against zhang zhizhen of china. stefanos tsitspias and frances tiafoe are also on court. over in the women's draw, defending champion and world number one iga swiatek faces daria saville on louis armstrong, fourth seed elena rybakina is back on court against australia's isla tomjanovic. caroline wozniacki's comeback continues against petra kvitova — what a game that could be! while britain's lily miyazaki has a tough test against belinda bencic. former premier league forward enner valencia led south america's copa libertadores with victory over bolivar. after scoring the only goal of the first leg in la paz, valencia opened the scoring in the 10th minute. the game was interupted briefly as players felt the affects of tear gas allegedly used to quell a riot outside the stadium, but it didn't seem to have too much of a negative impact on valencia. the equadorian scoring his second of the game and third of the tie to seal his side's progress. bolivar did have the chance of a late consolation but ronnie fernandez�*s penalty was saved. england's women cricketers will get the same match fees as the men after their sensational ashes series this summer where they got record—breaking crowds. it's said the women were paid just 25% of men's fees for white—ball cricket and only 15% for tests. england's men take on new zealand in the first match of their t20 series later today in durham. england's captain, jos butler, says the standard of cricket this summer should make for a great game. everyone has been playing high caste, competitive cricket, which is great. —— high class. they would hundred was a brilliant tournament, great games, a high standard of cricket. everyone is battle hardened. everyone is keen to get together as a team, pillow and the england shirt again, and place of international cricket get. —— place international cricket get. —— place in international cricket. preparations for the 2024 olympics and paralympics continue to gather pace with test events taking place in and around paris the icf --the icf canoe—sprint world cup is currently taking place at the exterior nautical stadium over the next two days. the venue will host the canoe sprint, para—canoe, rowing, and para—rowing. british para—canoeist, hope gordon, says while things have improved since 2012 there is more work still to be done. i think london really changed the world in terms of disability. that in sport orjust in life. you know, i think we still have a long way to go in terms of accessibility of a lot of places. we went in and around paris for yesterday and for some people, wheelchairs, it is very difficult to get around, so something that needs to be massively improved, but definitely a step in the right direction. and that's all the sport for now. thank you very much indeed. the president of gabon is under house arrest after army officers seized power and said they were annulling the results of saturday's election in which ali bongo was declared the winner. the army has nominated the head of the presidential guard as the leader during a transition period. this is the moment the military made the announcement of the takeover on national television. translation: in the name of the people of gabon - and as guarantors of the institutions, we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime. to this end, the general elections of 26th august 2023 and the truncated results are cancelled. the borders are closed until further notice. all the institutions of the republic are dissolved. in a video uploaded to social media, president ali bongo has appealed for help. it appears to be from his residence, and we believe it was recorded after the coup. take a listen. i am ali bongo 0ndimba, president of gabon, and i'm to send a message to all the friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise, to make noise for the people here have arrested me and my family. my son is somewhere. my wife is in another place. and i'm at the residence right now. i'm in the residence and nothing is happening. nothing is happening. i don't know what is going on. so i'm calling you to make noise. to make noise... i'm thanking you. thank you. gabon is a former french colony located on the west coast of central africa. the electoral commission said president bongo had won just under two—thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued was fraudulent. concerns over delays in returning the election results led to an internet shutdown, and a night—time curfew by the government. mr bongo came to power when his father 0mar died in 2009. if he is overthrown, it would end his family's 53—year hold on power in gabon. france has joined other countries in condemning events in gabon and called for the election result to be respected. it's the latest in a series of military takeovers in west and central africa. 0ur regional africa editor, will ross, has been following developments from the kenyan capital nairobi. president ali bongo has been in power since 2009. and during that time, much like during his father's time in office, it was really a patronage system. and over the last, well, five years or so, there have been some pretty shaky times for the president. there was another attempted coup, we were told. also, the president a few years ago had a stroke and then was completely missing in action for about ten months. but nevertheless, he stood again during the election at the weekend. quite a lot of foreign observers and journalists were barred from watching and scrutinising the event. the internet was shut down, always a suspicious sign that there may be things going on during the election that the authorities don't want people to find out about. but anyway, the incumbent was given, as you say, about two thirds of the votes. the opposition candidate said it was a complete sham. and then what we had early this morning was this very sudden announcement on state tv, 12 military officers saying they represented a broad spectrum of the military, saying that they had seized power. since then, they've said that ali bongo is under house arrest and one of his sons has been arrested for treason. and we now wait to see what the next steps of this military group are. but on the streets of libreville, the capital, there's been quite a lot of genuine celebration. and i say genuine because there have been other coups in the region where it has looked to some that some of the kind of shows of support on the streets could have been partially, at least, orchestrated. whereas here, i think people have genuinely had enough of this bongo family dynasty. some breaking news in the past hour... judges in england and wales will be given the power to order an offender to attend a sentencing hearing, including by force if necessary. it follows the case of nurse lucy letby, who refused to attend her sentencing for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six babies. prime minister rishi sunak confirmed plans to introduce a new law after calls from victims and families. first of all, i want to ask you about this announcement from the ministry ofjustice forcing offenders, potentially to attend their own sentencing. this is announcement we have had before, maybe twice, that it will be brought into legislation.— into legislation. when will this ha - en into legislation. when will this happen question _ into legislation. when will this happen question i _ into legislation. when will this happen question i will - into legislation. when will this happen question i will happen| into legislation. when will this . happen question i will happen any new session of parliament when it commences in the autumn. i think critically, like many, i was appalled that people who have committed awful crimes somehow are able to take the cowards way out and not appear in court for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their crimes have had on the victim's families. i don't think there should be an easy way out, thatis there should be an easy way out, that is why we are going to change the law so that courts can compel these offenders to be present for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their actions have had. but also, if necessary, to use reasonable force to bring those people to court and to also a time onto their sentence if they do not appear. i think that is the right thing to do. people rightly expect criminals to face up to the consequence of their actions. they should not be able to take the easy way out, do change the law and ensure thatis out, do change the law and ensure that is what happens. that out, do change the law and ensure that is what happens.— out, do change the law and ensure that is what happens. that was the prime minister. _ shadow home secretary yvette cooper has said that the government has been "too slow" to introduce legislation that would compel convicted criminals to attend sentencing in court. i'm afraid we do not have that clip to bring you. let's move on and talk to bring you. let's move on and talk to you about the storm in florida. a chance to share some rare footage of the natural phenomenon known as st elmo's fire. here it is — it looks a lot like lightning, but it's a bit different in the way it forms — usually emerging not from clouds, but from rod—like objects on the ground. this was filmed from the cockpit by two pilots from macdill air force base. i look on a day of sunny spells and scattered communal showers. 0verall not a bad day and for many of us skies like this. so a fine day. however, tomorrow we are expecting some thicker cloud and rain in one or two places. here's the forecast for the rest of the day. you can see a scattering of showers here and there. around 18 for glasgow and about 20 or so in london. just a fraction below the average. tonight we have the superb looming on the way. why is it a superb limb and? are super because it is very close to the earth and will appear large —— super blue moon. we want are some clear weather tonight. it will not be completely clear. there is a weather front approaching and here it is on the satellite picture. we are just ahead of this weather system and enough of a gap and weather wind to catch that. let's have a look at the forecast for this evening, the weather front approaching ireland. you will be able to see the super blue moon. it turns wet across south—western parts of the uk. 12 in plymouth, but there will be nip in the air on thursday. lots of sunshine across northern and eastern areas, but occurs the west, thicker cloud zyprexa rain very time across southern areas. some of this rain, times, could be heavy, could even be thundery. it will be a cool day. disappointing. 50 may be in the midlands, a little warmer in northern scotland because we will have more sunshine —— 15 may be in the midlands. friday afternoon... it pulls away towards the east and we are left with sunny spells and a scattering of showers. temperatures around the high teens or 20s celsius. here is the weekend. there is a jet stream lips are in the uk through scandinavia back to the south. an area of high pressure building, boding well for the weekend. the end of the week and settle but a few showers, saturday, sunday, monday and into tuesday the weather is looking not bad at all. goodbye. live from london, this is bbc news. hurricane idalia makes landfall in florida, with forecasters warning of the potential for catastrophic damage. we bring you an exclusive report from quentin sommerville on ukraine's eastern front, as russian drones target ukrainian forces. there are vicious battles going on here in the east and the north. in the south, they're making progress bit by bit, but here in the east, it's russia that's advancing. rishi sunak confirms plans to give judges in england and wales the power to order an offender to attend a sentencing hearing. and the fast—food giant burger king faces a whopper of a legal battle over one of its most iconic products. hello, i'm nancy kacungira. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start in the united states, as a major hurricane has made landfall in florida, bringing with it fierce winds, water surges and potentially life—threatening conditions. some areas of the state are already seeing flooding, with knee—deep water covering roads and inundating towns.