Section: Saudi Arabia
Nadal through to 99th career final
DOHA — Rafael Nadal served his way to his first final of 2016 — and the 99th of his career — at the Qatar Open Friday, beating Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko in straight sets. The Spaniard, who endured a miserable 2015, showed he could be returning to his best with his most impressive performance of the week, winning 6-3, 6-4 in little over an...
Federer makes semifinals
BRISBANE — Roger Federer overcame a lingering sickness to hold off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 Friday and take his title defense into the semifinals at the Brisbane International. Another former winner, the unseeded Victoria Azarenka, moved into the women’s final by seeing off US qualifier Samantha Crawford 6-0, 6-3. After the...
Nadal reaches semis in Doha
DOHA — A pumped-up Rafael Nadal qualified for the semifinals of the Qatar Open Thursday, battling to a three-set victory over Andrey Kuznetsov in the match of the tournament so far. Nadal won 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in just over two hours and was made to work for his victory by the Russian, ranked No. 79 in the world, in a contest which delighted the...
Federer makes solid start
BRISBANE — Roger Federer recalled the celebrations and the festive atmosphere of his 1,000th match victory on tour as soon as he returned to the Brisbane International to fine-tune his preparations for the Australian Open. He achieved the milestone in the final here last year, when he beat Milos Raonic and shared the podium with some of the...
Fragile Five economies now less so; risks rise for GCC
LONDON — Emerging economies not long ago deemed at risk of crisis are seeing steady balance of payments improvements, while for oil exporters in the Gulf and elsewhere once-mighty cash surpluses have all but melted away. The so-called taper tantrum of mid-2013 unleashed a wave of selling of assets from developing countries whose big funding or...
Russia-Turkey war of words escalates
Moscow — Moscow slapped sanctions on Ankara on Friday as the war of words over a downed Russian warplane escalated, with Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning Russia not to “play with fire.” Russia announced it was halting a visa-free regime for Turkish visitors, after threatening a raft of retaliatory economic measures to punish the...
France says Russia open to cooperation in fight against Daesh in Syria
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday that Russia was sincere in wanting to cooperate in the fight against the Daesh group in Syria. “There is an opening, so to speak, with the Russians. We think they are sincere and we must bring together all our forces,” Fabius told France Inter radio. Relations between France and Russia...
Shootout in northern Paris as police hunt attackers
PARIS — Shooting broke out in northern Paris on Wednesday during a dawn raid by police hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago, sources said. Several police were wounded in the anti-terrorism raid, said a source close to the operation, which began before dawn in the suburb of Saint Denis. Police...
Beware the bear
When the G20 states met last year in Australia, Russian President Vladimir Putin walked out early because of the unrelenting criticism of his seizure of the Ukraine, the first military annexation of territory in Europe since Hitler’s Nazi German expansion. This year in Turkey it has been so very different. Putin has been the center of...
Sweden, Ukraine take 1st leg lead
PARIS — European football paid tribute to the victims of attacks in Euro 2016 host France during Saturday’s qualifying play-offs which saw Sweden edge Denmark 2-1 and Ukraine beat Slovenia 2-0 in first leg ties. A minute’s silence was observed before Saturday’s games for victims of the Paris attacks Friday, one of which was...
