stepped up its efforts to contain the disease. it has now killed nearly 500 people. just hours before president champ is likely to be acquitted in his impeachment trial, nancy pelosi rips out her copy of his state of the union speech. here, the government launches an eight week consultation over whether failing to pay your tv licence should be treated as a criminal offence. and this is the scene at an airport in istanbul, where a plane has steered off the runway and broken into three sections. turkish officials say 120 people have been injured. now, injusta moment, it will be time for sports day, but first a quick look at what else is coming up here on bbc news. at half past eight, we will be live on capitol hill for a special programme as president trump's impeachment

trial reaches its verdict. a spanish judge has granted an independent investigation into the deaths of three members of a british family at a hotel swimming pool in december. at around 8:15pm, we will have the latest from our correspondent. and we will take a look at tomorrow morning's papers this evening at... my morning's papers this evening at... my guestsjoining me morning's papers this evening at... my guests joining me are a political commentator and a political author. all head for you on bbc news, but first it is time for sports day. hello there. you're live at the bbc sport centre with me, ben croucher. this is sportsday, and these are your headlines. could super league soon have the power to ban controversial signings? we'll bring you up to speed from their meeting with clubs in salford today.

iam here i am here in belgrade, where the great britain basketball team are hoping to make history this week. with the chinese grand prix the latest sporting event in doubt due to the coronavirus, the international olympic committee tries to calm fears that toyko 2020 could be cancelled. also coming up in the programme: he's walked out of north london and moved to milan, but does christian eriksen feel like he was made a scapegoat during the end of his time at tottenham? yeah, i was honest. yeah, iwas honest. i yeah, i was honest. i wanted to try something new and i said that. but i did get the blame for a lot of stuff, for being the bad one. the super league is less than a week

old, and already there have been several headlines on and off the pitch, mainly involving israel folau. he's the australian rugby player who last year was sacked by rugby australia for homophobic comments. he's been given another chance in rugby league afterjoining the catalans dragons for the 2020 super league season. but there are concerns from other clubs that reputational damage could be done to the league, and they've threatened legal action if they lose revenue as a result. the owners, minus catalans‘ bernard guasch, met in salford today to discuss the folau situation. super league had no power to veto folau's arrival, but after today's meeting, they've voted to have more influence to prevent controversial signings in the future. we will get more on this shortly from our correspondence, the first he was the chief executive of the super league. the super league has clearly and consistently outlined its position on this matter. with the decision underway, we now feel it is important for super league to separate

what is an off—field matter to what is happening on the pitch. we accept and respect the decision to register folau, and the board has voted unanimously to put in place measures that ensure super league has greater authority to stop controversial signings such as this in the future. as a sport, we have an impressive and an enviable track record when it comes to equality and investing in diversity and inclusion, and we will continue our work in those areas. 0ur rugby league correspondent dave woods was at salford's stadium today. dave, what does this all means? well, i think today was a reflection of how disappointed begin as whole is that the catalan dragons have gone ahead and signed israel folau. it is also a reflection that they can do very little about it now. the cata la n can do very little about it now. the catalan dragons outlined today,

bernard guasch wasn't there, but then outlined that why they made a signing, what they expected and the clu b signing, what they expected and the club is obviously a game told them they weren't happy that this had happened. they are looking at ways, as we had there, or somehow legally framing a way of stopping the so—called controversial signing happening again. whether they can find that a legal framework remains to be seen. the body that decides whether a player can be registered 01’ whether a player can be registered or not, the super league want more of that power. is it now a case of preventing a second year of catalan dragons deal? i was going to say, how do they have to stop this from happening in the future? is it out of the clubs, the super league, who are presumably more involved in this as well? it is very difficult to see how they can if a club is hell—bent on signing a player. we are led to believe that last may israel folau was discussed and at that point,

cata la n was discussed and at that point, catalan said no, we don't want to sign him. they have obviously gone away from that and decided they did wa nt to away from that and decided they did want to sign him, but did not know what was going to happen as a result of that. the difficulty in having all the clubs agreeing... the rest of the clubs go to then and might say, we want to sign this player and other clubs might say, when you can't assign that player because it makes you a better team. so it is mired ina makes you a better team. so it is mired in a lot of confusion. stay with us. us because let's hear the view from france now. they've had a week to digest folau's arrival in perpignan. journalist steve brady is based in france and covers the dragons. he told me earlier that the reaction there has been very different to the uk. to be truthful, it hasn't had the impact over here with the general public that has had back in the uk or back in australia. i think they are a little more pragmatic over

here with the issue, not as obsessed with social media and i don't think it has had the same impact. israel folau has declined an interview with the bbc, but spoke at the club, saying he was grateful that the opportunity afforded him by the cata la n opportunity afforded him by the catalan dragons. do you think he will be affected by the commotion surrounding his signing? will be affected by the commotion surrounding his signing ?|j will be affected by the commotion surrounding his signing? i don't think there will be an issue at all. i spoke to a few players who are looking forward to him, saying please get him onto eye centre. i don't see any opposition from the players whatsoever and i think if you talk about inclusivity, we are going to include him in the club and we have quite a few players down here from fiji and tonga and samoa with similar kind of backgrounds, andl with similar kind of backgrounds, and i really don't see any kind of division or any problem with israel folau slotting into the team. i put him myself, he seemed like my kind

of guy and if you just concentrate oi'i of guy and if you just concentrate on the rugby league, i am sure he will do very well here. all of this comes before he has even set foot on the pitch for catalans. it could potentially make his debut this weekend. how do you think he will fairon the weekend. how do you think he will fair on the pitch for them? personally, i think he looks so perfect, i have seen him running round, he is a big unit and has kept himself fit to play. he just wants to play. we have been told not to ask certain questions. the club has promised that should israel speak co ntrove rsially, promised that should israel speak controversially, that he has in the past, there will be in immediate termination of his contract, so i don't think we'll be hearing any more outspoken views on homosexuality or religion. i think what we're going to see is a very strong and talented player, who has got a one—year contract with this clu b got a one—year contract with this club and is going to try to prove himself. i have a feeling he will hit this season running and try to redeem himself back home and in

australia. steve brady speaking to mea australia. steve brady speaking to me a bit earlier. dave woods is still here. do we expect to see him make his debut this weekend? we are told by the director of rugby at cata la n told by the director of rugby at catalan that he will not be playing this weekend. he has only arrived at perpignan in the last week or so and has got to go through various fitness tests. i will be very surprised if he plays this weekend. i think he will be more likely to make his debut at home in perpignan, where i expect he will get a more co mforta ble where i expect he will get a more comfortable reaction that he would have his that gamers as it here. and it is only a one—year contract, so what do the discussions involved in that meeting today?” what do the discussions involved in that meeting today? i think it depends on him. if he repeats of the m ista kes depends on him. if he repeats of the mistakes he's made in the past, i expect it will be a very brief career with catalans expect it will be a very brief career with catala ns because expect it will be a very brief career with catalans because the penalties that are laid out in the contract for him and the club. if he doesn't repeat that, then who knows?

he might stay further in super league or return. thank you for joining us. let's catch you up on some other sports news to interest you. anthony watson's calf injury will keep him out of england's six nations match with scotland this weekend. after missing the france defeat on sunday, the winger aggravatated it in training yesterday. mo farah's struggling with injury, too. he's got an achilles problem and will not defend his london half marathon next month. and 0dion ighalo says he was so intent on moving to manchester united, that he took a pay cut. the former watford striker joined united on loan on transfer deadline day from chinese club shanghai shenhua. from shanghai to manchester, now foshan to belgrade, yes, the olympic basketball qualifiers were due to take place in china this week, but have been moved due to the coronavirus outbreak. great britain women are hoping to create some history by qualifying for the olympics for the first time. they'll face china tomorrow in the first of three matches, and one win could be enough for a place at tokyo 2020. 0ur 0lympic sports reporter

nick hope is in serbia for us. eight a few years ago, not even the british women fought that 0lympic qualification would be possible because they simply had no support. gone were the days of receiving over £7 million in the lead up to london 2012. all that support for uk sport disappeared after those games. they have had to survive on a shoestring budget ever since, but despite that they have achieved the near impossible, winning commonwealth silver in 2018, their ambition for euro bucket. that secured their place here. they know that if they can achieve a result that gets in a place at tokyo 2020 over the next few days, it could transform the future of their sport. qualifying for it is one thing, but to get to the actual 0lympics? that doesn't change things, what can? it is really motivational for us, not only to get to the olympics but to prove

that british basketball deserves to get that funding. with a little bit more support, you know, we can only do more. great britain will face south korea, spain and china over the next two days. china where the original hosts of this event, but it was switched to serbia, following the outbreak of the coronavirus. that might be seen as a disadvantage to many nations because of the changed plans, but for great britain, it is seen as an advantage to help them towards their goal.|j was very anxious about it because i had family members messaging me, have you seen about this narrowsand isaid, yeah, have you seen about this narrowsand i said, yeah, but it is in this place, don't worry about it, trying not to radiate my anxiousness and stress about it to everyone else because this is a great opportunity that we have. i didn't want this now is to stop us from our goals, but... now we are back on track. serbia is much closer, we have more time to

prepare, soi much closer, we have more time to prepare, so i am happy about this. you are playing at the top level, so any game is going to be difficult. it is going to be hard and it is not going to be given to us, we have to fight for it. that is our mindset going into every game. everyone wants that ticket, we are not the only ones that want that ticket. so we are excited and we are just going to go out with the passion that we play with and enjoy the game. gb open their campaign against china tomorrow and given the disruptions in the preparation for this event, it could be a good time to play them, but realistically they are when this dog is nations here. south korea are playing on saturday and are ranked lower, and theoretically if great britain can win that one, it could be enough to land them a place at tokyo 2020. 0lympic qualifiers have been affected by the coronavirus. could tokyo 2020 itself be in jeopardy? 0rganisers said they were concerned about its spread. the ioc have moved to allay fears, saying they're in contact with the world health organization and had confidence that toyko 2020

were in control of the situation. 0rganisers are worried the virus could affect interest in the olympic and paralympic games due to be held from july to september. nearly 500 people have been killed in china, where the outbreak occurred. translation: i am seriously worried that the spreading of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum towards the games. i hope it will be stamped out as soon as possible. the tokyo 2020 organising committee will co—ordinate with the ioc, etc, and the tokyo metropolitan government to tackle this issue thoroughly. we can get more this now with our sports news reporter, laura. we know that some officials have concerns over the olympic and paralympic games, but some of the qualifying events for tokyo 2020 have already

been affected. yes, it has. so a lot of the spots have been affected by coronavirus. you have been hearing about a basketball, but the other sport that has been majorly impacted is the football. the women's that qualifiers were moved to china —— france china to sydney. they have been held in quarantine for a week. they are due to be out of quarantine today and will take place in their first match on friday. 0ther today and will take place in their first match on friday. other sports like boxing have had their qualifiers moved from china to jordan and several other sports are taking more of a watching brief about future events. and is there any suggestion at this stage that the olympics and paralympic games could be postponed or maybe even cancelled? so japan's olympics minister said there are no plans at present to cancel the games and the prime minister has said that they are going to do everything they can to ensure that preparations are u naffected. to ensure that preparations are unaffected. but obviously they are going to have to monitor this and

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