–With AAP.
1. “You’re a f*****g tool bro.” Nick Kyrgios faces suspension after launching an epic tirade on an umpire.
Nick Kyrgios has copped a heavy fine from the ATP and faces a possible suspension for verbally abusing the chair umpire during his second-round defeat to Karen Khachanov at the Cincinnati Masters.
The 24-year-old Australian won the opening set against his Russian opponent, despite foot and ankle issues, before unleashing a profanity-laced tirade at umpire Fergus Murphy, throwing his towel over a camera and forcing broadcasters of the US event to switch to an overhead view.
Kyrgios took umbrage with Murphy, who he has previous history with, over his monitoring of the shot clock and berated the Irishman for most of the match.
He became obsessed with the issue, repeatedly calling Murphy a “potato” and labelling him a “disgrace” and the “worst ref in the world”.
Murphy eventually responded by handing Kyrgios a point violation after Khachanov won the second-set tiebreaker to level the match, when the Canberran overstepped the mark by screaming out an obscenity.
Kyrgios then followed this up by asking for a toilet break. He took two racquets with him and smashed them in the players’ tunnel before returning to the court.
After a double-fault handed Khachanov the match and the players shook hands, Kyrgios told Murphy “you’re a f***ing tool bro” and appeared to spit in the direction of the umpire before he shunned the traditional handshake.
Kyrgios has been fined $US113,000 ($A167,000) by the ATP.
The fines included five charges of unsportsmanlike conduct totalling $US 85,000, $US 20,000 for verbal abuse, $US5,000 for audible obscenity and $US3,000 for leaving the court.
“The ATP is looking further into what happened during and immediately after the match to see if additional action is warranted under the Player Major Offense section of the code. That could result in an additional fine and/or suspension,” the game’s governing body said in a statement on Thursday.
Khachanov’s win means he will take on Frenchman Lucas Pouille in round three, who beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4 6-4.
Kyrgios’s Australian compatriot Alex de Minaur also bowed out of the Ohio tournament, losing 7-5 6-4 to Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
2. Fijian Prime Minister blasts Alan Jones’ comments against Jacinda Ardern.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has challenged radio shock jock Alan Jones to repeat remarks he made about the New Zealand leader to children on Tuvalu.
Jones on Thursday criticised New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern after she said “Australia has to answer to the Pacific” on climate change during the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu.
The Sydney radio host said Ms Ardern was a “joke” for preaching about climate change, claiming that New Zealand’s carbon dioxide had increased per capita more than Australia’s since 1990.
He said Australian prime minister Scott Morrison should “shove a sock down her throat”.
Mr Bainimarama took to Twitter to return serve to Jones, saying it was easy for the broadcaster to make such remarks from the comfort of a radio studio.
“The people of the Pacific, forced to abandon their homes due to climate change, don’t have that luxury,” he tweeted.
“Try saying that to a Tuvaluan child pleading for help.”
Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull liked Mr Bainimarama’s tweet.
“Well said Frank,” Mr Turnbull tweeted. “Jones should also apologise to @jacindaardern for his latest misogynistic rant.”
New Zealand is emerging as a strong ally with Fiji, with Mr Bainimarama also earlier tweeting about the benefits of having such an ally in tackling climate change.
“Together, we can save Tuvalu, the Pacific, and the world. Vinaka vakalevu (thank you) for the passion you bring to this fight.”
3. “There was no option.” Sydney lawyer comes forward as Sydney CBD attack’s ‘chair man’.
A mystery hero has reluctantly come forward after he was filmed using a cafe chair to distract the man accused of a stabbing rampage in Sydney’s CBD.
Lawyer John Bamford broke his silence to reveal he was the city worker dubbed “chair man” who approached 20-year-old Mert Ney before his arrest on Tuesday.
Ney is accused of killing 24-year-old Michaela Dunn in a Clarence Street apartment before allegedly stabbing 41-year old Linda Bo at the Hotel CBD. He’s yet to be charged.
Mr Bamford on Thursday said he was getting lunch when he saw a man emerge from the side of a building with a “knife raised”.
“I just grabbed the chair and, you know, went after him basically as best I could,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.
“I had to get rid of my papers that I had taken for lunch to read so I had to drop them on my cafe, but the guy knows me there so I didn’t worry about that.”
Mr Bamford said he had no option but to act and the public’s reaction to his bravery was “a bit over-egged”.
“What am I gonna do, go home and say I was there and I could have done something and backed away from it? I mean there was just, there was no option,” Mr Bamford said.
The lawyer also revealed he had a “little chat” with Ney. He said the 20-year-old claimed he had a bomb in his bag.
“(But) the zip was undone and it didn’t look like there was a bomb in there to me. He was just having me on.”
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has described the men who helped detain Ney as “the highest order of heroes”.
“They saved lives,” he said.
4. Philadelphia suspect in custody following standoff with police.
A suspect has been taken into custody after a seven-hour armed stand-off at a Philadelphia home in which six police officers were wounded in a barrage of bullets.
The gunman had barricaded himself inside the home as police urged him to surrender. Media reported he was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and several handguns.
Police moved in about five hours into the stand-off that began after the gunman opened fire on officers as they served a drugs warrant.
The suspect surrendered, hands held high in the air, local news broadcasts showed after midnight, and was taken into custody, police said.
SWAT teams were still securing the home after midnight, police spokesman Eric Gripp said. All six wounded officers had been released from hospital.
A SWAT team rescued two police officers and three civilians who were trapped in the house in the Nicetown-Tioga neighbourhood with the suspect, police said on Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing police sources, identified the suspected gunman as Maurice Hill, 36, a Philadelphia man with a history of gun, drugs and assault convictions.
Lawyer Shaka Mzee Johnson, who recently represented Hill, told a local CBS affiliate that Hill called him around 8.30pm on Wednesday, “in a panic”.
“I told him, ‘you gotta surrender man’,” Johnson told the news station.
The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported that police allowed Johnson to talk to Hill at the scene with a megaphone and telephone. He also approached the front door.
The incident followed deadly mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio, in which gunmen used semi-automatic rifles.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he was angry the gunman was able to amass such firepower.
“We’ve got to get these weapons out of people’s hands,” Kenney said after visiting wounded officers in hospital.
5. Autopsy finds Nora Quoirin likely died due to prolonged hunger and stress.
Malaysian authorities say an Irish-French girl whose body was found near a jungle stream had died from internal bleeding probably due to prolonged hunger and stress.
The remains of Nora Anne Quoirin, 15, who suffered from learning difficulties, were found on Tuesday, 10 days after she went missing from a rainforest resort in Seremban, about 70km south of the Malaysian capital.
Police said an autopsy on Wednesday showed Quoirin had suffered intestinal damage, and there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
There was also no evidence “for the time being” to indicate she was a victim of kidnapping, police said.