get money for local charities. get to feeling festive, doesn't it? that is all from me. see you later. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. the battle of the noisy neighbours as england and wales are drawn together for next summer's european championship england's women are brilliant with the ball in bloemfontein as they take control in their one—off test against south africa. and show me the money: for the first time in history, the us ryder cup team will be paid to compete. hello there, and welcome along to the programme. less than 200 days to go

until the women's european championship begins, and on monday the 16 teams competing could begin to see their path to the final as the group stages were drawn. it was the final group that provided the biggest talking point as defending champions england were not only drawn against one of the other favourites, france, but also the 2017 champions the netherlands and their neighbours wales, who are debuting at the tournament for the very first time. we have a very interesting, exciting group. it is a bit the same as the nation's league groups all the time, very tough, very exciting. for us, onjuly 5 it will start. just a word on wheels as well playing — just a word on wheels as well playing in their first major tournament, going to be an awful lot of emotion between england and wales. i suppose that they have _ i suppose that they have nothing to lose. how _ have nothing to lose. how do you approach that game? a bit_ how do you approach that game? a bit too— how do you approach that game? a bit too early how we approach that game.

of course we always approach the games the same, but first of all, congratulations to them, qualifying for the first time in history, which is amazing and great. rivalry in a nice way when we go out on the pitch and i am looking forward to that game too. people will write us off _ people will write us off in _ people will write us off in that group, which _ off in that group, which is fine. i_ which is fine. i wish them the best with that. i wish them the best with that. i know— i wish them the best with that. i know who we are. i know who we are. i know _ i know who we are. i know the people we _ i know the people we are and players we _ we are and players we are _ we are and players we are and players we are and the group we are and what— we are and the group we are and whatwe— we are and the group we are and what we stand for and i know going — what we stand for and i know going into this tournament and — going into this tournament and we _ going into this tournament and we are going to go into_ and we are going to go into that group. and _ into that group. and i'm going to show everybody kind of— and i'm going to show everybody kind of what team we are _ well, group a has a very nordic feel to it with norway, iceland and finland drawn together, alongside the hosts switzerland, who are hoping they'll be able to get out

of the group stages at the third time of asking. their head coach can't wait to get started. it is an incredible feeling. when i was coaching sweden in 2013, it was one of my best years. you not only coach two times 45 minutes. it's like everybody is into this. you have the big crowds and you spread the word and you spread the word and it is unique. i am the lucky one who have the chance to do it twice. it's crazy. it's crazy. i will enjoy every single time. it is going to be a great championships, it is my initial reaction _ reaction. for- reaction. for us personally to be reaciom — for us personally to be playing switzerland in the opening game is _ opening game is very special. i know these championships will be — i know these championships will be special building on the _ will be special building on the back of 2022. looking forward to it. the _ looking forward to it. the women's game is taking steps —

the women's game is taking steps both on and off the pitch and as— steps both on and off the pitch and as a — steps both on and off the pitch and as a coach i am hugely passionate about that. i passionate about that. iwaht _ passionate about that. i want the game to— i want the game to keep taking steps and _ to keep taking steps and that is what this will do, the prize _ and that is what this will do, the prize money has doubled, i the prize money has doubled, i don't — the prize money has doubled, i don't use the - i don't use the comparison to the men's _ the comparison to the men's game. we _ men's game. we are a very separate game _ we are a very separate game andl we are a very separate game and i want the best of the _ game and i want the best of the game, so if we keep taking _ of the game, so if we keep taking steps forward, then i am happy — there's a very southern european feel to group b, with spain, portugal and italy all drawn together, alongside belgium. world champions spain are highly tipped to be the team to beat in switzerland, so are they ready to cope with the pressure? translation: i think the translation: | think they are _ translation: i think they are strong - translation: ithinkj they are strong rivals. i believe each team has its own strategy and everybody is preparing to beat spain and now more and more we are going to analyse what they are doing and we will still have games against them, which will give us us more us more information and be well prepared for the euros. i think the team knows its own capacity and has the confidence but we know it's a game and it is football.

we compete to win but now what we have to do is work hard to take care of all the details that will leave us best prepared for the opening game and it means preparing well in advance for the nation's league. i would not talk about pressure but rather it is the top level tournament, the elite of football, and we are prepared to win. group c is another competitive one with the finalists from two years ago, germany, drawn against former winners sweden. there's another tournament newcomer in poland, who'll face neighbours there too in germany with denmark completing the group. translation: it is a challenging - translation: it is| a challenging group. i think that all the teams that have qualified for this year have a chance and quality to make it to the knockout stages. therefore we have to be very focused on the task from the first game onwards because i think the individual quality of the other three teams are also very high. well, off the pitch, it was a big day for spanish football

as well as rafael louzan was elected as new president of the spain football federation. louzan was a member of the executive committee since december 2019, but was banned by the pontevedra provincial council from holding public office for seven years. louzan was allowed to run after appealing to spain's supreme court and will now serve a term of four years. translation: today we've had a treat translation: today we've had a great victory _ translation: today we've had a great victory and _ translation: today we've had a great victory and i _ translation: today we've had a great victory and i hope - translation: today we've had a great victory and i hope this . a great victory and i hope this is not a victory for myself, but a great victory for spanish football that needs us to start working together, all of us starting now, for the sake of our football. we are an example for the world and therefore we deserve representatives up to the task. i intend to be the head of the team up to this task. austria striker guido burgstaller has had his skull fractured after being attacked in the centre of the country's capital according to his club side rapid vienna. they added he's now expected to be out of action for several months after suffering the serious head injury at the weekend. he was attacked by an "unknown man" and was examined at the scene before being taken to hospital, where he will remain for the next few days. staying in austria, and red bull salzburg

have sacked their head coach, pepijn lijnders. the club sit fifth in the league — 10 points behind leaders sturm graz and are struggling to progress in the champions league. the job was lijnders' first since he left his assistant manager role at liverpool, working alongside jurgen klopp. in italy's serie a, it was a humiliating night for lazio as they were thumped 6—0 by inter milan, who are nowjust three points behind leaders atalanta, but they do have a game in hand. it was a much closer match in the english premier league as bournemouth drew 1—1 with west ham. the away side thought they won it with a late penalty from lucas paqueta, but a stoppage—time stunner from enes unal made sure the points were shared. we have to take the point, especially when they just scored the second goal, but probably with the second half performance we were closer to

winning than them, but we could not do it in the end. england women's cricketers are looking to build a big lead in their one—off test against south africa. the hosts resumed on 17 without loss on day two in bloemfontein but england performed well with the ball, bowling south africa out for 281. england taking the final five wickets for just 22 runs. that gave them a lead of 114, which was extended to 145 by the close of play as england closed on 31/1 at stumps. there'll be a moment of history at next year's ryder cup as members of the us team will be paid to play for the first time in the 98—year history of the competition. the 12 players will each receive $500,000 with 300,000 of that donated to a charity or charities chosen by each member of the team. the pga of america, which organises the event, approved the package, despite saying "no players asked to be compensated". and we've only had two days of the world darts championship but there's already been a big shock in the opening round. four—time semifinalist and 16th seed james wade is out. he was beaten 3—0 byjermaine wattimena of the netherlands — a player ranked 20 places below wade. he could play the two—time world champion peter wright next.

he plays his first—round match on tuesday. and finally, elite sport funding body uk sport says it'll invest a record $330 million in britain's olympic and paralympic sports for the 2028 games in los angeles. more than 50 sports will benefit, including the five new sports. baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, para—climbing and squash. however, athletics and canoeing are two of the sports that have seen their funding cut following their performance at the paris games this summer. it is not a reward, not a punishment. we look at what is the athlete cohort the next cycle and what is it a support needs and what is the potential of the athletes they have got? the decision we made against all the sports is we looked at their potential and uk athletics will receive in excess of £30 million

for the olympic and paralympic programmes and we believe it will put them in a great place to support athletes in the lead—up to la. a reminder of our top story before we go. the draw for next summer's european championship has been made, where defending champions england will face france, the netherlands and debutants wales. world champions spain will be able to win back—to—back major titles. they face portugal, belgium and italy. elsewhere, germany face poland, denmark and sweden, while the hosts switzerland have been drawn alongside norway, iceland and finland. there's plenty more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. and the app. but until next

time, we will see you soon. hello there. it's been a mild start to the week. temperatures at swanage in dorset on monday reached 13 celsius. it'll be mild on tuesday as well, but again, there'll be a lot of cloud around. we're on the warmer side of thejet stream, and that's why we've got these higher temperatures, there's the position of the jet stream, it's to the north of the uk, so we're on the warmer side of that. but along a weather front, we've seen a lot of rain in the northern highlands, that's moving away, but this area of low pressure will bring some wetter weather back in to the north and west of the uk. so on tuesday, it looks like scotland and northern ireland will be cloudy, and there'll be some rain from time to time. england and wales looking mostly dry, again, there'll be a lot of cloud around, limited sunshine. and we're more likely to see a little rain into these western areas of england and wales, especially later on in the day as the wind picks up.

a southerly wind will be freshening through the day, but at least it is drawing in milderair. those temperatures will be 11—12 celsius. temperatures won't drop very much on tuesday night, because it'll be windy, this area of low pressure passing to the north of scotland will bring with it some rain as well. most of that rain should have cleared by wednesday morning, and we'll see some sunshine following in scotland and northern ireland, and a few showers. now, it could brighten up across the midlands and some eastern parts of england, but then the cloud increases and we see some heavier rain coming into wales and the southwest on wednesday afternoon. still mild for england and wales, temperatures 12—13 celsius, chillier, though, with that sunshine in scotland and northern ireland, 8—9 celsius here. for england and wales, though, on wednesday night, there'll be a spell of heavier rain, that should tend to move away. with that rain having cleared away by thursday morning and the position of the jet stream changing, we'll then be in colder air on thursday. we'll have a northwesterly wind blowing in a mixture of sunshine,

but also some showers, most of those in the north and west, and they could even be a bit wintry over the hills especially in northern scotland. but at least there'll be more sunshine around on thursday, even if it'll feel chillier in that breeze, temperatures will be 6—9 celsius. and thursday night could be the coldest night of the week ahead. there's a risk of frost, a touch of frost in that colder air before the atlantic air returns later on in the week, and that brings the chance of some more cloud and some more rain from the west.

live from singapore, this is bbc news. syria's former president bashar al—assad says he never intended to flee to russia in what's thought to be his first statement since losing power. we have a special report from syria's streets with members of the rebel group now in charge. an alleged chinese spy with links to britain's prince andrew is officially named as china rejects the spying accusations as baseless.

welcome to newsday, i'm suranjana tewari. bashar al assad, who was forced out of power a week ago, has issued what appears to be his first statement since he left the country. he is the former president. in what is believed to be a telegram post from moscow, the statement explains how he left after rebels took over, and that he never intended to seek refuge in russia. it's not certain that the post was written by him. here's our russia editor steve rosenberg. where is bashar al—assad ? he hasn't been seen since he fled syria. today, a statement purporting to be from him appeared on the social media accounts of the former syrian president,

dateline moscow.