are you ready? because rome is. the start of the 44th ryder cup is just hours away with europe looking to regain the trophy from the united states japan beat samoa to keep their knockout hopes alive at the rugby world cup — a result that sees england through to the quarter finals. and the investigation into alleged corruption involving barcelona continues — as spanish police raid the referees offices — we'll bring you the latest. welcome along, thank you forjoining us. not too long to go now until play begins at the ryder cup in rome. europe will be hoping home advantage helps them

to regain the trophy, its 30 years since the united states won outside america. friday, the opening day, begins with the foursomes. first up will be england's tyrrell hatton and spain's world number threejon rahm taking on the number one—ranked scottie scheffler and sam burns then it's the man everyone�*s talking about, ludwig aberg, the swedish 23—year—old who only turned pro injune, he's been thrown straigh in and will partner viktor hovland against us rookies brian harman and max homa ireland's shane lowry will then team up with austria's sepp straka against rickie fowler and collin morikawa and then in arguably the match of the morning, a partnerships that's being called fleetwood mac — rory mcilroy and tommy fleetwood — face xander schauffele and patrick cantlay. at the opening ceremony earlier, both captain's earlier, both captains couldn't hide how much they're

looking forward to the contest: couldn't be more excited and happy for these 12 guys to go out and enjoy this week, because, you know, i remember, i have so many fond memories playing and being a vice captain and as a captain it's a little more of a stressfuljob but i'm excited, i'm excited for the guys just to take this all in and enjoy it, and try to write their own history this week. we've got 12 guys, unfortunately i can't play all 12 each _ unfortunately i can't play all 12 each session, so at some point — 12 each session, so at some point somebody has got to sit. there — point somebody has got to sit. there is, — point somebody has got to sit. there is, it's a golf course that— there is, it's a golf course that demands a lot out of you physically. the eight guys i have — physically. the eight guys i have done on paper are the ones we feel— have done on paper are the ones we feel best put us in a position to get off to a great start — well, someone who's already enjoying playing at the marco simone golf and country club in rome is viktor hovland. have a look at this during practice on thursday on the par four fifth.

an incredible albatross. the perfect shot — just 2a hours too early. but a great way to ratchet up the excitement. not the fans need any more encouraging. it's really buzzing, you can see it. there is whoops and all sorts of stuff over there. the euro -e sorts of stuff over there. the eumpe team _ sorts of stuff over there. the europe team play _ sorts of stuff over there. the europe team play in - sorts of stuff over there. the europe team play in europe, they— europe team play in europe, they are _ europe team play in europe, they are playing gorgeous, so we are — they are playing gorgeous, so we are quite confident. are the us auoin we are quite confident. are the us going to _ we are quite confident. are the us going to win? _ we are quite confident. are the us going to win? yes. - we are quite confident. are the us going to win? yes. yes. - we are quite confident. are the| us going to win? yes. yes. you heard it here _ us going to win? yes. yes. you heard it here first. _ us going to win? yes. yes. you heard it here first. are - us going to win? yes. yes. you heard it here first. are you - heard it here first. are you auoin heard it here first. are you going to — heard it here first. are you going to make _ heard it here first. are you going to make yourselvesl heard it here first. are you - going to make yourselves heard? that's the plan. these are just the warm—up outfits, we've got even better gear coming on friday. even better gear coming on frida . , .., friday. very confident, i feel that america _ friday. very confident, i feel that america will _ friday. very confident, i feel that america will be - friday. very confident, i feel that america will be very - friday. very confident, i feel. that america will be very happy to finish— that america will be very happy to finish second. away from the ryder cup — a judge in florida has dismissed patrick reeds defamation lawsuits against golf reporters and media outlets the 2018 masters champion was seeking damages of $750 million from 18 parties,

including the golf channel. reed claimed "calculated, malicious, false and reckless attacks" had caused him major damages afterjoining the liv golf series last year. next to the rugby world cup where japan have beaten samoa in toulouse — a result which sees england reach the quarterfinals with a game to spare. japan kept their knockout round hopes alive with a narrow victory over a battling samoa who finished the match with 1a men. 28—22 the final score. japan face argentina next weekend in what's likely to be a winner takes all clash to see whojoins england in the last eight. there's one hugely significant game being played on friday at the world cup. in pool a, italy are chasing history, knowing a win would put them into the knockout phase for the first time but they're up against new zealand, who've never failed to reach the quarter finals and would be on the verge of qualification with a victory in lyon.

obviously we are not getting the result against france, then we need to win all three to be in control of where we want to be, so, you know, we've talked about before, new zealand is the world cup is different, the pressure with the way the result needs to go for us and for them, that's what world cup �*s are all about, that's why we play the game, to be in these tense matches. translation: obviously when you -la in the translation: obviously when you play in the world — translation: obviously when you play in the world cup, _ translation: obviously when you play in the world cup, you - play in the world cup, you always want to play against the best teams. that's why we are here, for sure it will be a great experience, but it's just another game for us. if there is a bit of extra pressure, it's still just a is a bit of extra pressure, it's stilljust a game for us. meanwhile, scotland will make 13 changes for their match against romania in lille on saturday. they have to get another bonus point win to give themselves a chance of making it to the knockout stages. grant gilchrist will captain the side, the edinburgh lock will win his 67th cap and has led his country before, most recently on last years tour of argentina. despite all the changes,

scotland should be confident of a comfortable win, romania have lost 76—0 to south africa and 82—8 to ireland in their other games so far. the other players have an opportunity. and we know this is obviously the final, sort of opportunity that they get before they play ireland. but the decisions before africa, before tonga, before the away games, they were tight already, in a few possessions. so if players play well, it'll be much longer selection being on sunday night i'm sure. to football now, where spanish police have raided the offices of the referees' committee as part of an investigation into barcelona's alleged corrupt payments to an official. the club face charges of corruption over payments made to a former vice—president of the committee in spain, in return for favourable refereeing decisions. uefa is also

investigating the matter. barcelona deny any wrongdoing and no arrests were made during the search in madrid. this nature of the crime is why the judge is trying to investigate, basically he's trying to see whether there is any evidence, any proof, not evidence, proof that any thing, piece of paper saying that he was appointing one referee or another for was appointing one referee or anotherfor a game was appointing one referee or another for a game against barcelona, but they are trying to see is very difficult, and this will take time and when i say time, i mean one, even two years. so it's a long—term case. liverpool owners fenway sports group have agreed to sell a minority stake in the club. the investment coincides with a succesful start to the season on the pitch — and is worth between 82 and 164 million pounds, being paid by global sports investment firm dynasty equity. the deal ends the search for new investment by fsg, who wanted to retain majority ownership of the reds.

napoli say they "never meant to offend or mock" their striker victor osimhen in a social media post but have stopped short of publicly apologising to him. the club shared videos on their tiktok account which appeared to mock osimhen missing a penalty. the player's agent has threatened legal action against the club. a napoli statement says it was "never the club's intent to offend victor" should he "have perceived it that way". the social media posts have since been deleted. former england lionessjodie taylor has decided to retire from football at the age of 37. you she played for her country 51 times, featuring at two world cups and a european championship — but also had a globetrotting club career, winning league and cup honours in four different countries. she played at 17 different clubs before ending her career with a second spell at arsenal. i can't believe that going to

play there it was going to maim be my last stint of playing, i would have loved nothing more than to hang up my boots with arsenal. ready to announce that, i think i've been ready for a while, taken me up to this point to be officially be able to announce it. in cricket, surrey have retained the english county championship. their nearest rivals essex needed to score at least 400 in theirfirst innings in their game against northamptonshire but they were dismissed for just 211, with last manjamie porter bowled for a duck. it means surrey are guaranteed to retain the championship regardless of the result of their match against hampshire. obviously, you know, winning it last year and as, and our goal was to go back to back and win again. and to do that is very pleasing. again. and to do that is very pleasing-— again. and to do that is very leasinu. ~ i. , pleasing. when did you get news that essex had _ pleasing. when did you get news that essex had been _ pleasing. when did you get news that essex had been bowled - pleasing. when did you get news| that essex had been bowled out? you saw some reactions on the pitch. i

you saw some reactions on the itch. ~ . you saw some reactions on the itch, ~' ., , pitch. i think a few people in the balconies _ pitch. i think a few people in the balconies on _ pitch. i think a few people in the balconies on the - pitch. i think a few people in the balconies on the hotel. pitch. i think a few people in i the balconies on the hotel side celebrated, so i think that was it, that's the time we knew, and my boys started singing, so it's quite a joy. just enough time to recap our top story... ludwig aberg, who only turned pro injune, has been named in europe's opening partnerships, as the ryder cup gets under way on friday morning. you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.co.uk/sport. from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello there. after all the cloud around on thursday and the heavy overnight rain, friday looks to be drier and brighter for many of us, thanks

to a ridge of high pressure. some good sunny spells around, certainly, to start the day. but there will be some showers developing mainly in the north and the west of the uk and these will be most frequent across the north and west of scotland, closer to this area of low pressure — quite a squeeze on the isobars here. so another very windy day to come across scotland, with gales here, lighter winds further south. now, there could be that weather front just clearing the far south—east through the morning, it will do so. and then there's plenty of sunshine around. winds more of a feature further north. here's where we'll see most of the showers, some of them heavy and thundery, blustery gales up to 55 miles an hour in northern scotland. further south, one or two showers peppering western coastal areas. otherwise, it's mainly dry. top temperature, 20 degrees in the south—east, not quite as warm, as humid as it has been, a slightly fresher feel to things. then as we head through friday night with that slightly cooler air mass, clear skies, the winds turning lighterfor a while. we'll see some mist and fog develop. and it will also be quite a chilly night to come. single figure values across the board, could be as low as 3—4 degrees

across rural aberdeenshire. so as we head into the weekend, then, we've got high pressure to bring some fine and settled weather to start with. this next frontal system, though, will sweep into central, western and northern areas through the day. so we start chilly, dry, some sunshine. early mist and fog clearing, and then the sunshine will become hazy as this frontal system moves in. but most of the rain will be across northern ireland, wales, northern england and pushing into southern scotland. the far north of scotland, southern, south—east england should stay dry. some sunshine here, albeit hazy at times — 20 degrees, mid—teens where we have the wind and the rain. into sunday, it looks like that front clears its way into the north sea and we'll have a bit of a hang back with this weather front across england and wales. so sunday probably a bit cloudier for england and wales. some splashes of rain through the morning. it could brighten up, though, into the afternoon. some sunny spells here further north, brightersunshine, one or two showers, especially in the north and west of scotland. here, the mid to high teens, but a bit warmer, a bit muggier across the south, up to 23 degrees.

it's quite mixed into the new week. it'll start off unsettled. it'll settle down around the middle part of the week. we'll start to see some showers across northern areas by the end of the week, but it stays fine and settled in the south.

live from alzyoud in

singapore... live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm arunoday mukharji. let's get you the headlines. quite a day forjoe biden, republicans open impeachment hearings in congress, but the president is on the attack. there's something dangerous happening in america now. there is an extremist movement and it does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy. the maga movement. at least three people are killed, including a 14—year—old girl, after a gunman opens fire in rotterdam. welcome, welcome to another year. and tributes are paid to the acclaimed british actor sir michael gambon, who's died at the age of 82. live from our studio in singapore,

this is bbc news — it's newsday.