welcome to bbc news. our top stories: england's footballers are in theirfirst majorfinal in 55 years after beating denmark at wembley. this was the moment fans throughout england saw harry kane score and book their place in sunday's final versus italy. south africa's former president's jacob zuma's handed himself in to serve a 15—month term for contempt of court. haiti declares a state of emergency after the country's president is assassinated in his own home. and our correspondentjoins a fishing crew in the disputed south china sea.

they're 50 metres away. it isa it is a chinese coast vessel. the dead are metres, 50 metres away now. —— the vessel is. hello, and a warm welcome to the programme. england's footballers have reached their first major tournament final since 1966. the team beat denmark 2—1 in the semi finals of the european championship — the euros. they will play italy in the final on sunday. as you might imagine, the final whistle was greeted around england with jubilation.

# it's coming home! the bbc�*s tim allman watched the action. the stadium itself may be relatively new but wembley as a venue is steeped in history. despite that these supporters, at least the ones wearing white, were hoping to see something completely unprecedented. # football is coming home. england reaching the final of a european championship. i think we will beat them within 90 minutes. i am confident that harry kane score a couple of goals and we get through to the final. come on, england! i really want to beat denmark and if we get knocked out - i will be so sad. the denmark fans had a different take on things and had no intention of being just sacrificial lambs before lions. obviously if denmark win today we will replicate what we did in 1992 and get through to the final and hopefully be back here on sunday. and that idea did not seem too far—fetched when the danes took

the lead on the 30—minute mark. a stunning freekick from mikkel damsgaard making it1—0. but within ten minutes england were on level terms. a danish own goal sending wembley into raptures. we had to to wait until extra time for a winner. raheem sterling going down in the box, penalty. up stepped harry kane whose shot was saved but then he tapped in the rebound. england had done it. maybe football is coming home after all. for our country... i've not heard new wembley like that ever and to be able to share that with everybody and share it with everybody at home is very special. spare a thought for denmark who have been riding an emotional rollercoaster since their star player, christian eriksen collapsed in their first group game. but the night belonged to england. this was trafalgar square in london.

the partying had onlyjust begun. imagine what it will be like if their team wins the whole thing. let's hear now from some supporters who watched the match at a fan zone in london. they've been speaking to the bbc�*s chi chi izundu. how do you feel watching that match? absolutely elated! this is the most amazing moment ever. england have made it through to the finals for the first time in so long. yes! this hasn't happened in so many years, this is iconic what has just happened. can we stop talking about 1966 now? 2021 now baby! football is coming home! gentlemen, how do you feel? too good, too good. i'm absolutely buzzing,

i never felt this good in my life. the whole country has come together, you can look at the scenes. look at everyone, look at how they are doing, the adrenaline is too much. everyone feels it, you feel it, everyone feels it. i'm hugging the most random people i've ever met in my life and that's the beauty about it. only football can make you feel like this, only football. well, for more reaction to the game, i've been speaking to sune frederiksen, a former youth coach in denmark, who was watching the game with his 20—year—old son. he told me how he was feeling. i am sad in many ways but i think, really, denmark has been through an emotional and heroicjourney through this cup and i think that it was good today and england was, in many ways, lucky to win. there was an own goal and a discussable penalty kick and so the result could have

been different but when it comes down to the bottom line, i think england had the better part of the game in their hands and deserved to win. the result could have been different, but when it comes down to the bottom line, i think england had the better part of the game in their hands and deserved it. from that awful thing that happened to christian eriksen in the first match it felt that there very much momentum behind the danish team in the whole tournament. i think it has something to do with coaching because the team could have fallen apart if they did not have a good leader and team behind them and, especially the national coach was able to bring the team up to an extraordinarily high level and get them to a semi—final. they are a good mix of young and older players in the danish team. experience and youth.

what is it about the danish team other than the manager that gives you the edge? you have done very well in this tournament and i think denmark is ranked number 10 in the world in terms of international teams. it is a strong side. they've not lost many games in the last 30 games. and it has been very good. but you have to remember that the majority of these danish international players play in major leagues around europe, italy and spain and england and germany and only a few of them play in the league in denmark. so they do match the english players when it comes to what clubs they play for. it is painful, i know, but what is your prediction for sunday evening? who will win? definitely two different kinds of soccer they play. the italians are smart as foxes and they take advantage of every little mistake the english team could make, but what i saw tonight was that you had an english team

that is there for the long haul and i think they have a chance. it will be a thriller, there is no doubt about it. police say the former south african president jacob zuma has handed himself in to serve 15 months in jail for contempt of court. he left his house in a convoy which included his bodyguards and armed police. last week, the constitutional court found him guilty of contempt for defying its order to appear before a corruption inquiry. mr zuma said that sending him to jail at his age during a pandemic would be a death sentence. the bbc�*s nomsa maseko is in nkandla in kwazulu—natal, where jacob zuma's home is, and sent us this update.

a huge fall from grace for the fourth democratically elected president of south africa. the former presidentjacob zuma finally surrendering and handing himself over to prison authorities to avoid being taken by force by the prison authorities who were told that they have until midnight to effect the arrest if the former president does not hand himself over. what has led him here. how has he got to this point? well, the reason why the former president is in prison is not because he was convicted for a specific crime but it is because he ignored a court order that required him to give testimony at a corruption inquiry which he set up himself when he was still president a few years ago. there have been widespread allegations that the former president was involved in corruption and these are allegations that he has denied. the accusation here is

that he was giving lucrative business deals to his friends and close associates. some of whom have actually given testimony at this corruption enquiry which the former president has said he will not do. so as a result the constitutional court of south africa was then asked to make a ruling about what to do with the former president, because he was just not playing ball and the constitutional court then handed down a 15—month jail sentence to the former president, and said that he needs to start serving it with immediate effect. i believe there have been some supporters gathered outside his house. what have they been saying? there was a handful of his supporters today, very little in number compared to the almost thousands that we saw on sunday afternoon when he addressed them. this time around there were very few numbers

because there were more police officers. in fact at least 30 police vehicles, armoured vehicles and notjust, you know, the small—time policeman as it were. but it was a tactical response team that was set up to ensure that they would be moving in in case there is trouble, as was threatened by his supporters who said they would take up arms and would also form a human shield to protect the former president. today, some of of them told me they were unhappy about his incarceration and warned that there will be protests expected from as early as the early hours of this morning, in the next few hours it is widely expected that the protests are going to begin. in the meantime, mr zuma is in the correctional facility, about 2.5 hours away from his home in nkandla

and that correctional facility there are about 500 prisoners there, and what is now going to happen is before mr zuma is taken to a prison cell, he needs to be processed. there needs to be a medical examination and mental examination to ensure that he is in the right frame of mind before he is taken to a prison cell. the haitian security forces have killed four of the gang suspected of assassinating presidentjovenel moise in a shootout in the capital, port—au—prince. a state of emergency was declared following his death and two suspected mercenaries were taken into custody. 0ur north america correspondent sophie long reports. haiti is a country in chaos, where acts of everyday life have come to pose a mortal risk. accused of corruption and extending his presidency illegally, jovenel moise faced mass protests and demands

from the opposition to step down. the interim prime minister described the assassination, which came after weeks of escalating violence, as a heinous, inhumane and barbaric act and declared a state of emergency. still recovering from the devastating earthquake of 2010 and the hurricane that struck six years later, parts of the country remain inaccessible, besieged by territorial battles between heavily armed gangs, violence that has forced more than 13,000 to flee their homes. yet the police have been largely invisible, the government silent. now the calls for the international community to act are getting louder. we need a lot more information, but it is very worrisome about the state of haiti. reporter: but does the us have a role...? with covid cases surging in a country where the few hospital beds are often shared by strangers, and vaccinations are almost unheard of, the sense of insecurity on the streets where food and fuel is becoming

increasingly difficult to find has now intensified. the shooting of the president and his wife proof that no—one is safe. sophie long, bbc news. i asked author and journalist michael deibert for his reaction to events. certainly shocking, may be more shocking than surprising. there was a tremendous upbeat of violence that had gotten worse, especially in recent weeks in hait. and certainly during his time in office for various reasons, jovenel moise had made some very dangerous people very nervous. what more do we know about who is behind this, because there are rumours, there are videos circulating on social media — what more do you know about potentially who be behind this? that's one of the big questions in haiti right now,

there is footage of the commanders who entered the residence and killed the president. and the striking thing about them is they don't — they are speaking in spanish and english, they are white or latin perhaps, and there is another footage from around the city today that has been taken of people that look a bit similar, and the head of police said that they had been fighting the security forces, they had been fighting these guys around the city all day long. what do you think about the president as a president? i know you interviewed him twice, he has come under a lot of criticism, ruling by decree since 2019, trying to change the constitution, to try and push for immunity for any actions in office the opposition in haiti said that he was threatening democracy in the country and setting it on a course towards authoritarian rule. what did he say

to those critics? when i interviewed him, in his response to that, he talked about determining the state capture, that the state of haiti had been captured by oligarchs and corrupt political dealers who were pulverising it continually for their own benefit, and that's why he said he was doing all these initiatives, with the energy sector, in terms of building roads and things like that. did you believe him? the people of haiti are complex. i would say, though, the opposition, their focus on democracy would be at the bottom of the pole. looking at haiti as a country, obviously, the international community, its involvement, it has been there so many times before. does it have a role to play now? it seems that every time the international community gets involved with haiti,

they make things worse. i think the big preoccupation and haiti among haitians now is that this creates a vacuum of political authority of security. even before this happened, you had splits in the police, parliament is defunct with only a couple of senators left — covid recently. you essentially have two prime ministers — one that was about to be appointed and one that was stepping down. we have someone managing the state of things at the moment. the taliban advances, the government fights to gain control. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing

speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup. they pipped the favourite, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated. celebration parties were cancelled. a man entered the palace i through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen's private bedroom, then _ he asked her for a cigarette and, on the pretext - for arranging for some to be . bought, summoned a footman on duty who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. education is the only solution. this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: england's footballers are in theirfirst majorfinal in 55 years after beating denmark at wembley. south africa's former president's jacob zuma's handed himself in to serve a 15—month term for contempt of court. it is another major escalation in afghanistan — the taliban launching a sustained assault on a provincial capital, in the west of the country. fierce fighting erupted in the capital of bard—giss province. the governor said the enemy had entered the city and some districts have fallen. afghanistan's defence minister said that �*war is raging' with the taliban. secunder kermani reports. a taliban fighter poses for the camera. these are government soldiers and commandos, he says. and you can see they have all surrendered.

the insurgents launched their assault on qala—i—naw in the northwest of the city early this morning. they have been taking more and more territory in recent weeks but this is the first time during this offensive they have attacked a major city. dozens of prisoners streamed out from the jail. meanwhile, government forces have been trying to push the insurgents back. translation: i assure people that all of our special forces i are defending the city. they are engaging in different parts of the city with insurgents. they have caused casualties to the enemy and they face defeat. i call on you all to be calm. we are defending city. the taliban have launched a series of major attacks in recent weeks as international trips get close to completely withdrawing. us officials have said 90%

of their forces have now been pulled out ahead of a deadline in september. the afghan air force is conducting strikes that once would have been carried out by americans. but there are fears about how long the governments can continue to resist the taliban. in the city of qala—i—naw, soldiers said they managed to clear the taliban out from the centre. but with negotiations yet to make any real progress, today's fighting represents yet another escalation in a conflict that only looks set to be getting even worse. five years ago next week, the philippines won a landmark legal victory over china, about incursions in the disputed south china sea. a tribunal at the permanent court of arbitration in the hague ruled that beijing had been unlawful in its occupation and blockade of traditional filipino fishing

grounds, including scarborough shoal. both china and the philippines claim sovereignty over the large coral reef while vietnamese claim it is their traditional fishing grounds. the maritime territory is closest to the philippine coast, but since 2012, and despite the tribunal ruling, there has been a constant chinese coastguard presence there — with filipino fishermen reporting harassment by the authorities. china justifies its claims in the south china sea based on its controversial 9—dash—line map, first published after world war ii. it didn't take part in the 2016 tribunal or accept its findings. our philippines correspondent howard johnson, joined a filipino fishing crew to witness what's happening at scarborough shoal. we're on a fishing boat heading towards occupied maritime territory in the south china sea. we want to verify reports that chinese boats are unlawfully blockading a traditional filipino fishing ground,

just 120 nautical miles from its coast. we sail with trepidation. we have identified a foreign vessel. this year, china has been swarming reefs and rocks in philippine waters with hundreds of its boats, many from its maritime militia. in this recent promotional video, the militia are seen firing automatic weapons and ramming what appears to be a small fishing boat during training exercises. we arrive at scarborough shoal the following morning. notice how waves from the deep blue ocean break on a lighter, turquoise body of water — that's the limestone reef you can see in the satellite image. easier to spot is the chinese coastguard presence. so, there's a chinese coast guard vessel that's watching us at the moment, it's done three sweeps — first of all, 200 metres away, then 100 metres away, and now 50 metres away. it's watching our every move.

the boat leaves without incident — but our captain knows the lagoon is off limits. translation: we are the bandits in our own territory. _ why is that so? we steal our own territory? we steal our own fish? that's because we don't have our own coastguard there. on the last day at scarborough shoal, we venture into the blockaded eastern entrance. but after ten minutes, we notice a boat moving on the horizon towards us. it's coming here? ok, let's go. it's a maritime militia boat. by cross—referencing our footage with satellite data, it appears that the vessel that sailed towards us is called cheong sa nsha yu00311. sansha is where the maritime militia promotional video was filmed. five years on from a landmark legal ruling that found that china had been unlawful in disrupting traditional fishing by blockading scarborough shoal, ourjourney has revealed that beijing continues to flout international law.

we put these allegations to the chinese embassy in london and received this reply. howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal. and you can see more on that story in: ourworld — battle for the south china sea, this weekend on bbc world news. a reminder of our main news — england are in the final of a major football tournament for the first time in 55 years. they'll play italy on wembley this weekend after beating denmark two goals to one in the second semifinal. as you might imagine there have been celebrations in london — and elsewhere across england. covid restrictions notwithstanding. goodness knows what they'll do if england actually win on sunday.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ bbcmaryam. well, quite a lot of pent—up energy in the atmosphere wednesday afternoon and evening. we had some thunderstorms, some really quite heavy downpours. you can see the showers — that was earlier in the last 10—12 hours or so. and then, towards the end of the day on wednesday, we saw those thunderstorms across some central and eastern areas, and the weather remains quite unsettled over the next few days. i say unsettled for a summer month. a fair bit of cloud out there across the atlantic heading our way, and we'll see further showers developing over the next few days with low pressure in charge of the weather. so, i think a showery day on the way for some of us on thursday, but actually, the showers will be very well—scattered, so that does mean that many of us will miss them altogether.

so, the forecast through the early hours shows a lot of dry weather across the uk. temperatures will be around 1a celsius or so across the south of the country, just a tad fresher in the north, around 11—12. now, the morning will become increasingly sunny right across the uk, but then fairweather clouds will start to develop, and as we head into the afternoon, those fairweather clouds will turn into storms. and some of the downpours really will be very heavy indeed, but as i say, they will be very well—scattered. not too many of them around across much of scotland or northern ireland. maybe across the grampians here, but the showers certainly will be scattered across many areas of england and mostly away from the coasts — so places like western wales should end up having a pretty decent day, for example, in swansea. so, friday's weather forecast shows a very weak area of high pressure over us. that does mean, i think, fewer showers, at least early in the day, but then, come the afternoon, we are expecting 1—2 to develop once again. but particularly across the southwest of the country, there's actually a weak weather front approaching us here, so places like cornwall, maybe the western fringes of wales seeing some showers,

and 1—2 eastern areas, as well. now, the outlook into the weekend remains pretty showery, particularly on saturday across some southern areas of the uk. there's a small area of low pressure heading our way, so that will bring a lot of cloud to places like plymouth or london. sunday, also a chance of some showers, and actually, early next week — my goodness, we've got a low pressure close to us, and that's going to continue to bring further showers.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: england's footballers have reached their first major final in 55 years. the team beat denmark and 2—1, extra time. harry kane clenched it with a rebound from a saved penalty. south africa �*s former president has handed himself into police minutes before a deadline for him to surrender. jacob zuma, who led the country to 2018 is to serve a 15— month prison sentence over a corruption investigation. gunman have assassinated the haitian president inside his home, sparking a state of emergency. he and his wife were assassinated. it is believed they were mercenaries. now on bbc news — hardtalk.