and a shock defeat for second seed stefanos tsitsipas in rotterdam against aljaz bedene. but defending champion gael monfils marches on. welcome along to the programme. three—time australian rugby union player of the year, israel folau, is set to return to action this weekend, for the first time in 10 months. the former wallaby was sacked last year by rugby australia and his state side, over homophobic comments he posted social media. folau's now back in the spotlight, after being the given the chance to return to rugby league, signing for the french based super league team, catalans dragons. and the man who's played for his country in both codes of rugby, set to make his debut on saturday against castleford tigers. our sports correspondent natalie pirks reports from perpignan. his athletic ability is not up for

debate but his personal views sparked a huge run around free speech and discrimination. the deeply religious israe lfolau will attempt to resurrect a career left in tatters. the smile is back and his new manager believes everyone reserves a shot at redemption. from the outside you know the headlines but not the person. and in sport in depth for a long period of time, over a number of occasions. i thought that it was right and i thought he deserved the opportunity. it should not have been a life sentence what he was given, and he gets an opportunity here in the south of france. his new club condemned his comments and the new club forbids him from making the kinds of sermons he makes at his church. god is word says for at his church. god is word says for a man and woman be together... only a man and woman be together... only a few months ago he linked australia's devastating bushfire to the country ‘s decision to legalise same—sex marriage. the country ‘s decision to legalise same-sex marriage. is it a

coincidence or not? god is speaking to you, australia, you need to repent. after he was fired, israe lfolau sued rugby australia for discrimination. it settle out of court. this signing makes a lot of sense because he was one of the highest paid players in rugby union before the axe fell but now other clu bs before the axe fell but now other clubs have written legal action should they lose sponsorship because of this signing a local lgbt groups are of this signing a local lgbt groups a re less of this signing a local lgbt groups are less than impressed. translation: we have the right to live as he has the right to live as eve ryo ne live as he has the right to live as everyone does but when he says we're going to the fires of hell, it is incredible. his teammates have embraced him after he opened up to him about his views and advanced locally seem more excited about the prospect of one of the world ‘s best

playing for them. it is a tough working—class area here. the do not seem working—class area here. the do not seem to get as hysterical about issues. i think the media will move on and find other stories to talk about. we will see him scoring tries out and performing well, i think it will disappear. sport has a long history of writing second chances of practice should greater talent equal quicker forgiveness. on to football, and it's all square after the first leg of the coppa italia semi—final between milan and juventus. milan, who haven't won the cup for 17 years, took the lead after an hour through croatian striker ante rebic. but it started to unravel for the home side when theo hernandez was set off for a second bookable offence 10 minutes later. and they were denied a first leg lead when cristiano ronaldo scored a last—minute penalty forjuve. 1—1 the final score, and the 2nd leg is in turin on 4th march. in spain, real sociedad have the advantage in their copa del rey semi—final.

they won 2—1, in the first leg at home to mirandes, of the spanish second tier. on—loan midfielder martin odegaard, who helped knock out parent club real madrid last week, scored the crucial second for sociedad. the second leg is next month. elsewhere, saint—etienne are through to the semi—finals of the french cup. they laboured to a 2—1 victory at fourth—tier side epinal, to seal their place in the last four. golf and matt kuchar leads after the ist round of the genesis open at pacific palisades near los angeles. he shot a bogey—free round of 64 on thursday. that's 7—under—par. this was his second shot to the par 4 5th and led to one his seven birdies. kuchar is three shots clear of a group of five players, including wyndham clark and russell henley. rory mcilroy is playing his first tournament since returning to the top of the world rankings for the first time in five years, and he's a further shot back on 3—under—par. tiger woods had a mixed round. after this eagle at the first, he picked up two more shots on the front nine but there were two bogeys on the back nine, and he had

to settle for a 69 — five shots off the lead. alongside woods on 2—under—par are the defending champion jb holmes, and this man — justin rose — who laid claim to the shot of the day on his way to a round of 69. what a shot that was! if alice dearing qualifies for the tokyo olympics this summer, the 22 year—old will make history by becoming the first black woman, to swim for great britain at the games. but in a sport where less than one percent of competitive swimmers identify as black or mixed race. alice says she wishes more people of colour, would grab their swimsuits and dive in. the bbc‘s rhia chohan went to meet her. i have been the only black swimmer for about five years now. it is rare to see athletes of colour like alice

dearing in the pool. discrimination can play a part. alice experience racism coming through the ranks.” have had a few issues where a coach has called me a skinny and — a word. it was not a great experience. i was i7 it was not a great experience. i was 17 at the time. it was not said to me directly. it was like a slap in the face. alice did get support but decided not to press charges. since then she has helped set up the black swimming association, partly to combat crude racial stereotypes that are keeping black youngsters out of the pool. it is kind of ingrained within the culture that do not swim, thatis within the culture that do not swim, that is not as bold. her brother came home and tell the story of a swimming teacher who said to a black parent, though, your child cannot swim, their bones are too dense. i have had a lot of people say to me now that black people are too heavy to swim. you are really not, it is a

com plete to swim. you are really not, it is a complete myth. there are practical considerations as well. the fact that the matter that the water impulse is more damaging to afro air because it contains chemicals which, when mixed with water, forms bleach. another barrier but one that alice has learned to deal with... however you managed? i am not going to pretend it is easy. i use loads of oil and pretend it is easy. i use loads of oiland carto pretend it is easy. i use loads of oil and car to keep it hydrated. the site try. she could get her shot at olympic law in tokyo but for her this is about more than medals. olympic law in tokyo but for her this is about more than medalsm it can inspire one little black girl oi’ it can inspire one little black girl or blackboard to get into water and give it a try, i have done myself proud. on to tennis and the defending champion gael monfils is through to the quarter—finals of the rotterdam open. the number 3 seed beat fellow—frenchman, gilles simon, in straight sets,

to reach the last eight. monfils, who's bidding to win back—to—back tour titles, following his victory in montpellier last week, won 6—4, 6—1, and he'll now face dan evans of great britain. but the number 2 seed stefanos tsitsipas is out. he made his debut on the main tour at this event three years ago, and was heavily fancied to win this year, but lost in straight sets to aljaz bedene. the world number 52 from slovenia won 7—5, 6—4 and will play canada's felix auger—aliassime in the quarter—finals. there was also a shock defeat for the number 4 seed david goffin. the belgian, who reached the final in 2017, was beaten in straight sets by the italian wildcard jannik sinner, who's ranked 79 in the world. sinner won 7—6, 7—5 to reach the last eight. he'll now face the spaniard pablo carreno busta. on the wta tour, the defending champion kiki bertens is through to the quarter—finals of the saint petersburg trophy in russia. the number 2 seed frrom the netherlands thrashed veronika kudermetova for the loss of just three games.

she won 6—1, 6—2 — and now face another russian, anastasia potapova, in the last eight. in the same half of the draw, petra kvitova, who won the saint petersburg trophy in 2018, is also through to the quarter—finals. but she needed three sets to see off belgium's alison van uytvanck, who's ranked 47 in the world. after losing the sevond set 6—1, the number 3 seed and former wimbledon champion took the decider 6—2, to seal her place in the last eight. 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. storm dennis on the way this weekend, nowhere escaping the strong winds, disruptive in places but concern growing aboutjust how much rain coming from it as well. one rain band bearing south on friday but look how much rain is going to come from dennis on the weekend. this trailing weather front has along it several spells of prolonged rain, particularly into parts of england and wales and areas that have seen a lot of rain recently and some flooding. we are going to see some furtherflooding in places. the met office has a number of amber warnings in force for the rain and we'll look at those and other warnings injust a moment. and for friday, another spell of a rain moving south. quickly through northern ireland across scotland, coupled with snowmelt in southern scotland and a bit of flooding in some spots. rain becoming patchy in places as it works further south across england and wales. gusty winds though, particularly towards the north

and north—west of scotland with further blustery showers moving in here. by friday evening, the rain peps up a bit once it reaches south—east england and east anglia. for man overnight and into saturday morning, it is the lull before the storm and still some dry weather first thing on saturday but it's not going to last. storm dennis then does bring rain in right across the uk during saturday. outbreaks of heavy rain at times and the wind strengthening particularly for the afternoon and into the evening before easing a bit into overnight and into sunday morning. wind gusts around 50 mph around the coast towards the west and south touching 70 mph perhaps in a few spots. really difficult travelling conditions. on the face of it, mild, but very wet and windy in places. heavy rain continuing across large parts of england and wales on through the night and into sunday. slowly clearings southward on sunday but it looks like the winds will pick up again this on sunday. bright skys and a few showers following on behind, turning a bit cooler too. looking at the weather warnings. the met office, amber warnings for rain across a large part of southern and western

england and into wales, 20 to a0 millimetres. higher amounts, particularly in these areas and some of the hills of wales and south—west england could end up with over 100 millimetres of rain, so that risk of flooding increasing over the weekend. another amber warning area kicking in on sunday too forfurther prolonged rain across this part of southern england. in terms of the wind, well, widely, we're going to see some gusts inland around 50 mph or so but is the coast that we'll see stronger winds this time — touching 70 mph. then as storm dennis gets closer to scotland to end sunday and here into northern ireland, we could well see a number swathe of potentially damaging winds moving on through. that is your latest about storm dennis.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: china deploys the military as concern grows over the true scale of the coronavirus in hubei province. the us senate votes to limit president trump's ability to wage war against iran. the un says 800,000 people have been displaced in syria since december in the offensive by government forces. and scientists rewrite the text books on how the planets in our solar system were really formed.

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