coming up on this programme: paying the price — marco giampaolo is sacked at ac milan, with ex—inter boss, stefano pioli, poised to takeover. roger federer cruises into the next round in china, on his quest for a third shanghai masters title. and, the nba goes on the defensive, over a freedom of speech row in china. i regret having communicated directly with friends in china that so directly with friends in china that so many people are upset. hello and welcome to the programme. news from the italian serie a to start with. ac milan have sacked manager, marco giampaolo, afterjust three and a half months. former inter boss, stefano pioli, is expected to take over, with the 18—time champions currently three points off the relegation zone. earlier i spoke to italian football

journalist daniele verri, who feels the manager paid the price for the team's poor start to the season. u nfortu nately, unfortunately, marco giampaolo did not make the team perform as expected. ac milan lost four of the first seven games of the season and that was not enough for them to give confidence. although he want the last game in genoa, there was not a change in terms of the performance on the pitch and that prompted ac milan to dismiss him. marco giampaolo was the main signing in the summer in order to change them as compared to the previous season and it did not work out at all. on the other side, he did not receive much time at all. being at ac milan

means being under a lot of pressure. the club is serving a one—year and ina european the club is serving a one—year and in a european football. what kind of state visiting with all the history? exactly, they have so much history but not so much at present i would say. they need to have a look at the roster and you will find out that the team is nowhere near the top tea m the team is nowhere near the top team in serie a or europe. world cup winner, bastian schweinsteiger, has reitred from football. the german midfielder made the announcement at the end of the major league soccer season for chicago fire. schweinsteiger is one of the most decorated players in the game, with 121 caps for his country, winning the world cup in rio five years ago. he made over 500 appearances for bayern munich, and won 8 bundesliga titles. he laterjoined manchester united in 2015, but had a tough two years at old trafford. germany boss, joachim low, described schweinsteiger as one of the greatest players in the country's history.

qualifying for the european championships continue this week. england travel to face the czech republic on friday, before they take on bulgaria on monday. that game will be played in front of a reduced crowd, as punishment after bulgarian fans were found guilty of racist behaviour, during games in june. chelsea defender, fikayo tomori, could make his debut. he confirmed the squad have discussed what action should be taken, if players suffer any abuse. the protocol is you first notify the referee and then there is an announcement made. the game carries on and if it happens again, the referee takes the players of division and he decides if the atmosphere in the stadium is fit or if you want to come back on the pitch and carry on playing and from there it is decided if we carry on playing or if the match is

abandoned. now, let's bring you up to date with some of the headlines from the shanghai masters tennis. and in his first tour match since the us open, roger federer eased his way through to the third round in shanghai. the 20—time grand slam champion beat spaniard albert ramos—vinolas in straight sets — 6—2,7—6. world number 4, daniil medvedev, is also through. the russian needed just 5a minutes to thrash britain's cameron norrie in straight sets. but there's no place in the next round for andy murray. the 3—time champion showed more positive signs on his road to recovery from hip surgery but was just edged out by italian fabio fognini in a bad tempered match. a furious murray accused fognini of shouting during a critical point, which led to an ugly confrontation. i have never had in a pledge and i have played 800 odd matches, and i have played 800 odd matches, and i have never had that happen. he wa nted have never had that happen. he wanted to engage with me, fabio

fognini, like he probably should have done but he talked to me like that... she's the biggest name in gymnastics and now simone biles has gone into a league of her own by becoming the most successful female in world championship history. biles won her 21st world medal, as the usa took gold in the women's team event at the world gymnastics championships in stuttgart. they finished nearly a full 6 marks ahead of second—placed russia. the bronze medal went to italy, who won their first team medal since 1950. there's a diplomatic rift growing between china and one of the pillars of american sport — the nba. basketball is hugely popular in china. but a tweet by houston rockets executive daryl morey, which supported the political protests in hong kong, has led to chinese state tv saying they won't air two exhibition games in the country this week. morey has since apologised but the chinese government, the fans, and the team's partners aren't happy, after a loss of money and publicity.

here's what nba commissioner adam silver had to say. we are not apologising for exercising freedom of expression. i regret again having communicated directly again with many friends in china that so many people are upset, including millions and millions of oui’ including millions and millions of ourfans. including millions and millions of our fans. what i including millions and millions of ourfans. what i said and including millions and millions of our fans. what i said and that statement is the long held values of the nba, to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the nba community. sojust how big of an impact will this have on the nba? earlier we spoke to simon chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at salford university in england. it isa it is a real tough one for them because on the one hand they are an american based organisation, presumably keen to uphold liberal

democratic values but, at the same time, the nba over the last two decades has invested a huge amount of money and time into cultivating the chinese market for basketball and so this is a classic stand—off between politics and money and he knows he has to tread that fine line and really cannot please anyone and everyone. some broadcasters in china are refusing to show certain nbn games. we have commercial partners asking questions. it is possible that, if it gets tractions, it will go into millions of dollars and that ranges from all manner of things from merchandised, the games and broadcast content, but also commercial partnerships and things like sponsorships that some of the nba might draw from china. south africa have confirmed their place in the quarter—finals of the rugby world cup after thrashing canada 66—7. they ran in 10 tries in kobe, with scrum half cobus reinach

scoring the fastest hat trick in the history of the tournament. conor mcnamara was there. ten tries run end by the springboks in kobe, it means a bonus point victory which means whatever happens between italy and new zealand, south africa are assured of their place in the quarter—finals. three of the trice god either northampton player —— three of the tries scored by the northampton player. ca nada's —— three of the tries scored by the northampton player. canada's job —— three of the tries scored by the northampton player. canada'sjob was a lwa ys northampton player. canada'sjob was always going to be so difficult and it got harder whenjosh larson was shown a red cloud. the next game is on sunday. in such a difficult group, this match was going to be the most realistic for canada to get a wind but the springboks have got three winds out of four and they are

in to the last eight. in wednesday's matches, scotland can set up a final group showdown with tournament hosts japan, if they overcome russia. not much to play for between argentina and usa, in their pool match. both teams are chasing third place and automatic qualification for world cup 2023. and a third successive win for wales, will ensure they reach the knockout stages. fiji stand in their way. and new york has the statue of liberty. now sweden has zlatan! the worlds of the ex—man united forward ibrahimovich, who's been honoured in his hometown with — what else — but a golden statue! the la galaxy player began his career with malmo 20 years ago. the momument, which depicts the 38 year old celebrating with his shirt off, was commissioned by the swedish fa and stands almost 3 metres tall.

iam sure i am sure he is proud of it. 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 there. it was a fairly unsettled day on tuesday. we saw plenty of showers across northern and western areas. and a few got across into the east that were pretty heavy and thundering in one or two spots. but there was plenty of sunshine too. the next two days, similar story, staying rather unsettled, with low pressure nearby, and it is going to be windy for most. on wednesday, low pressure against the north of the uk. fairly strong winds, plenty of showers blowing from west to east. and then for thursday and friday, looks like we could see more organised weather fronts pushing in to bring more persistent rain for some areas. if you were watching yesterday, like i mentioned, it is not going to be particularly cold the next few days, as our air source will be coming

in off the atlantic from the west or the south—west. the night should be too cold either. for wednesday then, it starts off bright, some sunshine across eastern areas. we”l have a scattering of heavy, perhaps thundery showers affecting south wales, southern counties of england through the day, and lots of showers will be piling into western scotland. and the wind strong, particularly across the west and, when the showers come along, gusting 30, maybe a0 miles per hour, in exposed spots. temperature wise, a few degrees down on what we had on tuesday. that is the low teens across scotland, northern ireland, maybe 14—15 across the south and the east. through wednesday night, it stays blustery. lots of showers again across northern and western areas. some of them merging together to produce longer spells of rain here. but we could see some dry interludes or long clear spells across central and eastern part of the country. those temperatures dipping down from seven to 10 degrees. so on into thursday, we've got low pressure to the north—east of the uk. next system pushing in with more active weather fronts, could bring more persistent rain

to parts of the country, like i mentioned. so i think we'll start off fairly cool, bright, plenty of sunshine around. to the west, thicker cloud and this front will bring more persistent rain to northern ireland and into scotland through the day but again, further south, will be sunshine and showers, mainly across wales and the south—west of england. but a few spots will see some hazy sunshine. those temperatures but up again. 17 degrees will be the high. lots of weather fronts on the chart. you'll see on friday, some uncertainty to where these fronts will actually be. it could be that parts of the north—west of scotland will see outbreaks of rain. another one may move south—east, across england and wales, to bring a spell of persistent rain. some sunshine in between. those temperatures up a notch again, 17 or 18 degrees across the south and the east of the country. it remains unsettled with low pressure always nearby into the weekend. showers or longer spells of rain, also a little bit of sunshine, but it will stay on the breezy side.

welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: the white house refuses officially to co—operate in the trump impeachment inquiry, claiming it is unconstitutional. as the eu accuses the uk of playing a blame game over brexit, ireland's prime minister warns that finding any agreement won't be easy. i think it's going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly. we very much want there to be a deal and i'll certainly work until the very last moment to secure that. but not at any cost. turkey bolsters its military presence on the border with syria, as the us begins withdrawing forces from the region. we'll meet a very special penguin who found itself on an unexpected and very long adventure.