Rafael Nadal will play for his 19th Grand Slam title, one shy of Roger Federer's all-time men's record, after battling past Italy's Matteo Berrettini on Friday and into his fifth US Open final.
The 33-year-old Spaniard dispatched Berrettini 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach a Sunday showdown against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, who ousted Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-3.
"Very happy to be back into the final of the US Open," Nadal said.
"It means a lot to be back where I am today after some tough moments at the beginning of the season."
Nadal, who shook off an early season right hip injury to win a 12th French Open title, seeks his fourth US Open crown -- one shy of the Open-era record of five shared by Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors -- to reach the brink of Federer's mark.
"It's just another chance on Sunday," Nadal said. "I want to enjoy a day off, have a good practice and Sunday is the day to play my best."
Nadal, into his 27th Grand .

Nadal seeks 19th Slam title against Medvedev at US Open

PTI Automatic

Grigor Dimitrov sought to focus on the positives of an encouraging fortnight in New York after his US Open run ended Friday in a semi-final loss to red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev.
The world number 78 from Bulgaria fell short in his effort to become the lowest-ranked player to reach a Grand Slam final since Marat Safin at the 2004 Australian Open, losing 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-3 to fifth seed Medvedev.
But Dimitrov, who is projected to climb to 25th next week, refused to feel too downbeat after struggling through most of the past two seasons and battling a shoulder injury earlier this year.
"It was a good match overall. I think it was just a few points here and there. Yeah, three sets to love, but, I mean, the score for me doesn't justify the match itself. I think it was a good level," Dimitrov said.
"Overall he played really well, fought hard, a lot of the key points he played well. I don't want to be too down on myself. Great weeks. First time in semi-final out here. Just going to take a 

Dimitrov seeks solace in morale-boosting US Open run

The death toll from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas has risen to 43, media outlets said late Friday, and was expected to grow "significantly." US network CNN and Bahamas newspaper The Tribune cited Health Minister Duane Sands as confirming the new toll, up from 30.
"Forty-three is the official count, many missing and this number is expected to grow significantly," Erica Wells Cox, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, told NBC News.

Hurricane Dorian's death toll in Bahamas rises to 43: media

At least five people have died in the United States after vaping, officials said Friday, in an outbreak that has sickened hundreds with severe pulmonary disease and left several teens in induced comas.
Federal officials said that no single substance has been found to be present in all the laboratory samples being examined, however investigators in New York said they were now focusing on black market cannabis e-cigarette products containing vitamin E oil.
On Friday, local health authorities in California and Minnesota announced the vaping-related deaths of two individuals, both older and in relatively poor health, at least one of whom had used products containing THC, the principal psychoactive compound in cannabis.
There are now more than 450 possible cases of pulmonary illness associated with vaping, more than double the figure reported last week, according to Ileana Arias, acting deputy director for non-infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ...

At least five dead in US from vaping-related lung disease

True to his reputation as "pope of the poor", Pope Francis begins a visit Saturday to Madagascar, one of the world's most impoverished nations.
Arriving from Mozambique, where he pleaded for understanding and the renunciation of violence in a country riven by 16 years of civil war and now hit by jihadist attacks, the Argentine pontiff's first port of call on Saturday was to be a mass and prayer vigil with at least 12,000 young scouts.
Tafika Fanomenza, 39, who is helping to coordinate the scores of volunteers involved in the preparations, as well as in the pontiff's security, hoped Francis' visit would help bring about change in Madagascar.
More than half of young people on the world's fifth-largest island are out of work, even if many boast good qualifications.
In a population of 25 million, nine out of ten people live on less than $2 a day.
Political instability has done nothing to help the development of an economy largely dependent on agriculture, and the export of vanilla and ...

Poverty, strife-hit Madagascar welcomes Pope Francis

Presidents and ministers from seven Amazon countries met in Colombia on Friday to agree on measures to protect the world's biggest rainforest, under threat from wildfires and rampant deforestation.
The summit took place in the wake of an international outcry over months of raging fires that have devastated swaths of the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia.
The gathering aimed "to foster a space for regional dialogue to advance the protection and sustainable use of this region, which is essential for the survival of the planet," Colombia's President Ivan Duque said.
Duque inaugurated the meeting in a "maloka" -- an indigenous hut -- surrounded by members of the Tikuna tribe with headdresses of colored feathers in southern Colombia's Amazon city of Leticia.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, widely criticized over policies that favor deforestation and a delayed reaction to the wildfires, did not travel to Leticia, citing doctors' orders.
However, speaking by videoconference, he urged other ...

Amazon countries meet to bolster rainforest protection

The acting head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to Iran this weekend to meet high-level officials, the organisation said on Friday.
"IAEA Acting Director General Cornel Feruta will travel to Tehran on Saturday for meetings with high-level Iranian officials on Sunday, 8 September," it said in a statement.
"The visit is part of ongoing interactions between the IAEA and Iran," the statement said, adding that this included "the IAEA's verification and monitoring in Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," the name for the 2015 deal with world powers over Iran's nuclear programme.

Acting UN nuclear watchdog head to meet Iranian officials

Google said Friday it was banning online ads for unproven medical treatments including most stem cell and gene therapy.
"This new policy will prohibit ads selling treatments that have no established biomedical or scientific basis," Google policy adviser Adrienne Biddings said in a blog post.
Biddings said Google will "prohibit advertising for unproven or experimental medical techniques such as most stem cell therapy, cellular (non-stem) therapy and gene therapy." Google will also ban "treatments that are rooted in basic scientific findings and preliminary clinical experience, but currently have insufficient formal clinical testing to justify widespread clinical use," she added.
The online giant said it made the decision due to "a rise in bad actors attempting to take advantage of individuals by offering untested, deceptive treatments." The company said this was not an effort to diminish the importance of medical discoveries but maintained that "monitored, regulated clinical trials are 

Google bans ads for 'unproven' therapies, including stem cells

A third person has died in the United States as a result of severe lung disease linked to vaping, officials said Friday, in an outbreak that has sickened hundreds and left several teens in induced comas.
The news of the third death was announced by health authorities in Indiana, as investigators in New York said they were now focusing their probe on black market cannabis products containing vitamin E oil.
Federal officials however said that no single substance has been found to be present in all the laboratory samples that are being examined.
In addition to the three deaths announced, "We are aware of one other death that's under investigation as a possible case," said Ileana Arias, acting deputy director for non-infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
She added there were now more than 450 possible cases of pulmonary illness associated with vaping, more than double the figure reported last week.
Daniel Fox, a pulmonologist in North Carolina, said .

Vaping related lung disease claims third life in US

Robert Mugabe, the former guerrilla hero turned despot who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until the military forced him out, has died aged 95.
First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony Rhodesia of white minority rule, Mugabe used repression and fear to govern until he was finally ousted by his previously loyal generals in November 2017.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his predecessor had been declared a "national hero" and that Zimbabwe would mourn him until the burial.
"The late departed icon will be eternally remembered and honoured for the bold and historic land reform programme which he undertook," said Mnangagwa during a national address broadcast on television.
Mugabe passed away at 0240 GMT in Singapore, where he had been hospitalised in April, a Zimbabwean diplomat in South Africa told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He had been battling ill health, and after a humiliating fall from office, his stamina seeped away rapidly.
Adam Molai, Mugabe's ...

Mugabe, Zimbabwe hero-turned-despot, dies aged 95

Oil and gas projects approved by major fossil fuel companies over the last 20 months threaten both shareholder value and efforts to keep Earth from overheating, according to an analysis released Friday.
Eighteen major investments totalling $50 billion would only become profitable if the world exceeds the Paris climate treaty targets for capping global warming, Carbon Tracker, a non-profit financial think tank, concluded.
Similar infrastructure projects worth USD 21 billion dollars are waiting for a greenlight in the rest of 2019, the report noted.
Across all business sectors, global companies responding to pressure from society and shareholders are scrambling to lay out low-emissions pathways that are "Paris-compliant".
The Paris Agreement calls for blocking the rise in Earth's temperature to "well below" two degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.
On current trends, the planet will warm about 4C by century's end.  For fossil fuel majors, that ...

Big Oil investments bet on failure to meet climate goals: report

The US Department of Justice has opened an antitrust probe of California's agreement with four automakers on fuel efficiency standards that circumvented the Trump administration's plans, automakers said Friday.
The agreement announced in July increases the fuel economy standards on autos sold in California. These conflicted with a White House plan to freeze mileage standards and ratcheted up a major fight between California and Washington over environmental rules.
BMW and Honda confirmed receiving inquiries from the Department of Justice. Ford did not immediately respond to an AFP query.  A Volkswagen spokesman declined comment.
The California policy requires new cars to meet a standard of 50 miles per gallon, (4.7 liters per 100 kilometers), up from the 37 mpg current level, by 2026.
This approach is broadly consistent with a key component of former President Barack' Obamas climate change strategy. The Trump administration has vowed to reverse the policy.
The DOJ sent letters to the .

US opens probe of 4 automakers over California emissions pact

The United States will use this month's UN General Assembly to rally support for the Uighurs, whose treatment by China is among "the worst stains on the world," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
Pompeo said that China's mass incarceration of the predominantly Muslim ethnicity will be a priority for the United States at the annual summit of world leaders.
"We'll do a number of gatherings where our efforts will be to get other countries to sign up to help us call out this activity that is taking place," Pompeo said at Kansas State University.
"As I said before, this may end up being one of the worst stains on the world of this century. It's of that magnitude," he said.
"This is fundamentally not about national security for them, this isn't about Islamic extremism in western China. This is about freedom and dignity for individuals," he said.
Responding to a student's question about progress, Pompeo said that efforts were going "insufficiently" because the situation had not ...

Pompeo says US to rally support for Uighurs at UN

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Friday the United States will present its long-awaited Middle East peace plan within weeks as he acknowledged a difficult task.
President Donald Trump's administration pushed back the plan after Israel unexpectedly headed back to new elections to be held September 17 and fresh questions arose Thursday when Jason Greenblatt, Trump's adviser on the Middle East, resigned.
But Pompeo, responding to a question at Kansas State University, dismissed speculation of a substantial new delay.
"We've been consulting broadly throughout the region for two and a half years now and I think in the coming weeks we'll announce our vision," Pompeo said.
"And hopefully the world... will see that as a building block, a basis on which to move forward," he said.
He called Middle East peace "a difficult problem, one that ultimately those two peoples will have to resolve for themselves, but we've worked hard on that." The Palestinian Authority has cut off formal contact 

Pompeo says Middle East peace plan in 'weeks'

Lasith Malinga claimed four wickets in four balls for the second time in his career to lead Sri Lanka to a 37-run consolation win over New Zealand in the third Twenty20 international on Friday.
Malinga returned career-best figures of 5-6 to bundle New Zealand, who won the series 2-1, for 88 while chasing 126 in Kandy.
The 36-year-old Malinga bowled Colin Munro for 12 on the third ball of his second over to become the first T20 bowler to claim 100 wickets as he began his demolition of the Kiwi batting.
He then sent Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor back to the pavilion on balls four, five and six as he raised the roof in front of a raucous home crowd. New Zealand slipped to 15 for four.
It was only the third time a bowler had taken four wickets in as many balls in internationals, after Malinga himself against South Africa at the 2007 World Cup, and Afghanistan's Rashid Khan earlier this year.
He now has five hat-tricks in international cricket to his name, with ...

Malinga takes four wickets in four balls as Sri Lanka claim consolation win

A coalition of US states announced Friday an antitrust investigation of Facebook, in the first of what is expected to be a wave of action against dominant technology firms.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James released a statement announcing the action on behalf of seven other states and the District of Columbia to probe "whether Facebook has stifled competition and put users at risk." The move marks the first official US antitrust action against one of the so-called Big Tech companies -- although a landmark case had targeted Microsoft back in the 1990s.
"Even the largest social media platform in the world must follow the law and respect consumers," James said.
"We will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook's actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers' choices, or increased the price of advertising." Joining the action were attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and ...

US states launch antitrust probe of Facebook

A third person has died in the United States as a result of a severe lung illness that has sickened hundreds of e-cigarette users, or vapers, health authorities in Indiana said Friday.
"The death, which occurred in an individual older than age 18, was confirmed Sept. 5," the Indiana State Department of Health said in a statement.  It said Indiana was investigating 30 cases of severe lung injury linked to vaping.
US health officials said Friday that black market cannabis products could be the cause of the mysterious outbreak of lung disease that has forced some teen vapers into medically-induced comas.

Third death linked to vaping in United States

Mortuary workers carried out the grim task of searching for bodies in heaps of rubble on Friday as dazed survivors of Hurricane Dorian waited for relief from the Category 5 storm that ravaged the northern Bahamas.
At least 30 deaths have been reported from the monster storm but hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of people are missing and Bahamian officials said the final toll could be "staggering."
Thousands of people were left homeless on the hardest-hit islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco and the scale of the devastation has left many wondering if Abaco, in particular, can ever be rebuilt.
"Abaco Island is like a ghost town," said Mark Duvinie, a resident of Marsh Harbour, the largest town on Abaco, which had been home to more than 15,000 people.
"No electricity, no water, no nothing."
"I honestly believe Abaco is finished," said Thaah Hepburn, another resident of Marsh Harbour. "Absolutely everything is gone."
"I don't think people are going to invest anymore because of the ...

Grim search for bodies in ravaged Bahamas as survivors await relief

US President Donald Trump on Friday said the costs of his protracted trade war were falling squarely on China.
Top-level negotiators are due to gather in Washington early next month while lower-level staff will meet in late September, according to officials on both sides.
"China is eating the tariffs," Trump said on Twitter, repeating his claim that higher duty rates meant Washington collected billions of dollars from the Asian economy, and not US importers.
"China having worst year in decades. Talks happening, good for all!" Corporate earnings reports indicate American companies have been hit by rising tariffs and trade uncertainty. A report released this week said more than 10,000 job cuts announced last month stemmed from "trade difficulties."
Trade relations between the two economic powers deteriorated suddenly last month and US duties on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods are due to rise in October and December.
Trump in recent weeks has insisted that China's ...

China 'eating the tariffs,' Trump says ahead of talks

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday gave a dressing down to space officials on a visit to Russia's long-delayed and corruption-tainted cosmodrome in the Far East.
The Vostochny cosmodrome was originally supposed to be running manned launches from last year but the grand project has been consistently behind schedule.
At a meeting with the head of the country's space agency Dmitry Rogozin and others, Putin asked for details on how close the spaceport is to completion.
"I expect a more responsible attitude from you and a dynamic pace when organising work," Putin said in televised comments.
"All the infrastructure being built on the ground here must meet the latest demands and standards to ensure launches of our advanced rocket systems," the president said.
The cosmodrome in the Amur region is one of Russia's most important space projects, designed to reduce its reliance on the Baikonur launch site it rents from Kazakhstan to ferry astronauts.
State television hailed it as "the country's 

Putin rebukes officials over space delays

An American Airlines mechanic on Friday was due to appear in court on charges he tampered with an aircraft over stalled union negotiations that he said harmed him financially.
US prosecutors have charged Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani with interfering with part of an aircraft fight data system, causing the grounding of a July flight from Miami to the Bahamas, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Miami.
Alani is due to appear before a judge later Friday.
The maximum possible penalty for the violation is 20 years in jail, said a spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Miami.
The plane carrying 150 passengers and crew was taken out of service before takeoff due to an error in the air data module system.
Alani was identified in surveillance footage as having entered the aircraft earlier in the morning.
Alani allegedly admitted to the FBI that he had inserted a piece of foam into the ADM inlet and applied super glue to prevent the foam from coming off, according to an ..

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