Pep Guardiola believes Alexis Sanchez cannot be blamed for his spectacular failure with Manchester United and expects the Chile forward to make an impact on loan with Inter Milan.
The Manchester City manager tried to sign Sanchez -- who played under Guardiola at Barcelona -- when he was in the process of joining Manchester United from Arsenal 18 months ago.
His failure to do so hardly proved problematic, with City winning the last two Premier League titles and watching from afar as Sanchez struggled at Old Trafford, scoring just five goals in 45 appearances.
Sanchez joined Inter on loan this week with United still paying a large percentage of his salary.
"I know him (Sanchez). We worked together in Barcelona. I have a special affection for him as a player, of course, but especially as a human being," said Guardiola.
"He's an incredible, humble guy and a fighter.
"So now he decides to move to Italy with one of the greatest teams in Europe with Inter right now, incredible manager with ..

Sanchez flop at United not his fault, says Guardiola

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While Serena Williams chases tennis history at the US Open, she's also planning a fashion show and spending as much time as she can with baby daughter Olympia.
The 37-year-old American advanced to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Friday by defeating Czech Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-2 in only 74 minutes.
Williams, seeking her 24th Grand Slam title to match the all-time record set by Margaret Court, will play Croatian 22nd seed Petra Martic on Sunday for a quarter-finals berth.
But she's spending precious rest time preparing for her clothing line's presentation at Fashion Week, next week's apparel spectacular in New York.
And the six-time US Open champion finds that the feeling of missing her daughter is tougher than what opponents put her through.
"The toughest thing right now is being away from my daughter. That's the only thing that's tough," said Williams, who often trains early to spend the rest of her day with Olympia.
"In tournament schedule, it's totally different, so I'm ...

Serena juggles motherhood, fashion while chasing history

Depleted Paris Saint-Germain gave debuts to two teenagers but still won 2-0 at Metz on Friday in a another Ligue 1 game interrupted by fan banners.
Angel Di Maria and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored the goals the visitors needed to win an undistinguished game and move to the top of the table.
"We won, and that was important," said Di Maria.
Neymar, who reportedly wants to return to Spain, was again left out of the squad as negotiations over his potential transfer drag on.
"It depends on Barcelona. We were open to talk," PSG sporting director Leonardo said after the game in Metz, adding that there was no agreement yet with Barcelona.
"We have always said that he could leave if a proposal that satisfies us arrives. This is not the case."
Another player who has become the centre of speculation, goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, dropped to the bench.
Areola, a France international, is reportedly set to go to Real Madrid in a swap for veteran Costa Rican Keylor Navas.
PSG also started without ...

PSG beat Metz in latest Ligue 1 game to be halted

Arsenal used to take ruling the roost over Tottenham for granted, but the balance of power has swung Spurs' way over the past three seasons as they have become north London's Champions League regulars.
Sunday's derby clash between the two offers the Gunners an early chance to show why this season will be different.
Spurs appeared to have all the momentum at the end of last season after reaching the Champions League final for the first time and moving into a new 62,000 capacity stadium -- 2,000 more than Arsenal's Emirates.
However, another frustrating transfer window followed despite making their first signings for 18 months.
A club record fee was splashed on Tanguy Ndombele along with the arrivals of Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso.
However, all three are unlikely to start on Sunday with Ndombele and Sessegnon injured, while Lo Celso is still getting up to speed after arriving on transfer deadline day for English clubs.
The words and actions of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino .

Arsenal sense chance to further unsettle Spurs

Hannah Green fired an eagle and seven birdies in a nine-under par 63, seizing the second-round lead as low scores abounded at the LPGA Portland Classic.
Green's round, following on the heels of a first-round 64, was the lowest of her career and gave her a 17-under total of 127.
But it was just one of the sizzling efforts at Edgewater Country Club, where Kim Sei-young posted a tournament record 10-under 61 for a share of second on 132. She was tied with fellow South Korean Park Sung-hyun, who carded a 65.
"I don't really feel like I've shot nine-under, I feel like I've maybe shot five or six -- which is nice," said Green, who made her first LPGA win a major title at the Women's PGA Championship in June.
It "means I'm probably not too nervous." Green made a strong start with birdies at the first and third -- and said she could easily have been three-under through the first three holes.
"I actually missed a short putt on two for birdie," she said. "But I just gave myself really good ...

Green seizes LPGA Portland lead with 63 as Kim chases with 61

Dominik Koepfer arrived at the US Open with just two career tour-level wins, but the German has eclipsed that total in New York alone with his stunning run to the last 16.
Koepfer, 25, spent four years studying for a finance degree at Tulane University, in New Orleans, twice earning All-American honors as one of the nation's top collegiate tennis players.
This time a year ago Koepfer, currently 118th, was ranked outside the top 200 but his unexpected success at Flushing Meadows will easily propel him into the world's top 100, almost doubling his career prize money at the very least.
Koepfer, who turned professional in 2016, had pocketed USD 332,732 prior to the year's final Grand Slam but is guaranteed to collect a check for a minimum of USD 280,000 following Friday's 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1 win over Georgian 17th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
"It's obviously great to be here. Qualifying for the first time and playing it, winning three rounds now -- I didn't expect that, to be here two .

Late bloomer Koepfer in awe of 'unreal' US Open run

Serena Williams is usually playing in the matches that thrill her most, but she's going to join a host of fans in watching Saturday's US Open third round showdown between teen sensation Coco Gauff and top-ranked defending champion Naomi Osaka.
The blockbuster night matchup at Arthur Ashe Stadium pits 15-year-old American Gauff, who made a fourth-round Wimbledon run in her Grand Slam debut, against 21-year-old Japanese star Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion.
"I definitely think it's the future of women's tennis," Williams said.
"And I'm really excited to just be a fan girl and kind of watch."
Williams, the 37-year-old American chasing a 24th Grand Slam title to match Margaret Court's all-time record, sees them as the hottest young talents in the game.
"It will be a really interesting match. I think it's super exciting tennis," she said.
"Coco is much younger than Naomi, if you could say that, because Naomi is incredibly young."
Even world number one and defending ...

Serena excited for Coco-Osaka - 'future of women's tennis'

Top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic rolled into the US Open fourth round while Serena Williams and Roger Federer cruised into the last 16 and Kei Nishikori was eliminated.
Djokovic, champion in four of the past five Slams and 16 overall, was less bothered by left shoulder pain that nagged him in the second round in defeating 111th-ranked American Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Friday.
"That I managed to play almost pain-free, that's a big improvement from last match obviously," Djokovic said.
"I didn't know how my body would react. That was nice." Djokovic, who needed treatment throughout his second-round triumph, skipped practice Thursday in favour of shoulder treatment.
"I'm not going to go into the medical details," he said.
"But it definitely was bothering me in the past couple weeks."
The 32-year-old Serbian, a three-time US Open winner, booked a Sunday showdown with three-time Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss 23rd seed who eliminated Italian lucky loser Paolo Lorenzi .

Djokovic rolls on while Federer, Serena breeze at US Open

Virat Kohli's fighting 76 and opener Mayank Agarwal's half century guided India to 264 for five on the first day of their second World Championships Test against the West Indies here.
Put into bat on a tricky Sabina Park pitch, India were reduced to 46 for two in the opening session, but Kohli and Agarwal (55) worked hard to rebuild the innings with a 69-run stand for the third wicket.
Kohli had another 49-run partnership, with first Test centurion Ajinkya Rahane (24), for the fourth wicket as India picked up the scoring rate in the second session, which saw 85 runs being added from 29 overs.
But the two big wickets -- of Kohli and Rahane -- in the final session put the brakes on India just when the visiting team was beginning to consolidate. Captain Kohli faced 163 deliveries, hitting 10 boundaries.
At the draw of stumps, Rishabh Pant and Hanuma Vihari were batting on 27 and 42 respectively, having stitched 62 runs from 17.5 overs for the unfinished sixth wicket. A lot will depend on 

Kohli, Agarwal fifties prop up India despite Holder's burst

Hurricane Dorian strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" storm on Friday as it bore down on the Bahamas and the east coast of the US state of Florida.
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis urged residents of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago in the path of the "very powerful and potentially life-threatening hurricane" to seek safety.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Dorian, which is expected to make landfall in the Bahamas on Sunday and in Florida late Monday or Tuesday, "has strengthened to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane" on a five-level scale.
The storm has winds near 140 miles per hour (220 kilometers per hour), according to the NHC.
"A prolonged period of life-threatening storm surge and devastating hurricane-force winds are likely in portions of the northwestern Bahamas, where a hurricane warning is in effect," the NHC said.
Minnis, the Bahamas prime minister, told a press conference that the storm was life-threatening.
"Those who refuse to ...

Bahamas, Florida in path of 'dangerous' Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian powered toward Florida with increasing fury Friday, becoming an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm but leaving forecasters uncertain whether it would make a direct hit on the state's east coast or inflict a glancing blow.
The storm's winds rose to a howling 130 mph (215 kph) as Dorian gained new strength while crossing warm Atlantic waters. The hurricane could wallop the state with even higher winds and torrential rains late Monday or early Tuesday, with millions of people in the crosshairs, along with Walt Disney World and President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
Though Dorian is growing in intensity, some of the more reliable computer models predicted a late turn northward that would have Dorian hug the coast, the National Hurricane Center said.
"There is hope," Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters said.
The faint hope came on a day in which Dorian seemed to get scarier with each forecast update. And there were fears it could prove to be the .

Dorian becomes a Category 4 monster powering toward Florida

Attorneys asked a judge Friday to reject Trump administration plans to detain migrant families longer than they're currently permitted and to remove court oversight of how children are treated in government custody.
The lawyers want U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee to block the government from implementing the rules, saying prolonged detention causes life-long trauma and that children in government custody are sometimes held in deplorable conditions.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would issue new regulations on how migrant children are treated.
A legal settlement overseen by the federal courts and known widely as the Flores agreement requires the government to keep children in the least restrictive setting and to release them as quickly as possible, generally after 20 days in detention.
The new rules "would eviscerate the settlement's crucial protections for vulnerable children," the attorneys argue.
Homeland Security officials say they are adopting ...

Attorneys want judge to stop Trump plan on migrant families

An influential group of three lawmakers on Friday sought assurance from the Trump administration that it will make available to the Congress the full text of any agreement signed with the Taliban.
In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the three Congressmen also sought assurances that any deal signed would verifiably require the Taliban to break ties with all its terrorist allies, including in Pakistan, and that withdrawal of US troops will be conditioned on an agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
In the letter, the Congressmen -- Tom Malinowski, Mike Gallagher and Brad Sherman -- asked for written commitment that there will be no secret understandings or annexes with the Taliban that will not be share with the Congress.
"We believe that it is essential for the elected representatives of the American people to be able to review the exact language of any deal that is reached with the Taliban, given its profound implications for US national security," they ...

US lawmakers seek transparency in Afghan peace deal with Taliban

President Donald Trump's prized Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida could be directly in the path of Hurricane Dorian, which is forecast to become an extremely destructive storm.
The National Hurricane Center's most recent track for Dorian places Mar-a-Lago in the crosshairs of a possible Category 4 storm with winds of almost 140 mph (225 kph). The center's forecasters warn the hurricane poses a menace to millions, particularly along Florida's heavily populated eastern coast, though they say some of the more reliable computer models are predicting a turn northward that would have Dorian hug the coast, delivering a glancing blow to the state.
The resort, currently closed for the summer, is on the wealthy barrier island of Palm Beach. No activity could be seen there Friday afternoon and the Trump Organization did not return a call seeking comment.
On Friday, Trump was asked how concerned he was about the hurricane threat to his resort and responded: "Well, you know I haven't even thought about 

Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago resort in Hurricane Dorian's path

President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday that Europe has "nothing to teach" Brazil about preserving the environment, as the country aligns itself with the United States over fires raging in the Amazon rainforest.
The far-right leader's comments come as the latest official data show thousands of new fires were ignited across Brazil on Thursday -- the first day of a ban on burning -- with most of them in the Amazon basin.
Offers of international help to combat the worst fires in the Amazon in years have been made, but the issue has provoked accusations in Brazil that foreign countries -- particularly in Europe -- were trying to meddle in its affairs.
Brazil has found an ally in the United States where President Donald Trump praised Bolsonaro's handling of the crisis and offered US assistance.
After meeting Trump at the White House on Friday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said the two countries had similar views on the fires.
The talks were also attended by Bolsonaro's son and ...

Brazil's Bolsonaro fuels spat with Europe, fires soar

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers can now create fictitious social media accounts to monitor social media information on foreigners seeking visas, green cards and citizenship.
An updated Homeland Security Department review of potential privacy issues dated July 2019 that was posted online on Friday essentially reversed a prior ban on officers creating fake profiles.
A USCIS statement explaining the change says fake accounts and identities will make it easier for investigators to search for potential evidence of fraud or security concerns as they decide whether to allow someone entry into the U.S.
The change in policy was preceded by other steps taken by the State Department, which began requiring applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames this past June, a vast expansion of the Trump administration's enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
It's unclear exactly how the creation of fake social media accounts would work given ...

US to use fake social media to check people entering country

A woman tossed a lit Molotov cocktail into the lobby of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Oakland Park, Florida. But no major injuries were reported, according to a report of the incident sent to administration officials and viewed by The Associated Press.
The woman walked into the office Friday afternoon and hurled a bottle filled with gasoline and a lit fuse. But the fuse disconnected from the bottle and didn't ignite, according to the report. Law enforcement officials believe she intended to cause harm but the incident wasn't related to other incidents where Homeland Security agencies were targeted.
The incident comes amid federal investigators' growing concerns about attacks on immigration agencies during a time of heightened emotion and scrutiny. The issue remains a political powder keg for both Democrats and Republicans as Trump continues to push for major changes on his signature issue and tries to energize his base by delivering on campaign ...

Woman tosses Molotov cocktail into Florida Citizenship office

US President Donald Trump said Friday that new tariffs on Chinese goods will kick in on Sunday and that his economic pressure is forcing Beijing to take a more moderate line in Hong Kong.
"They're on," Trump told reporters, two days before the levies on billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports are set to rise in the latest escalation of the trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
Trump also said that US economic pressure on China was responsible for preventing the authorities from carrying out a harsher crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong.
"Because of what I'm doing with trade that's really keeping down the temperature," he said at the White House.

Trump confirms latest China tariffs set for Sunday are 'on'

A 19-year-old New York City man accused of plotting a knife attack on behalf of the Islamic State group told undercover agents he wanted to record the bloodshed on video in hopes of inspiring others to commit attacks, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Awais Chudhary was arrested Thursday as he tried to pick up a tactical knife, mask and cellphone rigging that he had ordered online as his plot escalated quickly from the planning states to the verge of being carried out, prosecutors said.
The arrest "almost certainly saved lives," Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.
Chudhary, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan and living in Queens, was arraigned Friday and order jailed without bail on federal charges of attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
A message seeking comment was left with a public defender appointed to represent Chudhary, who is due back in court Sept. 13.
The New York Police Department ..

Pak-origin man plotted NYC knife attack in name of Islamic State: US Officials

Try as he might, Jim Mattis can't seem to hide his real feelings about Donald Trump - that the president is leading the world's most powerful nation down a dangerously wrong path.
Mattis, the retired Marine general who resigned as defense secretary last December in a military policy dispute with Trump, says he owes the nation public silence while his former boss remains in office. Yet the comments Mattis is making as he promotes his new book suggest a strong, if implicit, message: Trump's leadership is diminishing America.
From the day he accepted Trump's offer to lead the Pentagon, Mattis knew his views didn't align entirely with those of the president-elect, particularly on what Mattis considers a central pillar of American global power and influence: respect for allies. Trump often denigrates allies, calling them ingrates and freeloaders.
Mattis, who spent more than four decades in the Marines, is a former NATO supreme allied commander. Strengthening alliances was No. 2 on his list 

Though comments veiled, Mattis repudiates former boss Trump

Hurricane Dorian powered toward Florida with increasing fury Friday  but also indications that it might just skirt the U.S. coastline and spare it from the devastating direct hit that forecasters have been fearing for days.
Forecasters warned that no one is out of danger and Dorian can still wallop the state with "extremely dangerous" 140 mph (225 kph) winds and torrential rains late Monday or early Tuesday, with millions of people in the crosshairs along with Walt Disney World and President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
But some of the more reliable computer models predicted a turn northward that would have Dorian hug the coast, delivering a glancing blow, the National Hurricane Center said.
"We could still be talking about a notable loss but nothing remotely close to if we had a direct hit," said meteorologist Steve Bowen, global head of catastrophe insights for the reinsurance firm Aon.
The faint, encouraging signs came at the end of a day in which Dorian seemed to get scarier .

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