Novak Djokovic shattered the hopes of ailing rival Roger Federer Thursday to sweep into a record eighth Australian Open final and move closer to his 17th Grand Slam crown.
In the 50th instalment of one of sport's greatest rivalries, the Serb shrugged off a tentative start to reinforce his recent dominance, showing no mercy to the Swiss maestro in a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-3 win.
He will play either fifth seed Dominic Thiem or seventh-ranked German Alexander Zverev in Sunday's final, but it will take a monumental effort to prize another title from the 32-year-old.
Of the seven Melbourne finals Djokovic has made, he has won them all.
If any extra motivation was needed, winning on Sunday will see the Serb reclaim the number one ranking after Rafael Nadal was sent packing in the last eight.
"Respect to Roger for coming out tonight when he was obviously hurt and not even close to his best in terms of movement," said defending champion Djokovic, who is into his 26th Grand Slam final.
"He started .

Djokovic powers past Federer into Australian Open final

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Lewis Hamilton says he has not spoken to Mercedes about signing a new contract as he prepares to launch his bid to equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven drivers' championship titles.
The British driver's ?40 million ($52 million)-a-season deal expires at the end of the year and he has been linked with a move to Ferrari.
Reports in Italy say talks over a contract extension between Hamilton and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff have stalled.
But in a post to Instagram which he later deleted, Hamilton wrote: "Toto and I have not even spoken about contract yet. Nothing is being negotiated currently."
Both Ferrari and Red Bull have moved to tie Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen respectively to long-term deals during Formula One's off-season.
But Hamilton, who has spent much of the winter break in the United States, is unlikely to rush into a decision on his future.
Ferrari confirmed their interest in Hamilton last year, and will need a replacement for Sebastian Vettel in 2021 if the four-time 

Hamilton says he has not spoken to Mercedes about a new deal

A former Nigerian justice minister accused of complicity in a billion-dollar oil scandal involving Shell and Eni was on Thursday granted bail by a high court in the nation's capital.
Judge Abubakar Kutigi ordered the release of Mohammed Adoke from custody to face his trial along with other suspects.
The judge asked him to provide surety of 50 million naira ($139,000, 126,000 euros) before he could leave custody.
The court then adjourned the case to March 26.  Adoke, who also served as attorney-general between 2010 and 2015, was arrested last month on arrival from the United Arab Emirates where he had been detained on a Nigerian warrant over one of the West African state's biggest-ever corruption scandals.
He was accused of money laundering and collecting a bribe worth 300 million naira to broker the $1.3-billion sale of lucrative offshore oil block OPL245 to Shell and Eni in 2011.
Adoke has pleaded not guilty to the charges along with two co-accused.
Both Shell and Eni have denied any 

Nigeria ex-minister granted bail in oil scandal case

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold talks on post-Brexit trade with the top US diplomat on Thursday, eve of Britain's historic departure from the European Union.
The British premier will aim to paper over recent disagreements as he hosts US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the day before nearly half a century of EU membership ends late Friday.
With Britain at a historic crossroads, Johnson wants to strike post-Brexit trade deals with both the bloc and the US, but has seen recent strains in the so-called "special relationship" with Washington.
Britain will enter a new chapter when it becomes the first country to quit the EU's institutions at midnight Brussels time (2300 GMT) on Friday.
Although it will remain under most EU rules during an 11-month transition period, Britain is then likely to lose privileged access to the single European market -- the world's largest and most important for UK trade.
But Johnson has argued he will negotiate an ambitious free trade agreement with his 27 .

UK's Johnson holds talks with US on Brexit eve

Garbine Muguruza said she revelled in the underdog role after the unseeded former world number one battled into her first Australian Open final on Thursday.
The 26-year-old Spaniard fought back in both sets to defeat fourth seed Simona Halep 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 and set up a championship decider with surprise-package Sofia Kenin on Saturday.
Muguruza is unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2014 after her ranking slipped to 36 at the end of a poor 2019 by her high standards.
That meant a tricky path to the final in Melbourne, where temperatures soared close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Thursday.
"It's difficult, you never know who you're going to face right away, not being seeded," said the two-time Grand Slam winner.
"I knew whatever match, it was going to be tough, even how I started the tournament not feeling well.
"I'm happy to not be in the spotlight, it's good." Muguruza was hindered by a viral illness in her tournament opener and lost the first set 6-0 to ...

Unseeded Muguruza happy to fly under radar - and into Melbourne final

A nurse in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning five premature babies with morphine, police said Thursday, adding that the infants had survived.
The woman was taken into custody on Wednesday after investigators found a syringe containing breast milk and traces of morphine in her locker at Ulm university hospital in southern Germany.
The babies, who were between one day and one month old and staying in the same hospital room, all suddenly developed breathing problems "at almost the same time" in the early hours of December 20, Ulm police chief Bernhard Weber said.
"Only because of the immediate action taken by the staff could the five lives be saved," he told a press conference.
Doctors do not expect the infants to suffer any lasting harm.
The young nurse taken into custody has yet to be formally charged but faces five counts of attempted manslaughter, Ulm prosecutor Christof Lehr said at the same press conference.
She denies poisoning the babies, he added.
Hospital ...

German nurse accused of poisoning babies with morphine

Britain's famed Royal Ballet Company has suspended its star choreographer over allegations of sexual misconduct against students, the Times reported Thursday.
Artist in residence Liam Scarlett, 33, is accused of encouraging students to send him naked photographs, making inappropriate comments, touching them inappropriately and walking into dressing rooms while they were changing, according to the newspaper.
The internal investigation is ongoing, and no conclusions have yet been drawn.
"We were made aware of allegations relating to Liam Scarlett in August 2019," the ballet company said in a statement.
"The individual was immediately suspended and an independent disciplinary investigation opened.
"The Royal Ballet Company has a code of conduct in place to ensure staff and visiting artists are always supported."
The allegations against Scarlett, regarded as British ballet's "next big thing", have reverberated globally, with Australia's Queensland Ballet cancelling a forthcoming run of ...

UK's Royal Ballet suspends star choreographer over sex claims: report

Brendan Taylor made his second half-century of the match to put Zimbabwe in a strong position at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test against Sri Lanka here on Thursday.
Taylor struck a rapid 67 as the hosts added 117 during an extended morning session to go in at 179 for five, their overall lead standing at 292.
Captain Sean Williams, who made a century in the first innings, is 15 not out and all-rounder Sikander Raza has 17.
If Zimbabwe can add another 100 during the afternoon they will stand an excellent chance of winning the Test and squaring the two-match series 1-1.
Lasith Embuldeniya was again the pick of the Sri Lanka bowlers, striking in the third over of the day when Regis Chakabva edged to Dhananjaya de Silva at slip having added just a single to his overnight 14.
Taylor joined Prince Masvaure who was run out for 35 after a needless mix-up over a second run.
Timycen Maruma, who was drafted in as a 'concussion substitute' for Kevin Kasuza who was stretchered off on ...

Second 50 for Taylor as Zimbabwe strengthen position

Russia said on Thursday it was closing its border with China to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus and would stop issuing electronic visas to Chinese nationals.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told a government meeting that the order had been signed "to take measures to close the border (with China) in the Far East".
"We have to do everything to protect our people," he said.
The Russian foreign ministry said that as of Thursday it would stop issuing Chinese citizens with electronic visas, which can be used to cross into parts of the Far East and western Russia.
The foreign ministry also advised Russians to refrain from travelling to China and for those in China to get in touch with the Russian embassy.
Russia does not have any confirmed cases of the new virus but the Russian government has set up a task force to prevent its possible spread.

Russia to shut border with China over coronavirus

Russian air strikes near a bakery and a medical clinic in Syria's rebel-held Idlib region killed 10 civilians on Thursday as government forces kept up a ground offensive.
The government and its allies have upped their deadly bombardment of the last major rebel bastion, slowly chipping away at it from the south.
Rebel-held territory has shrunk to just over half of Idlib province, along with slivers of neighbouring Aleppo and Latakia, following a series of government gains, the latest of which saw Damascus loyalists retaking the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan on Wednesday.
Early on Thursday, Russian air strikes hit the town of Ariha, between Maaret al-Numan and the city of Idlib to its north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The strikes hit near a bakery and the Al-Shami clinic which is now out of service, AFP correspondents reported.
A dust-covered doctor ran out of the Al-Shami clinic screaming following the attack, which partially damaged the facility's walls.
Nearby, 

Russian strikes kill 10 civilians in Syria's Idlib as army advances

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday hailed US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan as a new opportunity after flying to Moscow to discuss it with President Vladimir Putin.
"I think there's a new and perhaps unique opportunity here," said the Israeli premier, who stood alongside Trump at the White House when the  plan was announced Tuesday and called it a victory for Israel.
Trump's plan angered Palestinians by proposing Israel retain control over Jerusalem as its "undivided capital" and giving the green light to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
"I'd like to speak to you and hear your insights and see how we can combine all our forces for security and peace," Netanyahu told Putin at the start of their Kremlin meeting.
"You're actually the first leader I'm speaking with after my visit to Washington about President Trump's Deal of the Century," he added.
The Russian leader did not mention the peace plan in his public remarks.
Netanyahu, facing graft 

Netanyahu tells Putin Mideast deal a 'new opportunity'

Two ambulance drivers were detained for spreading rumours about a coronavirus infection in Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country that borders China, Kazakh police said Thursday.
The two men were detained on suspicion of "spreading false information about an illness from the coronavirus," said Sergei Neznayev, a spokesman for police in the region surrounding Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty.
"They heard something somewhere and began to spread the information" via the WhatsApp messenger services, Neznayev told AFP.
Neznayev said the rumours had been "checked and disproven" during the course of the investigation.
Spreading false information is punishable by up to a year in jail under Kazakhstan's criminal code.
The former Soviet republic is one of a number of nations that have clamped down on Chinese visitors as the new coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, continues to spread across Asia.
Authorities on Wednesday announced that visas to Chinese citizens were no ...

Kazakhstan detains two for spreading coronavirus rumours

China suspended all football in the country Thursday, hours after the World Indoor Athletics Championships and World Cup skiing were postponed, adding to a long list of sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
The world's most populous country has become an increasing powerhouse in hosting international sport in recent years but has had its 2020 sporting calendar thrown into chaos.
Here, AFP Sport lists the events already affected and those potentially under threat: Cancelled, postponed or moved
=============================
-- Football: China on Thursday suspended all domestic football and postponed indefinitely the top-flight Chinese Super League season kick-off due on February 22 in order to "carry out prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic," said the Chinese Football Association.
-- Athletics: The World Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, were postponed for a year. "It is with regret that we have agreed with the organisers ... to postpone .

Coronavirus chaos in China's sporting calendar

Air strikes by government ally Russia hit near a bakery and a medical clinic in Syria's rebel-held Idlib region early on Thursday, killing 10 civilians, a war monitor said.
At least five women were among the dead in the town of Ariha in Idlib province, where Russian-backed government forces are conducting an offensive against the country's last major rebel bastion, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A dust-covered doctor ran out of the Al-Shami clinic screaming following the attack, which partially damaged the facility's walls, an AFP correspondent reported.
Nearby, three entire buildings had collapsed.
The wailing of women and children rang out as rescue workers searched for corpses beneath the rubble, the correspondent added.
The latest deaths brings the total number of civilians killed by Russian air strikes in Idlib over the past 24 hours to 21, the Observatory said.
Earlier this month, Russia denied launching any combat operations in the Idlib region since a ceasefire .

Russian strikes kill 10 civilians in Syria's Idlib: monitor

Simona Halep said the fierce heat and sun "killed me" during her Australian Open semi-final defeat after she let slip opportunities to put away unseeded Garbine Muguruza on Thursday.
The Romanian fourth seed had not dropped a set in reaching the last four, but she lost her cool -- mangling her racquet -- on the way to a 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 defeat.
Muguruza, like Halep a two-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one, meets American 14th seed Sofia Kenin in the final in Melbourne, where temperatures soared close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Thursday.
"It was very, very hot today and I felt it. Killed me after the first set, in the end of the first set," said the 28-year-old Halep.
"The sun was strong, I didn't like that much to play in this weather.
"The level of energy went down a little bit, and I felt it in the legs. I was not used to it in the last two weeks, we didn't have that much heat."
Halep, who will rise a spot to two in the world rankings next week ...

Ferocious Melbourne heat 'killed me' says beaten Halep

A giraffe whose daring escape from convoy en route to a Thai breeding station won hearts online was found dead in a lotus-clogged canal on Thursday after a two-day search using drones and hang gliders.
Two giraffes made a bid for freedom from the back of a poorly secured truck as it slowed in highway traffic after leaving Bangkok's main airport on Tuesday.
The animals had been imported from an unnamed African country and destined for Safari World, a popular attraction outside Bangkok which describes itself as "an open zoo".
Rescuers caught one of the creatures after stunning it with a tranquiliser gun, but the other escaped into scrubland -- cheered on by hundreds of thousands of people on social media.
The story took a tragic turn, however, after it was found dead in a lotus swamp near a main road, according to Safari World.
Vets will determine the cause of death.
Hundreds of thousands of Thais followed Facebook live videos of journalists trailing the hunt for the runaway ...

Fugitive giraffe found dead in Thai canal

Long queues form at pharmacies and crowds of panic-buyers strip supermarket shelves in Hong Kong as fears spread through the crowded metropolis over China's new coronavirus epidemic.
As a city that lost nearly 300 people to the SARS virus in 2003, Hong Kongers are taking few chances over the latest disease outbreak that began in central China and has since spread.
Usually clogged streets have been uncharacteristically quiet, with light traffic and crowds over the Lunar New Year holiday.
But the one place Hong Kongers are still willing to gather in sizeable numbers is outside their local pharmacies, hoping to snap up rapidly diminishing supplies of surgical facemasks.
In the middle-class district of Tseung Kwan O, hundreds of residents patiently queued for hours on Thursday to buy masks at a pharmacy that, like many outlets, was now limiting sales to one box per person.
"No matter how long this queue takes and how much it costs, I will at least buy enough for myself," a 26-year-old ...

Virus fears spark mask queues and empty shelves in Hong Kong

Swedish furniture giant Ikea said Thursday it will close all of its Chinese stores "until further notice," in response to the spread of the new deadly coronavirus.
The company said that it had "temporarily closed all of the 30 stores in mainland China until further notice, effective from January 30."
Ikea announced Wednesday that it had already closed half of its stores in the country, after first announcing last week the closure of its store in Wuhan, where the outbreak of the new coronavirus started in late 2019.
The some 14,000 staff working for Ikea in China were "asked to stay at home until further notice with paid leave," Ikea said.
The toll from the viral epidemic rose to 170 deaths on Thursday and about 7,700 confirmed cases.
Outside China, Macau and Hong Kong there have been at least 80 infections reported.
The outbreak is feared to have a serious impact on the global economy, with air traffic already disrupted and industrial production, international trade and tourism ...

Ikea closes all stores in China over new coronavirus

Unseeded Garbine Muguruza fought back from behind in both sets to defeat racquet-smashing fourth seed Simona Halep on Thursday and set up an Australian Open final with surprise-package Sofia Kenin.
The Spaniard, a two-time Grand Slam champion, reached her first Melbourne final with a tough 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 victory at a steamy Rod Laver Arena.
The 26-year-old, who suffered a calamitous drop in form last season, is the first unseeded player to reach the women's final since Belgium's Justine Henin in 2010.
"Very excited to be in the final, it's a long way to go and I have one more match on Saturday," said Muguruza, the former world number one who is now ranked 32.
"I wasn't thinking that I was down, I was thinking keep going and at some stage you're going to have an opportunity.
"Luckily I have 48 hours now to recover and get ready for the last match. We train all of our career to be able to play on this court and in (front of) this crowd."
Halep and Muguruza, who have both won the French 

Upsets roll as Muguruza, Kenin reach Australian Open final

- Sofia Kenin apologised to home fans at the Australian Open and said her phone was "blowing up" after the 14th seed stunned Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The Moscow-born American reached her first Grand Slam final with a surprise 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 victory over Australia's top seed and home favourite.
Kenin will play unseeded Garbine Muguruza in Saturday's final after the Spaniard defeated fourth seed Simona Halep.
"I'd like to first apologise to all of the Australian fans," said the 21-year-old Kenin.
"I know they wanted her to win, it's not easy for them. I beat the world number one," said Kenin, almost unbelieving.
Kenin is used to playing the role of party spoiler, having defeated 15-year-old fellow American Coco Gauff in the fourth round.
Kenin enjoyed a breakthrough 2019, winning her first three WTA titles, but was something of an unknown quantity at the start of the first Grand Slam of the year.
The only American left in the draw suddenly finds herself in the ...

Kenin revels in limelight after reaching first Grand Slam final

Pregnant, newly-wed and now trapped at the Chinese epicentre of a global health crisis, Thai national Aphinya is among thousands of foreigners desperate to escape -- and watching helplessly as the US and Japan fly their citizens home.
Hundreds were flown to safety this week to Tokyo, Singapore and California on government-chartered flights, but those from countries with less diplomatic clout fear they are being left behind.
"I feel hurt that they don't care about us," Aphinya Thasripech, 32, told AFP.
"Either I could starve or I'll get infected and die," said the factory worker, who is two months pregnant.
So far 170 people have been killed by the virus since it emerged from a market in Wuhan, and more than 7,700 people have been sickened.
The illness has also spread around the world, with cases being recorded as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Finland and the United States, but all of the deaths have been in China.
China has imposed transport bans in and around Wuhan -- ...

AFP

AFP

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