Lawyers for Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard on Friday accused US tennis officials of destroying video evidence that could shed light on her 2015 fall at the US Open.

A filing in New York by attorneys for Bouchard said the US Tennis Association had "knowingly and wilfully" destroyed security camera footage relevant to the case.

Bouchard withdrew from the US Open two years ago after sustaining a concussion during a locker-room fall.

The 23-year-old later sued the USTA, accusing the body of negligence, asserting that she slipped because the locker room floor had been cleaned with a "slippery, foreign and dangerous substance."

In a further filing related to the case on Friday, Bouchard's lawyers said the USTA had ignored a request to retain camera footage.

"(Bouchard) respectfully requests that the court find that defendants knowingly and wilfully destroyed security camera footage relevant to plaintiff's claims in this case, despite having been notified well in advance to preserve any such evidence," the Bouchard's attorney Benedict Morelli wrote.

The USTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bouchard exploded onto the women's circuit in 2014, making a memorable run to the final at Wimbledon where she lost to Petra Kvitova.

She also made the semi-finals of the Australian Open and French Open the same year. However her form tailed off in 2015 and she failed to go further than the third round in any of the four Grand Slam events in 2016. Bouchard is currently ranked 56th in the world. 

Ferrari dominated the third and final practice session of the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Saturday, with Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen setting sizzling timings in overcast conditions that left the rest of the pack trailing.

Friday had seen a severely-disrupted FP1 session come to a premature end and the bad news continued with FP2 as the entire session was called off with not even a single car making it out of the pitch.

As a result, a lot was riding in FP3, and Ferrari proved that Sebastian Vettel’s win in the season-opening Australian GP was no flash in the pan with both their drivers sending out a statement of intent.

While Hamilton was unlucky not to edge his teammate Bottas after a lock-up on Turn 14 prevented him from placing ahead of the Finn, the fact that he was not dominant in Practice at the Australian GP will give him hope he can turn things around in qualifying.
Initially, Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Lance Stroll (Williams) and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) had topped the leaderboard, but Ferrari wrested control just after the halfway mark via Kimi Raikkonen. And the 37-year-old was then beaten in turn by his teammate, Vettel, to complete a one-two for the Maranello-based Ferrari team.

Qualifying is in a few hours time, at 12.30 PM IST.

Force India’s drivers, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Ocon, were lagging behind, finishing in 13 and 17th place, respectively. McLaren’s struggles from Australian continued in the Far East, with neither Fernando Alonso or Stoffel Vandorme able to churn out a competitive time.

The top 10 drivers in FP3:
1. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
3. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
5. Felipe Massa Mercedes
6. Max Verstappen Red Bull
7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull
8. Lance Stroll Williams
9. Joylon Palmer Renault
10. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso

US President Donald Trump and a Spanish chef settled a legal battle over a scrapped deal to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

In a joint statement on Friday, the President's son Donald Jr., who manages the Trump Organisation, and the chef Jose Andres' company, ThinkFoodGroup (TFG), announced a "friendly" agreement after almost two years of legal disputes, but did not reveal the terms of the agreement, which they described as confidential, Efe news reported.

"I am pleased that we were able to resolve our differences and move forward cooperatively, as friends. I have great respect for the Trump Organization's commitment to excellence in redeveloping the Old Post Office (the historic building restored as Trump International Hotel in Washington)," Andres said.

"I am glad that we are able to put this matter behind us and move forward as friends," Donald Trump Jr. said.

The President and Andres have been in litigation since 2015, after it was agreed that the renowned chef would open a restaurant in the luxurious new hotel.

However, the chef pulled out of the deal after the billionaire in June 2015, while seeking the Republican presidential nomination, referred to Mexican immigrants as "drug dealers and rapists", which the attorneys of Andres said would make it impossible for him to hire Hispanic staff or attract community patrons.

The magnate filed suit against Andres for $10 million for breaking the contract and causing him losses and damages worth millions of dollars.

The Spanish chef filed a countersuit for $8 million for the costs of developing the restaurant.

Supermodel Bella Hadid has unfollowed her fomer beau The Weeknd on Instagram.

She was reportedly waiting for a quiet moment and trying to unfollow the Starboy crooner, though fans were quick to notice her action, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The fact that Hadid decided to unfollow The Weeknd came after the Canadian heartthrob and his current girlfriend Selena Gomez both unfollowed Hadid, who had posted a slew of her photos in bikini, on March 23. 

The following and unfollowing game got messy when many people in the False Alarm crooner's crew allegedly gave Hadid a cold shoulder by unfollowing her on Instagram. 

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who was involved in a row with Air India, arrived here by train and would be meeting party president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday.

Air India had yesterday lifted the flying ban on him after he expressed regret for assaulting one of its employees on March 23.

Gaikwad, who arrived by the Rajdhani Express from Delhi this morning, would be meeting the Sena president at the latter's residence Matoshri in suburban Bandra later today.

"I will be meeting Uddhavji around noon today," Gaikwad told PTI.

The lawmaker boarded the train from Delhi last evening hours after the flying ban was lifted by the national carrier following a letter by the Osmanabad MP to the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday expressing "regret" over the "unfortunate incident".

The revocation of the ban came despite two AI unions of the cabin crew and pilots protesting the move to lift the restrictions imposed on the air travel of the MP.

However, an AI spokesman had said, "Air India is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and, therefore, an apology to the ministry is akin to an apology to the airline and our employees." 

The 56-year-old Parliamentarian had assaulted AI employee R Sukumar on March 23 after he landed in Delhi on a Pune-Delhi all-economy flight.

The strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed on Saturday for the fourth consecutive day due to fresh landslides in Ramban district of Jammu region.

"Due to fresh landslides at some places and shooting stones triggered by rain, it has been decided that no traffic will be allowed to move on the highway today (Sunday)," traffic department officials said here.

The highway serves as the lifeline of supplies to the landlocked Kashmir Valley.

The 10.89 km long Nashri-Chenani tunnel inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2 has by-passed the snowy stretch of Batote-Patnitop-Kud reducing the distance by 31 km on the highway.

Yet the 38 km long stretch between Ramban and Bannihal town remains the most vulnerable and landslide prone part of the highway.

Pep Guardiola has vowed to bounce back from his worst campaign in management after admitting he was taught a lesson in his first season with Manchester City.

Guardiola was head-hunted by City's wealthy Abu Dhabi owners following brilliant spells with Barcelona, where he won the Champions League twice, and Bayern Munich, where he completed a hat-trick of Bundesliga title wins.

However, his debut season in the Premier League has hardly gone to plan.

Wednesday's 2-1 defeat at leaders Chelsea extinguished any hope of a late title challenge, as well as bringing Guardiola a sixth league defeat in one season for the first time.

The Spaniard now faces a challenge to claim second place ahead of Tottenham and Liverpool, or he will forfeit his record of never having finished outside the first two as a manager.

Guardiola must also lift the FA Cup if he is not to complete a campaign empty-handed for the first time.

All this in a season that saw Guardiola's team exit the Champions League at the hands of Monaco before the quarter-finals, another new low for the City boss, particularly in the competition that has become the Holy Grail for City's ambitious owners.

"I will be better, definitely. This season was a lesson for me," said Guardiola, whose side meet struggling Hull at Eastlands on Saturday.

"It's normal when you have seven, eight or nine years as a manager to have a season where you don't have as much success as before. It can happen. You learn from that, you don't regret that.

"I never could imagine in Barcelona, Bayern or when I arrived here knowing absolutely everything. I tried to adapt the players as much as possible. I did it and I think we will be better. It's a more interesting year for me as a manager to grow and handle this kind of situation."

"I didn't complain, I didn't give up. We have a lot of beautiful things left to fight for this season."

City are fourth in the table, four points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United, who both have a game in hand, but crucially seven points adrift of Tottenham in second place, which is Guardiola's target.

They will meet Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on April 23.

Guardiola, who acknowledges that rejuvenated Hull are formidable rivals as City bid to end a run of four League games without a victory, admitted he knew as long ago as August that he had problems.

"I knew in the first Champions League game against Steaua Bucharest when we won 6-0. Normally, that game would be 12-0.

We missed two penalties and so many chances," he said.

"I was happy because the first target was to qualify, but after that, and the Everton and Middlesbrough games (both 1-1 at home), I realised we had to play really, really well to win the games."

The Income Tax searches held at the premises of an associate of Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar has revealed routing of Rs.89 crore for “distribution to voters” in RK Nagar assembly constituency which goes to bypoll on April 12.

According to sources, documents seized during searches at the premises of an accountant of the Minister showed details of Rs 89 crore and the money being channeled to RK Nagar through party functionaries.

The amount was channeled through many party functionaries for distribution to voters, the sources said.

“We even found the names of some partymen who are also Ministers,” an official said, adding, copies of voters list with entries like which voter should be paid what was recovered during searches at the MLA hostel premises.

Meanwhile, searches that began yesterday has ended in most of the total 50 locations.

Tasks like recording of statements however continues, they said.

Jose Mourinho has accused Manchester United of lacking a killer instinct after another week of misfiring performances at Old Trafford, saying players are "not in love with the goal".

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 35, is United's 27-goal top scorer of which 16 have been in the Premier League.

No other United player has managed double figures in the league, with Juan Mata on six, Paul Pogba on four and Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on three each.

Mourinho's side travel to bottom club Sunderland on Sunday on a 20-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.

But 10 of those games have been drawn and seven teams have scored more than their tally of 43 goals this season.

United's attacking problems were laid bare in this week's goalless stalemate with West Bromwich Albion and 1-1 draw against Everton.

"We have some players that are not really players in love with the goal," Mourinho said.

"They are good players and they are creative players, but naturally they're not the kind of guy that's a killer."

Javier Hernandez was sold by Mourinho's predecessor Louis van Gaal to Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 and the United boss believes the 28-year-old is the kind of cold-blooded forward his team needs.

"The way we dominate opponents in the box at Old Trafford, I think 'Chicharito' (Hernandez) would have 20 goals easily, even coming from the bench for the last 10 or 20 minutes," Mourinho said.

"He's the guy that when the ball goes here, rebound there, if the goalkeeper saves it, boom — goal, or if the cross is coming, he anticipates the first-post header — goal.

"We create a lot but we don't score enough goals for the way we play and the teams that come to Old Trafford know that and they defend. Zlatan's number of goals is a target for every striker. I think for all the others, no one has reached that level." 

– Phenomenal – 

==============

Mourinho believes United's other attack-minded players have been unlucky in front of goal.

"The number of times Paul Pogba hit the posts are almost Guinness Book of Records," he said. "It's not a problem of quality at all, it's luck.

"Many goalkeepers become phenomenal at Old Trafford, so give credit to the goalkeepers."

Mourinho has handed chief executive Ed Woodward a list of four strikers he would want as first choices, along with a list of four 'second picks' for the close-season.

"Are we going to buy a striker? Maybe. But we believe in Marcus (Rashford), no doubt," he added.

Meanwhile, Mourinho admits United couldn't have kept Jesse Lingard had they not agreed to pay him £100,000-a-week.

United offered the 24-year-old England international a new deal to 2021 despite him only being a squad player, with just 12 Premier League appearances this season.

"First of all, if you don't pay, they go," said Mourinho.

"We can be criticised for paying so much, but we'd also be criticised if we lost a young English player made in the academy. So the club and the player tried to find a situation that makes everyone happy."

The lucrative nature of the contract to a player who has only 32 league starts for the club in total has led to questions asking if players can retain their hunger on such riches.

"I know what people mean. One of Manchester United's great players was telling me the other day that he was rich in the end of his career and now these kids are rich when they start their career," Mourinho said.

"So it's hard and they need to be lucky to be surrounded by the right people. If they accept that financial situation in the right way, that financial situation gives stability, it gives comfort."

"Comfort gives you better conditions to become a top professional player, so it's just a question of using that financial situation in the right way."

Jelena Ostapenko decided to put Charleston on her schedule this year for the first time. It likely won't be the last time.

The 19-year-old Latvian upset Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 on Friday night to reach the semifinals at the Volvo Car Open.

That's heady stuff against a player that had reached the quarterfinals or better at 11 of her last 14 events. If Wozniacki had made the semifinals, she was projected to return to the WTA top 10 when the new rankings are released Monday.

"Yeah, it feels amazing," Ostapenko said. "I just knew before the match that I have to stay aggressive all the time and still be consistent. And I tried not to step back, just to be like play in the court all the shots. And I think that's helped me today."

Ostapenko converted 22 of 30 first serves (73 percent) and saved four of five break points against Wozniacki, who was the highest remaining seed in the tournament.

Wozniacki had won two matches on a windy Thursday after her second-round match was rained out Wednesday night, forcing her into double duty, and was the lone former champ left in the draw.

"I really tried my best out there," the Danish star said.

"I was trying to grind everything down. I tried to change the pace when I had the opportunity, but I mean, if she played like this every day, then I mean she would be No. 1 in the world.

"You know, she really played well. She went for her shots. Everything was going in. She was hitting the lines.

Everything that could go her way today was going her way."

In other quarterfinal action on the green clay at Daniel Island, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia beat hometown favourite Shelby Rogers in three sets.

The 35-year-old Lucic-Baroni, the oldest player left in the draw, rallied after a tough first set to win 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-1 and spoil the day for all those fans.

"It was beautiful in a way," said Lucic-Baroni, who had never been past the round of 16 at Charleston. "It was difficult playing against the crowd, because Shelby is from here. It's normal. It's always tough, but I felt they were very respectful. They were cheering for their home girl, and it's totally normal."

After losing the first-set tiebreaker, the hard-hitting Lucic-Baroni refused to fold and shut down Rogers in the final two sets. Rogers did not manage to get to a break opportunity and was broken five times in a row in a match that lasted two hours, 13 minutes.

"I was just trying to fight for every point," Rogers said. "I wish I could have kept it up."

In the other matches, Daria Kasatkina of Russia topped Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 6-1, and Laura Siegemund of Germany beat Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-4.

In Saturday's semi-finals, Siegemund will play Kasatkina, and Lucic-Baroni goes against Ostapenko.

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia on Friday unveiled the first look of her upcoming Tamil film Sketch which also stars Vikram in the lead.

Tamannaah shared the film's poster via her Twitter page.

Being directed by Vijay Chandar, the film is currently being shot and its story is set against the backdrop of North Chennai.

The film brings Vikram and Tamannaah together for the first time.

Two posters were released on Friday. The first one features Vikram while the second one features the lead pair.

Actress Sandra Bullock was spotted with her beau Bryan Randall stepping out arm-in-arm during their visit to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a private family getaway.

In photos obtained by eonline.com, the couple was spotted enjoying a trip to Whole Foods where they walked arm-in-arm to their car. 

The actress kept things casual with ripped denim jeans, a plaid jacket and black Ugg boots. As for Randall, he wore three layers and a beanie.

During their outing, the couple also headed to Teton Toys.

"They seemed very normal. It was just a normal, happy day," a source said.

"They were both smiling and having a good time."

According to eonline.com, the couple bought a pink PlasmaCar before leaving the local store.

"It was obvious Sandra is completely happy with Bryan and he was just like a dad to the kids," another sourece said.

"He and Sandra were very touchy and were always holding hands or arm-in-arm. It was so touching to see Bryan with Laila and Louis (Bullock's children). They're all very close and so comfortable with each other."

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response of six states, including Rajasthan, on a plea seeking a ban on cow vigilante groups there.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar issued notices to Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh and asked them to file their reply within three weeks.

The bench has fixed the matter for hearing on May 3.

During the brief hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioner referred to the recent incident at Alwar in Rajasthan where a man was killed allegedly by a mob of cow vigilante group.

The counsel claimed that the ground-level situation in these states was worrisome as the cow vigilante groups were resorting to violence there.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that formal notices were not issued to the states on the plea after which the apex court sought response from these six states.

The Supreme Court had on October 21, last year agreed to examine the plea which sought action against cow vigilantes who were allegedly indulging in violence and committing atrocities against Dalits and minorities.

Activist Tehseen S Poonawalla, in his plea, said violence committed by these 'Gau Raksha' groups have reached to such proportions that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared them as people who are "destroying the society".

The plea also alleged that these groups were committing atrocities against Dalits and minorities in the name of protection of cows and other bovines and they needed to be "regulated and banned in the interest of social harmony, public morality and law and order in the country".

"The menace caused by the so-called cow protection groups is spreading fast to every nook and corner of the country and is creating disharmony among various communities and castes," the petition said.

The plea sought to declare as "unconstitutional" section 12 of the Gujarat Animal Prevention Act, 1954, Section 13 of Maharashtra Animal Prevention Act, 1976, and Section 15 of Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964, which provide for protection of persons acting in good faith under the Act or rules.

"These laws and the protection granted therewith act as a catalyst to violence perpetrated by these vigilante groups," it said.

Seeking action against the vigilantes, the petition said the atrocities committed by them were punishable under various provisions of IPC and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Friday presented the first copy of his book 'The Flaming Tresses of Draupadi' to President Pranab Mukherjee.

Speaking about the book at a function organised at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee said the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have had a profound influence on the Indian minds and thought process and in both the cases the central theme of these epics have been on women.

Mukejree said he has known Moily for over five decades, starting from he being Karnataka in-charge of the Congress in the 1970s and then as ministers in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.

Forty passengers have survived the vessel collision in a Myanmar river that killed 20, police said on Saturday.

Twenty passengers including three children were killed when two vessels collided in Pathein on Friday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pathein Water Transport Police said 40 out of the 60 aboard the vessel Ngwe Kyal Pwint that collided with a stone-loaded ship near Taman Creek at 8 pm have been rescued.

The accident was initially reported to have been caused by a lighthouse glitch. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday pledged to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and to manage their differences based on mutual respect.

The two leaders also agreed that their first meeting, held at the seaside Mar-a-Lago resort in the US state of Florida, was "positive and fruitful", Xinhua news agency reported.

During their talks, Xi and Trump exchanged their views on key areas of bilateral cooperation as well as global and regional issues of common concern.

Xi said his first meeting with the US leader bears unique importance to the development of China-US ties.

He added that they have also gained better understanding of each other, stepped up their mutual trust, scored multiple major consensus, and built up a good working relationship.

"The two sides need to further enhance their relationship so as to better serve the two countries and their peoples, and to promote world peace and prosperity," Xi was quoted as saying.

Ahead of the two presidents' second round of talks, senior Chinese and US officials initiated two newly-installed dialogue mechanisms in economy, as well as diplomacy and security.

Promising tennis players Ramkumar Ramnathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran won their respective singles matches to give India a 2-0 lead against Uzbekistan in the second round Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Davis Cup tie here at the KSLTA Tennis Stadium on Friday.

Ramnathan outplayed Temur Ismailov 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 while Gunneswaran prevailed over Fayziev 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

In the second tie between Gunneswaran and Fayziev, both players started on a positive note but soon Fayziev, who was called into the Uzbekistan side as a replacement for their star player Denis Istomin, took the upper hand. Unperturbed by the situation, Gunneswaran maintained his calm and played his natural game as a result the Indian bounced back to clinch the first set 7-5.

The second set saw a intense fightback from Fayziev. As at one point he was leading by 4-1 and giving the Indian player all hard times at the court. Gunneswaran, however, tried to match the pace set by Fayziev as he won two consecutive games to make it 3-5 but failed to outplay his opponent completely and as a result the latter clinched the set 3-6 in 26 minutes and equalised the score.

In the third set, Fayziev started strongly by winning first two games. At one point the left-handed Indian player was trailing 1-3 but soon Gunneswaran made 3-3 and then took a 4-3 lead with some attacking game and swift court movements.

Gunneswaran continued his pace and form and prevailed over his opponent with ease to clinch the third set 6-3. 

The Indian player started the fourth set positively. Gunneswaran showed his skills and temperament to outplay his opponent 6-4 to seal the deal for his country. Fayziev, however, tried to slow down the things but it was too late as the Indian player was totally dominating the things.

Earlier in the first match, Ramkumar Ramanathan helped India get off to a winning start with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 triumph over Temur Ismailov. 

Ramanathan, who recorded his third straight win after two consecutive victories against New Zealand in February during the first round, won the first match in three hours and 30 minutes.

"You always feel the pressure playing at home. But it's always advantageous. As you saw in the match, it came down to belief and who was willing to take that extra step. So I think I raised my game up and with all the crowd…yeah, it helped my game," Ramanathan said after the match.

Ramanathan won the first set easily with Ismailov trying to find his feet in alien conditions with the sweltering afternoon heat taking a toll on the 22-year-old. But at 4-3 in the second set, the Uzbek made a comeback stretching Ramanathan all the way to finally draw level at 1-1.

"I need to work on my serve still," said Ramanathan, who hit 16 aces but was also guilty of a lot of double faults, especially in the second set where he made seven of them. The ploy was to drain out the visitor by playing long rallies. Ramanathan used his cross-court forehand to good use as well coupled with his big serves.

After taking a 2-1 lead, Ismailov was pushed to the corner as Ramanathan looked to seal the tie in the fourth set. But the 406-ranked player refused to throw in the towel by not letting Ramanathan run away with the game at any stage during the fourth set. 

But in the end, the Chennai-based player held fort with a serve and volley winner to put India in the driver's seat.