Roger Federer began his US Open preparation with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Peter Gojowczyk in a first ATP Cincinnati Masters appearance since 2015.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who turned 37 last week, is pacing his tennis year, playing a limited schedule and missing events when he feels the need to rest.  He has missed the last two editions of this tournament because of injury.
Eighth seeded Petra Kvitova used her precision serve to overpower Serena Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in their second round match on Tuesday night.
Federer's defeat of the 47th-ranked German in 72 minutes marked the first step towards a possible eighth title at the tournament.
"I felt good in that first match, to be honest, walking out, hardly any nerves. I think I knew what I had to do," Federer said.
"It's fast-court tennis. I knew my opponent was going to go for it and take big cuts at the ball, so there is only so much you can really do.
"It's nice to have played a match so that my last match was ...

Federer opens with win over Gojowczyk, Kvitova ousts

PTI Automatic

The most radical overhaul in the 118-year history of the Davis Cup could be given the green light tomorrow as the tennis world gathers in Florida to vote on sweeping reforms which have divided the sport.
Around 120 delegates at the International Tennis Federation's annual meeting in Orlando will decide whether proposals by federation chief David Haggerty are to be given the go-ahead.
Haggerty's plan will see the Davis Cup's sprawling existing format, stretched across the calendar year and played in all corners of the globe, condensed into a season-ending 18-nation event played at a single, neutral venue.
Haggerty told AFP in a conference call on Tuesday that the overhaul would boost the ITF's ability to spread development funding across the globe, pumping around $25 million back into the sport.
"The ITF is the only organisation that puts money into the development of the game," Haggerty said.
"And that's what this project enables us to do. The money that we make will be put back to ...

Tennis world to vote on Davis Cup shake-up

Croatian World Cup hero and star striker Mario Mandzukic has announced his retirement from international football at the age of 32, the country's national soccer federation said.
"I think the time has come for me now. I gave my best for Croatia and I have contributed to the greatest success in Croatian football," Mandzukic said in a letter circulated by the federation.
The Juventus player said that losing 4-2 to France in the World Cup final to take the runner-up spot had given him "new energy but also made this incredible decision easier".
Mandzukic scored 33 goals for Croatia in 89 games and ranked second only to the country's Davor Suker.

Mandzukic calls time on Croatia career

New Zealand Cricket appointed former Test batsman Gary Stead as the new Black Caps coach today, with pundits describing him as a steady pair of hands to replace predecessor Mike Hesson.
Stead, 46, was a journeyman opening bat, playing just five Tests in 1999 before being dropped.
But he has excelled as a coach, guiding Canterbury to domestic titles in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
Stead said he wanted to continue the improvement New Zealand had shown under Hesson.
"This is a well-established and high-performing Black Caps side with an excellent captain in Kane Williamson and a real desire to win series and titles," he said.
"It's an honour and a privilege to be part of that. I can't wait to get started." Former batsman Peter Fulton said Stead would build on Hesson's legacy.
"He'll be very well organised, a lot of detail and a really good thinker about the game," he told Radio Sport.
"New Zealand Cricket have made it pretty obvious they were keen for someone who's going to come in and not rock .

Gary Stead named New Zealand cricket coach

Captain Lionel Messi will miss Argentina's next four friendly matches, according to local press reports.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner previously retired from the national side after their 2016 Copa America final defeat by Chile before returning to help them qualify for this year's World Cup.
The two-time world champions will face Guatemala in Los Angeles on September 7 and Colombia in New York four days later, before two friendlies later in the year against as-yet unnamed opponents.
"Messi will not return this year and there are doubts about his future," proclaimed Argentinian daily Clarin.
News website Infobae said: "He will take a rest period, but that doesn't mean he's quitting."
"It is the coach who will say, when the time comes, what the situation is concerning Messi," a team spokesman told AFP.
Lionel Scaloni has been in temporary charge of Argentina since Jorge Sampaoli left after their disastrous World Cup tournament in Russia, where they were beaten 4-3 in the last 16 by .

Messi to skip Argentina friendlies - reports

French heavyweight boxer Tony Yoka's appeal against a one-year ban for doping violations was rejected, denting his hopes of winning a world title.
The 26-year-old followed in the footsteps of British star Anthony Joshua by winning the Olympic super-heavyweight title two years ago in Rio de Janeiro.
But he was handed a 12-month suspension last month by the French anti-doping agency for failing three times to provide necessary information on his whereabouts for out-of-competition drugs tests.
Yoka appealed the case to the French Council of State, but the ban was upheld on Tuesday.
"The casualness of the behaviour of Mr Yoka, who as an experienced sportsman is particularly informed of the importance of doping tests couldn't be unaware from the first warning of the consequences of his carelessness, doesn't allow us to seriously consider that the one-year suspension would be disproportionate," read the judge's order.
Yoka says he is aiming to become the first Frenchman to win a world ...

French heavyweight Yoka sees doping ban upheld

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey would boycott US electronic goods like the iPhone in retaliation for punitive sanctions from Washington, as the Turkish lira finally clawed back some of the ground lost in its stand-off with Washington.
The dispute between the NATO allies - brought to a new intensity by Turkey's holding of an American pastor for two years - has raised questions over the future of their partnership and fanned fears of a looming economic crisis in Turkey.
"We will boycott US electronic goods," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara yesterday, again showing no sign of compromise in the dispute.
"If (the United States) have the iPhone, there's Samsung on the other side," he said, referring to US giant Apple's iconic phone and the top South Korean brand.
"We (also) have our Venus and Vestel," he said about homegrown Turkish electronics brands.
Shares in Vestel jumped seven per cent on the Istanbul stock exchange after Erdogan's remarks.
The White House did not ...

Erdogan says Turkey to boycott US electronic goods

Turkey's lira has recovered steadily, taking the pressure off stock markets, with European bourses finishing little changed and Wall Street pushing higher.
Even as the selling pressured abated, investors kept a nervous eye on Ankara after Monday's bloodletting which saw the lira hit record lows and equity markets go into free-fall on concerns Turkey's financial crisis could spread globally.
"The Turkish lira has finally found some support after two days of intense selling that triggered panic across the markets," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com, adding that the lira had clawed back most of the previous day's losses.
"But it has a long way to go following its 13 percent or so drop on Friday and its previous declines," he said.
In European deals, the Turkish unit advanced to 6.40 to the dollar and 7.26 to the euro, which was well off the all-time record lows seen the previous day, after Turkey's central bank vowed to boost liquidity.
In Europe, London and Paris ...

Equities enjoy breather as Turkish lira rebounds

An incoming member of Mexico's Congress was kidnapped at gunpoint, an official said, the latest violent episode surrounding the July 1 elections, the bloodiest in the country's history.
Azucena Rodriguez Zamora, who was elected to the lower house of Congress for the eastern state of Veracruz, was driving on a highway in the neighboring state of Hidalgo when gunmen in another car opened fire on her vehicle, said a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The car flipped over, injuring two people who were traveling with Rodriguez.
The gunmen then pulled her from the car and abducted her, said the source.
It is the second such kidnapping in Hidalgo in recent days.
On August 6, the mayor of the town of Naupan, in Puebla state, was found dead after being abducted at gunpoint on a Hidalgo highway.
At least 152 politicians were murdered in the run-up to Mexico's elections, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.
The murders -- mostly of local-level politicians, the most frequent 

Congresswoman-elect kidnapped in Mexico: official

Christine Hallquist has won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the US state of Vermont, moving a step closer to becoming the nation's first transgender governor, US media reported.
But she still faces an uphill battle in the general election, when she is projected to face Republican incumbent Phil Scott, who has been in office since 2016.
"HISTORY MADE! @christineforvt just became the first trans/non-binary gubernatorial candidate from a major political party in American history!" tweeted the Victory Fund, an organization that supports LGBTQ candidates.
Hallquist transitioned while heading the Vermont Electricity Coop, several years before launching her gubernatorial bid.
In 2015, "Christine made the decision, after years of holding it inside, to come out as her true self, a transgender woman, becoming the first business leader in the country to transition while in office," according to her campaign's website.
"Working to ensure that Vermont remains the special, inclusive and .

US transgender woman wins Democratic nod for governor in Vermont

Tinder founders and early employees have filed a lawsuit accusing parent firm InterActiveCorp of cheating them out of billions of dollars by manipulating the value of stock options for the popular dating app.
The suit filed in New York contends that IAC and its spinoff Match Group, which owns Tinder, schemed to dramatically drive down the value of stock options and then eliminate them altogether.
The companies "made contractual promises to recruit and retain the men and women who built Tinder" but then "lied, bullied, and violated their contractual duties, stealing billions of dollars,"said attorney Orin Snyder, who filed the suit on behalf of Tinder co-founders Jonathan Badeen, Justin Mateen, Sean Rad and others from its startup days.
The suit names IAC and Match as defendants, accusing the companies of breach of contract and called for at least $2 billion in compensation along with punitive damages.
Tinder, created in 2012, uses geolocation to propose nearby romantic matches for ...

Tinder founders sue parent alleging cheating on stock options

President Donald Trump's administration has denied any change to its "One-China" policy after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen made a political speech in the US, the first time in 15 years a Taiwanese leader has done so.
Beijing said that it had lodged an official protest with the United States over Tsai's speech Monday in Los Angeles, where she said Taiwan's freedom and future was not negotiable.
Tsai spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library while in transit on a trip to Paraguay and Belize, two of the few countries that continue to recognize the government in Taipei.
State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said yesterday the speech did not represent any move by the Trump administration to alter the official US stance that accepts Beijing as the sole government of China, and does not officially recognize Taiwan's government.
"Our policy on Taiwan has not changed," she told reporters.
"The United States in regard to this trip facilitates from time to time representatives of ...

US denies China policy change after Taiwan leader speech in LA

A sweeping grand jury report has found credible allegations against more than 300 predator priests and identified over 1,000 victims in decades of child sex abuse covered up by the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.
It was not immediately clear how many fresh charges could be brought following what the report called the most comprehensive to date about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, investigating all but two of the US state's dioceses.
Testimony from dozens of witnesses and half a million pages of internal church documents contained credible allegations against more than 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 child victims were identifiable, the report found yesterday.
The real number was "in the thousands," the grand jury estimated, given those children whose records were lost or who were afraid to come forward.
As a result of the church cover-up, almost every instance of abuse was too old to be prosecuted, but the report referenced at least two priests who had been ...

Pennsylvania report lists more than 300 'predator' priests

A key partner in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition today condemned moves for a long term truce agreement with Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, hawkish head of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party, said his party would oppose such an agreement if it were put to a government vote.
"In light of the agreement being forged between Israel and Hamas, (Bennett) announced tonight that the Jewish Home Party would oppose an agreement based on a temporary calm," his office said in a statement.  Such a deal "would allow Hamas to rearm and regroup for the next round of terror," it said.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008. A wave of protests and clashes erupted along the strip's border with Israel on March 30, since when at least 169 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper in July. Since July there have also been three major ..

Key Netanyahu partner slams moves for truce with Hamas

Nebraska today carried out America's first execution using fentanyl -- the opioid at the center of the country's deadly overdose crisis -- as part of an untested four-drug combination.
Carey Dean Moore, sentenced to death for two 1979 murders, was the first prisoner executed in the Midwestern state in 21 years, in what was its first ever lethal injection.
The 60-year-old was pronounced dead at 10:47 am (1547 GMT). The execution lasted approximately 20 minutes, according to Scott Frakes, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.
Moore's execution survived a last-minute legal challenge from a drug company and protests about the new lethal injection protocol.
It was a pivotal test for Nebraska, where the state legislature abolished the death penalty in 2015, only to see voters reinstate it the next year in a referendum. The state last performed an execution in 1997 by electric chair.
"I recognize that today's execution impacts many people on many levels," said ...

Nebraska conducts first US execution with fentanyl

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis urged closer strategic ties with Brazil today in what appeared to be part of a concerted pushback against growing Chinese influence in Latin America.
Mattis, who is starting a tour of the region, told military officers at Rio de Janeiro's war college that Brazil and the United States had interests built on shared geography, democracy and battlefield history dating to World War II.
Mattis said the United States wants a "stronger relationship," with a focus on using the Brazil's Alcantara space center, whose location near the equator makes launches more effective.
China is developing its space infrastructure in Latin America, with a base in southern Argentina's Patagonia region. It has also pushed deep into the continent's economies as an investor and major client for agricultural, mineral and other commodities.
Mattis said that US interest in Alcantara was "not because it lies along the equator, a happy accident of geography, but because we want to work .

US defence chief woos Brazil as Chinese influence grows

Manmade global warming and a natural surge in Earth's surface temperature will join forces to make the next five years exceptionally hot, according to a study published today.
The double whammy of climate change and so-called natural variability more than doubles the likelihood of "extreme warm events" in ocean surface waters, creating a dangerous breeding ground for hurricanes and typhoons, they reported in Nature Communications.
"This warm phase is reinforcing long-term climate change," lead author Florian Sevellec, a climate scientist at the University of Brest in France, told AFP.
"This particular phase is expected to continue for at least five years." Earth's average surface temperature has always fluctuated.
Over the last million years, it vacillated roughly every 100,000 years between ice ages and balmy periods warmer than today. Over the last 11,000 years, those variations have become extremely modest, allowing our species to flourish.
Manmade climate change -- caused by ...

Brace for extra-warm weather through 2022: study

About 30 people were killed today when a giant motorway bridge collapsed in heavy rain in the Italian city of Genoa in what the government called an "immense tragedy".
The collapse, which saw a vast stretch of the A10 freeway tumble on to railway lines in the northern port city, came as the bridge was undergoing maintenance work and as the Liguria region, where Genoa is situated, experienced torrential rainfall.
"Unfortunately there are around 30 dead and many injured in a serious condition," Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told reporters.
Rescuers scouring through the wreckage, strewn among shrubland and train tracks, said there were "dozens" of victims, as rescue helicopters winched survivors on stretchers from the ruined bridge.
Cars and trucks were tangled in the rubble and nearby buildings damaged by vast chunks of concrete, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
The incident -- the deadliest of its kind in Europe since 2001 -- is the latest in a string of bridge ...

30 dead in Italy motorway bridge collapse 'tragedy'

British group Quercus, an investor in renewable energy, said today it will halt work on a major solar plant in Iran after the country was hit by US economic sanctions.
"Following the US sanctions on Iran, we have decided to cease all activities in the country, including our 600 MW (megawatt) project," Quercus chief executive Diego Biasi said in comments later confirmed by a company spokesman.
The US last week reimposed sanctions on Iran after President Donald Trump's withdrawal from a nuclear accord in May.
Trump insisted that the 2015 deal with Iran -- designed to prevent the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon and that was signed also by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- did not go far enough.
Several major foreign companies have either already exited Iran or are planning to cease activities in the country as a result of the US sanctions impacting their business activities.

UK investor halts Iran solar project over US sanctions

Raging conflict is hampering efforts to rein in an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the WHO chief warned today, urging a ceasefire to stop the virus from transmitting freely.
As the death toll in the outbreak declared on August 1 in DRC's violence-wracked North Kivu province hit 41, the World Health Organization chief also called for the rapid roll-out of an unlicenced drug being used for the first time to treat Ebola patients.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva he feared conditions on the ground in the eastern province had created "a conducive environment for the transmission of Ebola."
Tedros, who travelled to the epicentres of the outbreak in Beni and Mangina in recent days, said he had been very worried before his trip, but that after the visit "I am actually more worried."
The outbreak in North Kivu's Beni region, which shares borders with Uganda and Rwanda, was declared a week after WHO and the Kinshasa government hailed the end of an Ebola ...

WHO worried Ebola can 'transmit freely' in DR Congo as death toll hits 41

England all-rounder Ben Stokes should be welcomed back into the Test team after being cleared of affray today, said former national captain Michael Vaughan.
Vaughan, who has forged a successful career as a pundit since retiring from the crease, said the 27-year-old New Zealand-born star had been punished enough over the 11 months since a late-night excursion in Bristol following a one-day win over the West Indies led to him being charged with affray.
A jury today unanimously decided in less than three hours that Stokes was not guilty as was his co-defendant Ryan Ali, who was knocked unconscious in the brawl.
However, Stokes and team-mate Alex Hales -- who was with him when the fracas occurred -- is likely to face a charge of disrepute by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) which will be heard by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) chaired by Tim O'Gorman, a former Derbyshire batsman and qualified solicitor.
"I think the fact he missed the whole of the Winter in Australia ...

AFP

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