly. the best in the world does it again, as steve smith hits a double century against england. and spain make it a perfect five 45 in their euro 2020 qualifiers, as they went to — one in romania. hello there and welcome to the programme. plenty to get through, but let's start with tennis, because it is women semi—final stay at the us open, with both matches being played under lights. serena williams remains firmly on course for a record equalling 24th major singles title after she powered past the fifth seed in the first of the semifinals. she was quite fantastic. survived a couple of early scares when she had breakpoints against her in the opening game but afterwards she started to strike the ball cleanly and with authority and it did not matter what she did she could not

stay with williams who knocked her off the court. the second set was a runaway. the big? is how she copes with the strands and the tension, the expectation of trying to draw level with margaret court. that is what she will try to do in two days time. 19 years and 364 days after her first time. 19 years and 364 days after herfirst us time. 19 years and 364 days after her first us open final time. 19 years and 364 days after herfirst us open final in time. 19 years and 364 days after her first us open final in 1999 she will go for another title here. it will go for another title here. it will be either belinda bencic or andreescu. australia's steve smith was the star of the show on day two of the 4th ashes test against england at old trafford as he notched a double century. smith has now scored 584 runs in just four innings in this series and after missing the third test due to a concussion injury has put his side firmly in control. our sports correspondent andy swiss was watching in manchester. once again it was australia ‘s day and once

again it belonged to steve smith. he began the day on 60 and he may not have gotte n began the day on 60 and he may not have gotten much further had jofra archer taken a difficult caught and bowled chance. but from there smith moved up through the gears and reached the century just moved up through the gears and reached the centuryjust before lunch. england took two wickets in the morning session but in the afternoon things began to unravel for them. they were dropped catches and then when smith was on 118 they thought they had got him out, caught in the slips but replay showed that jack leache had overstepped the mark. a no ball and a reprieve there. from there, smith went on to score a double hundred and even the english fans who have not warmed to him in the wake of the ball tampering scandal, even they gave him a warm round of applause when he was finally out for 211. australia

eventually declared on 497—8. england hope to get through to the close without losing a wicket but joe was out before the close. caught out on four. england now face a huge battle if they are to remain in the match and save their ashes hopes. obviously really proud to score a double hundred for australia and put us double hundred for australia and put us in the position where we are now. we saw this evening there is still enough there with the new ball and we beat the bat outside a few times so we beat the bat outside a few times so hopefully they can hit the top of the stump tomorrow and challenge the defence as much as we can. this reading still to go in the game. there are still three days of cricket left, three inning still left to be played in the game. if we can go out and apply ourselves

tomorrow and set ourselves up like we did in headingley than there is 110 we did in headingley than there is no reason why not. there were a host of euro 2020 football qualifiers on thursday with spain making it a perfect five from five to start their group f campaign as they beat romania 2—1 in bucharest. sergio ramos and paco alcacer scoring for robert moreno's side while defender diego llorente was sent off in the second half. italy also maintained their 100% start in group] with a 3—1win in armenia despite trailing early on as andrea belotti scored twice and in dublin the republic of ireland scored a late david mcgoldrick equaliser to draw 1—1 against switzerland meaning they're three points clear at the top of group d. in the same group, denmark remain second after a 6—nil victory in gibraltar where christian eriksen scored twice — both penalties. sweden remain second in group f — five points behind spain after a 4—nil win in the faroes. in group g, israel were held to a 1—all draw by north macedonia. poland are four points clear in that group — with a game in hand. in groupj, there were wins for bosnia and finland — but italy remain five points clear

after that victory in armenia. in africa, there were three more games in world cup qualifying — including a stunning win for somalia against zimbabwe. anwar sha kunda scored the only goal of the game — for the team ranked 202 in the world. the second leg is in bulawayo next week. in asia, the second round of world cup qualifying got underway on thursday. in jakarta, indonesia twice led against malaysia — with beto goncalves scoring both goals for the home side. but each time they were pegged back — syafiq ahmad making it 2—2 midway through the 2nd half. a draw looked to be on the cards, but — in the seventh minute of stoppage time, mohamadou sumareh scoed the goal that won it for malaysia. in the same group, thailand and vietnam drew 0—0. elsewhere, there were big wins for syria, kuwait and qatar. almoez ali scored a hat—trick as the qataris thrashed afghanistan 6—nil.

these matches also double—up as quaifiers for the 2023 asian cup which is why qatar are involved — even though they're hosting the world cup. the new nfl season is underway — and it's a landmark year because 2019 marks the 100th season of the competition. the champions, the new england patriots, begin the defence of their title at home to pittsburgh steelers on sunday. they're the two most successful teams in nfl history with six super bowls each. bbc analysts and former nfl stars osi umenyiora and jason bell say the patriots are clear favourites to win a record 7th title. you always need to look at the patriots to be a defined dust because they have arguably the best had coach and the greatest quarterback of all time, tom brady. as long as he stays healthy they have a chance and he has always found a way to do that. these outcomes are very unpredictable

because you have the competitive length of the league and other teams working hard to beat us. we don't know how it will go when you put up a plan, you think it will work else you would not have confidence in it. and then you get into the ring, so to speak, and you go at it. they will show us many things that we have never seen and that's the way the early part of the season goes. you cannot argue about the head coach being the greatest ever seen. what they have been able to do in this day and age is unprecedented so you absolutely must look out for the patriots, they will be there at the end. 100 years. that is a century. that is a lotto football that has been played so you have to celebrate the fact that nfl has been around for this long and hopefully we can toast to another 100 years. for this long and hopefully we can toast to another 100 years!

for this long and hopefully we can toast to another 100 years. a lot of new talent and great teams. this will be exciting. another great year of football ahead. the first game of the new season is underway — with the green bay packers in chicago to face the bears. the new chicago bears kicker has already picked up a field goal in the opening quarter. slovenia's primoz roglic still leads by almost two minutes heading into friday's hilly 166.4km stage 13 of the vuelta a espana. 37—year—old phillipe gilbert won his first grand tour stage for four years when the belgian claimed stage 12, narrowly holding off his nearest challengers by three seconds. but in the general classification standings it's as you were with roglic still in front with nine stages remaining. paul casey will take a one stroke lead into friday's second round of the european open in hamburg after carding an opening day 6 under 66. the englishman overcame illness and tough conditions to see him one shot ahead of austria's matthias schwab, his only blemish a bogey on the parfour 6th hole. casey's compatriot and defending champion richard mcevoy was less fortunate in the conditions as he struggled

to 5 over and well back in the field, this one ofjust two birdies in a mixed round. with the major league baseball post season less than a month away, the st louis cardinals kept themselves on track as they thrashed the san fransisco giants in missouri. dakota hudson pitched six scoreless innings as the national league central—leading hudson also drove in two runs to help his own cause as the cardinals blew the giants away for a 10—nothing win as the cardinals won for the 15th time in their last 19 games. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport.

hello there. this week has been very changeable up—and—down temperatures, one day sunny and the next day windy and wet. it looks like we are ending the week in fact on friday with wetter and windier weather for many but as a band of rain slips southwards we will see return to sunshine with blustery showers as well. it's courtesy of this next area of low pressure moving in. to the north of scotland where the isobars are closer together. windy conditions through friday and this band of rain first thing friday morning will be across more central areas, spreading slowly southwards and eastwards as the day wears on. eventually becomes confined to southern counties of england, and behind that the skies brighten up. plenty of sunshine around but also blustery showers and some will be heavy in the north—west and it will feel cool once again with temperatures in the mid to high teens celsius. it stays breezy as we head on into friday evening. that weather front clears away from the south, skies clear and for many.

a couple of showers across coastal areas otherwise sunny spells and with the cool air in place it will be a fairly chilly start to saturday. and temperatures in single figures for many, particularly out of town in the north. high pressure builds into weekend for both saturday and sunday it looks like we should be mainly dry thanks to this big ridge of high pressure. light winds as well but the air will be on the cool side. we start saturday off on a chilly note with plenty of sunshine around. still breezy and windy down the eastern coastal areas with feeding in a couple of showers otherwise for most, apart from an isolated shower, should be dry through the afternoon. sunny spells and temperatures in the low to mid teens in the north, 18—20 across the south. high pressure still with us on into sunday. the weather front may bring a bit more cloud to the north—west corner of scotland but most places will be under the influence of this high but it will be a chilly start on sunday up and down the country. bright with plenty of sunshine around.

it could bring thicker cloud and more of a breeze to the far north—west, most places shall see sunny spells. fairweather cloud during the day. again, temperatures after a chilly start reaching the mid— high teens celsius. as we head on into monday it looks like we have another weather system pushing in from the north—west. that will bring a band of rain and the wind will pick up once again so a messy picture for monday with outbreaks of rain, some of it heavy moving across scotland and then into england and wales. it brightens up behind the rain band again, blustery showers following on. cooler air as well, 14—16 degrees.

welcome to bbc news, i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: britain's prime minister says he'd rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask the european union for a further delay to brexit. it costs £1 billion a month, it achieves absolutely nothing, what on earth is the point of a further delay. the devastation of hurricane dorian in the bahamas — at least 70,000 people need urgent help. a special report fom alaska, where developers want president trump to remove environmental protections in america's largest national forest. and a new way of caring for people with dementia — a village where residents can wander freely and safely.