hello, i'm gavin ramjaun with your update from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: the race for the premier league top four hots up — as manchester united beat brentford but stay behind newcastle who thrash west ham and pile the pressure of manager david moyes. an emphatic el classico in the copa del rey — karim benzema's hat—trick does the damage for real madrid, to knock out barcelona. and on the eve of one of golf�*s biggest tournaments, we'll be at augusta to preview who will marvel at the masters this year?

thanks forjoining us on the programme. lots to get through — but we start with football on a busy night of action around europe. in the premier league — there's been two huge matches — with implications at both ends of the table. manchester united moved back into the top four, after a 1—0 win over brentford at old trafford. marcus rashford with the goal in the first half. it's a victory that lifts united back above tottenham in the race for champions league places. i think we played very good foot tall, especially the first half, it's not easy against this very brentford good team. we took great chances, dominant, the first half especially. the second half it was better but we saw what i missed on the sunday, determined, passion and desire, and we draw it over the line. and manchester united are level on points with newcastle — who stay third — but improved their goal difference even further with a 5—1 demolition of west ham at the london stadium. callum wilson and joelinton had them two up, before kurt zouma pulled one back for west ham at half time

to give them some hope. but mistakes cost the home side in the second half — wilson with his second, alexander isak, and joelinton again, capping off a stunning win for newcastle. the loss for the hammers, piles the pressure on david moyes — they're only above the drop zone on goal difference. we have to win more games and you are aware our form at home has been pretty good. you are aware of the evacuation of the stands towards the end? probably, i would have as well if my team wasn't doing so well, but you know, the one thing i would say, they went right at it, right to the end, they kept trying to do it, working as hard as they could. their attitude, it's been fantastic. elsewhere in europe, it's been a night of cup action — most notably in spain — as barcelona took on rivals real madrid in the latest el clasico installment. this time — it was in the copa del rey semi finals — and barcelona, who led 1—0 from the first leg were left humilated in front of their home fans. karim benzema was real�*s star — scoring a second half hat—trick as his side ran out 4—0

winners on the night, 4—1 on aggregate. carlo ancelotti's side will now play osasuna in the final. it's semi—final time in the coppa italia too — and fiorentina have taken a big step towards the final. that's after they beat cremonese 2—0 in the first leg of their semi final. the winner of the tie will face either inter milan orjuventus who drew 1—1 in their first leg on tuesday. from spain to france, where defending champions nantes are one match away from defending their coupe de france title. they're into the final after beating lyon i—o. and in germany — rb leipzig are into the final four of the german cup after beating borussia dortmund 2—0 — willi orban sealing the win in stoppage time — cue the celebrations! stuttgart are also into the semi finals, they beat nuremberg i—o. away from football, world tennis number one iga swiatek says she won't stop showing her support for ukraine, until the war with russia is over. the polish player has spoken publicly to back ukrainian players on the wta tour and has also worn a yellow

ribbon on her hat — in previous matches. swiatek was speaking to my colleague yalda hakim. i want to kind of use my impact on people and remind people all over the world wherever i play that the world is still out there and that we should do a bit more to support ukrainians and we as athletes i feel like we have a pretty strong voice and we are public persons and we can use that the proper way. would your preference be that wimbledon, for example, there be one sort of solid decision on it, that they would just be banned? i feel like this kind of thing would show the russian government that maybe it's not worth it. i know it's a small thing because we are just athletes, we are like little piece in the world but i feel like sport is pretty important. many polish people are approaching

me, even on the street, and saying they really respect what i'm doing, and there should be more people doing something like that. these are the comments that i get. for sure, there is going to be hate on social media, but i don't really care. for example, with a fellow player who said she was openly against the war at the beginning, it would be her dream for the war to finish, so i really respect that. on the other hand, i'm always going to be on the ukrainian side because i can't imagine how it is for them to compete at the highest level and if my country would have a war, i don't know if i would be able to do that so i really respect. bangladesh are on course to claim victory inside three days, in the one—off test

against ireland in mirpur after dominating day two. after starting on 34—2 in reply to ireland's 214 first innings, mushfiqur rahim's 126 helped the hosts to 369 all out. ireland were teetering on 27 for 4 at close, still 128 runs behind. it's getting closer. on thursday golf�*s first major of the year — the masters — is set to get underway in the us at augusta national. competition for the famous greenjacket is perhaps more intense than ever, with golfers from the two rival tours — the pga and the saudi backed liv tour — taking part. it's not the only story though with that all too familiar question of whether rory mcilroy can finally complete a career grand slam. our sports correspondent andy swiss reports: not much tends to change at augusta. it is a place of tradition, of tranquillity, but it's now at the centre of golf�*s civil war. it's golf, but louder.

this is the first masters since the lucrative liv golf tour split the sport and its players. but 18 of the rebels are here, competing against those they left behind, including rory mcilroy, who says the hostility between them, for one week at least, is on hold. it's a very nuanced situation. there's different dynamics. but this week and this tournament is way bigger than any of that, i feel. and it's just great that all the best players in the world are together again for the first time in what seems to be quite a while. among the fans here, though, support for the liv golfers is in limited supply. i boycotted the liv tour. i don't watch it. i think they're just a bunch of greedy you—know—whats. how would you feel if a liv players won? not so good that they have skills and they need to practise. i think it's good for the sport that the players with that. league get to participate in this tournament. - if somebody is going to give you $100 million, i think the end result is a bad product, and i hope every one of them don't make the cut. for mcilroy, though,

winning the one major title that's so far eluded him is now the focus. well, this is only rory mcilroy�*s practice round, but you can see the crowds following him. he is one of the favourites this week. so, can he finally become masters champion? mcilroy hasn't won a major since he won two of them, including the open, back in 2014. to try and change that, he's been practising here with tiger woods, a man who, two years after his career—threatening car crash, admits this masters might be his last. it's been a tough road. i don't know how many more i have in me. so, just to be able to appreciate the time that i have here and cherish the memories. the toughest opponent here could be the weather. heavy rain is forecast. in golf right now, the storm clouds, it seems, are never far away. andy swiss, bbc news, augusta. there are plenty of thoughts and opinions but trishjohnson says rory is the man to beat. i think the words of tiger woods yesterday was interesting, will he win this?

he will eventually and that is going to win it eventually. try not to put too much pressure on. his first—round average here is appalling, in all honesty, for someone of that calibre, so all these fans are looking forward to it. interesting yesterday, i know a couple of my colleagues were out on the golf course when he was playing with tiger, there were bigger cheers for rory than tiger, that is how much these people want him to win so it will be a fascinating week. it's a glorious day here today but the weather forecast is not great, a lot of rain forecast and thunderstorms. whose hands will that play into? favour the longer hitters. a lot of rain on thursday, longer this goes on, tougher. this is not a short course. they've made it longer, they've made 13 longer, so will favour longer hitters, no question, which rory is. it is a mindset, all about mindset, more about the games of the players, who wants to go out there and battle? it's also a physical battle.

it's going to favour someone who actually says, "i am going to do whatever i need to do this week to get thejob done." i must admit, scotty scheffler, that is someone who has that mindset, he doesn't put too much on himself and golf is not the be all and end all to him, i still think for me that rory is the one to beat, that might be in the heart more than anything else but it will be a great tournament. can't wait for it to get started. and one final line from augusta on the eve of the tournament, we'll show something that should hopefully whet your appetite, for what's to come over the next four days. in the traditional par—3 tournament on wednesday — there were five holes—in—one. seamus power hit 2 back to back, while america's tom hogee also got one on the way to winning the event. that's it from us — all the latest on the bbc sport website. see you soon.

hello there. the easter weekend just around the corner, a heads—up for what to expect coming shortly, but first of all, let's take a look at wednesday's weather. best of the sunshine was certainly across eastern england. yes, it clouded over into the afternoon, but most of us had skies like this — fairly grey with outbreaks of rain at times. now, that rain is pushing its way east and it will clear over the next few hours and allow this ridge of high pressure to build and quieten things down. so, first thing thursday, it's a rather grey, damp, dreary start across the east, but it's a mild one with the cloud around, temperatures holding up above freezing, so that early rain will ease away.

mist and fog patches lift to sunny spells and scattered showers into the afternoon. maybe some of those showers filtering down through the cheshire gap could be quite heavy, maybe with the odd rumble of thunder mixed in there as well. so, by the middle part of the afternoon, it's sunny spells and scattered showers. highs of 11—14 degrees, slightly drier, brighter skies into northern ireland and western scotland as that ridge of high pressure takes over. but there will be some showers across the northeast of england and eastern scotland here, highs of 9—12 celsius. so, by the end of thursday, the high pressure is building and quieting things down quite nicely. a spell of really wet weather for a time, moving away through east anglia and southeast england. but under those clearer skies out to the west, once again, those temperatures fall away low enough for a touch of frost to form first thing on friday morning. but good friday is going to be a reasonable day — dry, settled and sunny. these weather fronts trying to push in from the atlantic, but they will take most of the easter weekend before they arrive. so, on the whole, we could just

see a little more in the way of cloud just pushing in off north sea coasts, unfortunately for eastern england. but most of us dry with some sunshine coming through and light winds. it'll be pleasant enough — highs of 10—14 celsius. similar story as we go into saturday, but there's a greater chance of seeing more cloud developing from the north sea with that easterly flow. there's our weather front, trying desperately hard to push in from the atlantic. it takes its time to do so, perhaps not arriving until sunday, with more significant rain for some of us by easter monday. take care.

live from washington, this is bbc news. taiwan's president meets some of america's top lawmakers. in beijing, france's president touches down for a high—stakes visit with president xi. and coming up, we'll bring you a bbc investigation into one of the ukraine war�*s most notorious crimes. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. we start tonight in the us, where speaker kevin mccarthy has become the most senior elected official to meet a taiwanese president on us soil in decades. here's taiwanese president tsai ing—wen meeting mccarthy and a group of bipartisan lawmakers near los angeles

earlier today, despite objections from china.