Author: chicagoinquirer

by Howard Fendrich NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic did not go easy on himself when assessing the listless way he performed from the start of the U.S. Open, pointing to his sloppy serving as the main reason the defense of his 2023 title surprisingly ended in the third round. “I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly,” Djokovic said, just after midnight as Friday turned to Saturday. “Serving — by far — the worst ever.” With 14 double-faults, raising his tournament total to 32, Djokovic bowed out with a 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 loss to…

NEW YORK — Coco Gauff was not aware that she’d lost five consecutive matches against opponents ranked in the top 50. She was not sure exactly how many points in a row she’d dropped — 11, it turns out — to give away the first set against Elina Svitolina in the U.S. Open’s third round on Friday. Here, then, is what was entirely clear to Gauff at that moment: “I needed a reset.” So before the second set, the 20-year-old from Florida went to the bathroom, changed part of her outfit and splashed water on her face. Then Gauff went…

by Barbara Ortutay, Gabriela SA Pessoa and David Biller SAO PAULO — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of his decision. The move further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established…

WARSAW, Poland — Six Polish students and a lecturer from the Warsaw University who were detained in Nigeria during protests there have been released, the Polish foreign ministry said Wednesday. They are in good health and will be returning home this week. The ministry’s spokesman, Pawel Wronski, said the seven Polish citizens have had their passports, laptops and belongings returned and were staying at the university campus in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, waiting for the trip back. The seven were in northern Nigeria to take part in a program to study the Hausa language. They were detained earlier…

by Tara Corp and Adriana Gomez Licon WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s campaign was warned about not taking photographs before an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter concerning Monday’s events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source with knowledge of the incident, that two Trump campaign staff members “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them…

by Adriana Gomez Licon Vice President Kamala Harris is sitting down with CNN this week for her first interview since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid. The Democratic presidential nominee will be joined by her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in an interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash in Savannah, Georgia. The interview will air Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Harris’ lack of access has become one of Republicans’ key lines of attacks against her as she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden’s July 21 announcement. The CNN interview may be an opportunity…

by Eric Tucker and Alan Durbin Richer WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment Tuesday against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents. The new indictment removes a section of the indictment that had accused Trump of trying to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to overturn his election loss, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion last month, said…

by Melanie Lidman JERUSALEM — Israeli forces rescued a hostage found alone underground in Gaza on Tuesday, freeing a living captive from Hamas’ vast tunnel network for the first time since the Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war. The 52-year-old Israeli man was taken to a hospital in Israel, where members of his large Bedouin Arab family gathered around his bedside in a joyful reunion. The rescue brought a rare moment of relief to Israelis after 10 months of war but also served as a painful reminder that dozens of hostages are still in captivity as international mediators try…

by Meg Kinnard More than 200 staffers for four previous Republican presidential nominees have endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris’ White House bid, cautioning that the notion of a second term for GOP nominee Donald Trump is “simply untenable” and “will hurt real, everyday people.” In an open letter, first written about on Monday by USA Today, 238 people who worked for former President George H.W. Bush, former President George W. Bush, former Arizona Sen. John McCain and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney call on their fellow “moderate Republicans and conservative independents” to join them in backing Harris and her running mate, Minnesota…

by Patrick Whittle A New Hampshire resident infected with the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus has died, state health authorities said. The Hampstead resident’s infection was the first in the state in a decade, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. The resident, whom the department only identified as an adult, had been hospitalized due to severe central nervous system symptoms, the department said. About a third of people who develop encephalitis from the virus die from the infections, and survivors can suffer lifelong mental and physical disabilities. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment available…