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East Bengal's Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta: Cannot say we will play ISL with confidence

When Dasgupta slammed ISL as a 'masala league', Mohun Bagan's Debasish Dutta hit back saying 'grapes are sour'...





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French players called to go on strike if Ligue 1 not expanded to 22 teams next season

Former Toulouse manager Antoine Kombouare said there should be direct action after the French top division was called to a premature halt





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Imagine if we beat Kaizer Chiefs twice in those two matches - Bidvest Wits' Alexander eyes PSL title

The experienced midfielder believes they can clinch the title right under the noses of favourites Amakhosi and Masandawana





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Football Icons - Dennis Bergkamp




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Tesla sues California county in virus factory closure fight, threatens to leave

Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.




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China central bank signals more policy measures to support virus-ravaged economy

China's central bank said on Sunday it will step up counter-cyclical adjustments to support the economy and make monetary policy more flexible to fend off financial risks.




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As world shelters, scientists raise alarm on another threat: An active hurricane season

The season officially begins June 1, but some meteorologists who have been tracking ocean and atmospheric dynamics over the past few months say conditions are ripe for storms.





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Ominous trend in American West could signal a looming "megadrought"

"The persistence of the drought conditions, in the Colorado River basin especially, is essentially unprecedented in human history," John Fleck, author of "Water is for Fighting Over," said.





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B.C. in for 'unusual' summer where connections must expand without letting virus take hold, says top doctor

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 15 new coronavirus cases in the province on Saturday, bringing the current total to 2,330.



  • News/Canada/British Columbia

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Asymptomatic testing centre set up in Alberta city as 7% of the population tests positive for COVID-19

Provincial health officials will open a second centre to test for COVID-19 in the southern Alberta city of Brooks, as an outbreak connected to a nearby slaughterhouse continues to grow.



  • News/Canada/Calgary

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The day police bombed a city street: can scars of 1985 Move atrocity be healed?

Eleven people, including five children, died and a Philadelphia neighborhood burned down in the airstrike against a black liberation group. Now an effort at reconciliation is under way

Frank Powell, a Philadelphia police officer who in 1985 was chief of the city’s bomb disposal squad, remembers vividly the moment he was given his instructions. “Wow,” he recalls thinking. “You want me to do that?”

On 13 May 1985 Powell was handed an army-style green satchel containing a bomb made of C-4 plastic explosives of the sort widely deployed in Vietnam. He boarded a state police helicopter, and took up his position balanced precariously on the skids of the aircraft.

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Chocolate with a Latin American twist | Annalisa Barbieri

These Argentinian alfajores might just be the best chocolate treat you have not yet heard of

Tasting your first alfajor may be a defining moment. Mine was in my kitchen, on a lockdown Sunday in April. I cut it in half, and offered half to my eldest, who declined it before changing her mind when she heard the noises I started to emit.

Alfajores (pronounced al-fa-ho-res) are traditional Latin American treats, often sold in kiosks, and are usually two soft biscuits around dulce de leche and coated in chocolate; veritably God’s own creation.

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Could lockdown herald an exciting new chapter for the book trade?

The pandemic has thrown publishing and booksellers into crisis – and left customers struggling to obtain books when they most want them. But some in the industry sense an opportunity to drag it into the 21st century

On 18 March, Emma Corfield-Walters received the news that for the second year running, her shop, Book-ish, in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, had landed the title for Wales in the regional round of the independent bookshop of the year award. Corfield-Walters has run Book-ish for 10 years. It has 16 staff and a cafe, is the base for a literary festival that she also organises, and is credited with having played a major part in the regeneration of Crickhowell’s award-winning high street. Above all, it is a highly successful business: 2019 was a record year. The fact that it would now again be a contender for the overall prize – to be announced in June at the British book awards – was for Corfield-Walters a hard-earned affirmation of a decade’s passion and work.

But she was hardly celebrating. Britain was then five days from lockdown. “It was surreal,” she says. “We’d won best bookshop in Wales, yet I wasn’t sure for how much longer I’d have a shop that people could visit. It was like that scene in Star Wars when the walls are moving in, and the room’s getting smaller and smaller. The goalposts were shifting every day. At first, we thought: OK, we’ll buy hand sanitiser! But by the weekend, it was clear the shop would have to close.” Her first thought was for her staff, who are “like family” to her; the government’s subsequent announcement of its furlough scheme came as a huge relief. But there was also the question of her stock, and how she might keep selling it. Suddenly, the Book-ish website, hitherto used only to sell event tickets and signed copies, came into its own: “On the Saturday before lockdown began, we managed to get all 6,000 titles from the shop on to our website.”

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One dead after fire breaks out at Moscow coronavirus hospital

One person was killed after a fire broke out on Saturday at a Moscow hospital treating patients infected with the new coronavirus, the authorities said.




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China 'shocked' by U.S. reversal on U.N. coronavirus action: diplomat 

China and the United States both supported a draft United Nations Security Council resolution confronting the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday and it was "shocking and regretful" that Washington changed its mind on Friday, a Chinese diplomat said.




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Hospitals treating COVID-19 in Mexican capital quickly filling up

Coronavirus patients were being turned away from hospitals in the Mexican capital on Saturday, as both public and private medical facilities quickly fill up and the number of new infections continues to rise.




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Malaysia extends curbs on movement, businesses to June 9

Malaysia's government extended the time frame for movement and business curbs by another four weeks to June 9, amid a gradual reopening of economic activity stunted by the coronavirus pandemic.




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Singapore reports 876 new coronavirus cases, taking total to 23,336

Singapore registered 876 new coronavirus infections, its health ministry said on Sunday, taking the city-state's total to 23,336 cases.




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Australia's biggest state to ease coronavirus lockdown from May 15

Australia's most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales state's premier said on Sunday.




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Lifting COVID-19 restrictions too soon could endanger vulnerable communities: officials

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he is "very worried" about residents of Montreal, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, where the province is preparing to loosen confinement measures despite a rash of fatal outbreaks at nursing homes.




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Coronavirus: New research underway to screen for stress, burnout in Nova Scotia health-care workers

The idea is to identify the problem of burnout early and stop it before it happens.




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China ‘shocked’ by U.S. reversal on U.N. coronavirus resolution: Chinese diplomat

For more than six weeks the 15-member council has been trying to agree on a text that ultimately aims to back a March 23 call by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres for a ceasefire in global conflicts so the world can focus on the pandemic.





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Final decision on Ontario school year coming next week: Ford

Premier Doug Ford says that an announcement will be made next week on whether or not Ontario students will be able to return to the classroom this school year.




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Projections show COVID-19 deaths could soar if confinement lifted in Montreal

Quebec's public health institute says deaths could spike in the greater Montreal area if physical distancing measures designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.







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Alex Morgan becomes U.S. national team's newest soccer mom

Alex Morgan, who helped the United States women's soccer team to World Cup and Olympic titles, has become the newest mom in the national squad after giving birth to her first child.




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Georges St-Pierre headed to the UFC Hall of Fame

Canadian Georges St-Pierre, who ruled the UFC welterweight division before putting a bow on a glittering career by winning the middleweight title in his final outing, is headed to the UFC Hall of Fame.




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Canadians who work on two cruise ships are being allowed off in U.S. ports

Canadians working aboard two cruise ships who weren't allowed to come to shore because of concerns about COVID-19 are finally able to return home. Princess Cruises said in an emailed statement that 19 Canadians on the Koningsdam disembarked in Los Angeles on Friday, and that they would be flown




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Violence against Indigenous women during COVID-19 sparks calls for MMIWG plan

OTTAWA - With reports of a sharp rise in violence against Indigenous women as COVID-19 restrictions keep families stuck in their homes, concerns are being raised about whether the pandemic could delay the promised June delivery of a national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous




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Physical distancing upending Mother's Day tradition

A lot of moms across Canada will be missing their hugs and kisses this Mother's Day because of physical distancing rules and guidelines. The COVID-19 pandemic will make this year's celebration of mothers unlike any other for most people, but especially those in long-term care facilities, barred...




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How Florence Nightingale used mathematics to improve health care

Born 200 years ago on May 12, she's famous for her work in nursing, but was an accomplished medical statistician as well.



  • Radio/Quirks & Quarks

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How might lockdown differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Boris Johnson's announcement on how the UK will take its first steps out of lockdown is just hours away, but the Prime Minister's authority is not absolute across the country.




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Government launches £2 billion bid to turn England into nation of cyclists and walkers to reduce spread of coronavirus on public transport

England's commuters will need to walk, cycle and even scoot more as ongoing social distancing will force them to seek alternative forms of transport, the Government has announced.




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Motorist caught driving hundreds of miles to deliver puppy from Liverpool to Wales

A driver has been given a warning by police after breaching lockdown restrictions to transport a puppy to the other side of the country.




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Prince Harry says life has 'changed dramatically' as he pays tribute to healthcare workers in Invictus Games video message

The Duke of Sussex has reflected on how "dramatically" life has changed, as he marked what would have been the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games.




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Boris Johnson to replace 'stay home' message with 'stay alert' as he delivers lockdown 'road map' address to nation

Boris Johnson is to replace his "stay at home" slogan with a fresh rallying cry to the nation, as the battle against coronavirus rages on.




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Food For London Now faces: 'We need to use this Covid-19 crisis as a wake-up call to help those in need'

Christopher Evans-Gordon from Family Meals shares his story You can donate at virginmoneygiving.com/fund/FoodforLondonNOW




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Barack Obama describes Donald Trump's response to coronavirus as a 'chaotic disaster'

Former US president Barack Obama has criticised Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an "absolute chaotic disaster".




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UK coronavirus LIVE: Boris Johnson to address nation on lockdown plan as new 'stay alert' slogan set to be rolled out

It comes as trade union leaders warn that they will not tell their members to return to work unless safety standards are improved. Mr Johnson is expected to urge employees who cannot do their jobs from home to begin returning to their workplaces while following social-distancing rules.




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Small tribes seal borders, push testing to keep out virus

On a dusty plaza in a Native American village that dates back nearly a millennium, a steady trickle of vehicles inched through a pop-up coronavirus testing site. The mandatory testing — under the threat of fines by the tribal council in Picuris Pueblo — was being performed by the state Health Department and U.S. Indian Health Service as they strive to identify potential infection hot spots and contain the virus that's ravaged other Native American communities. Small Native American pueblos across New Mexico are embracing extraordinary isolation measures that turn away outsiders as well as near-universal testing to try to insulate themselves from a contagion with frightening echoes of the past.





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The week that was: A balance of economy and public health

As heads of state, local leaders, business owners and individual citizens weighed the costs of re-opening the global economy, fears of new outbreaks grew. A central question emerged: How much infection and loss of life will emerge amid the push to restart business? In Waterloo, Iowa, the virus is “devastating everything." The community is home to a meatpacking plant, and residents are worried it is becoming a vector for the virus.





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Do not allow 'biased' election watchdog power to prosecute, say MPs

The election watchdog has revealed that it is pressing ahead with plans to hand itself powers to prosecute campaigners and political parties, putting itself on a collision course with ministers. The Electoral Commission is planning to publish a consultation setting out proposals to hand itself a "prosecutions capability", despite senior Tories insisting that the body is "not trusted to be impartial". The disclosure comes after the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had ended investigations into Darren Grimes and Alan Halsall, two pro-Brexit campaign figures, two years after a referral by the commission for alleged breaches of spending rules. The move prompted calls for the commission to be "overhauled", with Mr Grimes describing the body as a "kangaroo court" that was not "fit for purpose". Separately, the National Crime Agency found no evidence that any criminal offences were committed by Arron Banks, another prominent Brexiteer, after another referral by the watchdog. Last night Matthew Elliott, who was chief executive of the official Vote Leave campaign, claimed that the commission's record showed that if it acquired the new powers, "there will be countless travesties of justice, and democracy will be undermined.” Sir Bernard Jenkin, the former chairman of the Commons public administration committee, said: "These proposals appear to be doubling down on a failed system. Parliament should change it." Another Conservative MP said: "I can't think of any public body that is less deserving of prosecuting powers than the Electoral Commission, who have shown themselves to be biased and, frankly, vindictive." Last year Jacob Rees-Mogg, now the leader of the Commons, and Brandon Lewis, who has also been appointed to Boris Johnson's cabinet, both expressed alarm at the watchdog's plans to hand itself powers currently exercised by the police and Crown Prosecution Service - after the move was revealed by this newspaper. The watchdog has faced repeated accusations of bias against bodies that campaigned for Brexit in 2016, which it strongly denies. The commission claims it could hand itself the powers without ministers bringing forward legislation, by altering its enforcement policy following a public consultation - due to open in the coming weeks. But MPs warned that some groups could be unfairly targeted. Speaking last year, while Tory chairman, Mr Lewis pointed out that one senior figure at the commission - the same official spearheading the proposals - had previously said that she would "not want to live under a Tory government". He suggested the body was not seen as a "fair" arbiter. As a backbencher, Mr Rees-Mogg called for the Conservatives to formally oppose the move, saying: "The Electoral Commission is not trusted to be impartial and a number of its leading figures have said very prejudicial things about Brexit." The commission's corporate plan for the period from 2020 to 2025 states: "To deter people from committing offences, and to make sure we can respond proportionally if they do, we will continue to build the capacity to prosecute suspected offences. We will consult on the way we approach the use of prosecutions." An Electoral Commission spokesman said: “Later this year we will be consulting with political parties, the police and the CPS on changes to our enforcement policy, which includes a prosecutions capability, and will bring our regulatory work in line with a wide range of other regulators. “Extending our work in this direction would enable us to bring lower order offences before the courts in a way which is swift and proportionate, freeing up the resources of the police and prosecutors and delivering more effective regulation of political finance to support public confidence.” Mr Elliott said: “The Electoral Commission’s track record at conducting investigations is woeful. "In the case of Leave campaigners ... they assumed that we were guilty until proven innocent ... Thankfully, the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service looked at the evidence thoroughly, and saw through the conspiracy theories that the Electoral Commission had believed without question." The commission insisted it was "right that potential electoral offences are properly investigated by the appropriate authority". A spokesman said there was "no substance to allegations that the Commission is biased", saying the organisation had investigated campaigners and parties across the political spectrum.





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National parks visitors should plan for 'new normal'

After closing amid the coronavirus pandemic, the National Park Service is testing public access at several parks across the nation, including two in Utah, with limited offerings and services. Visitor centers and campgrounds remain largely shuttered at Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef, but visitors are welcome at some of the sites. Sullivan was on a day visit to hike the park’s Rim Trail and Bryce Amphitheater, two of the few hiking destinations currently open at Bryce.





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Libyan officials: Shelling at Tripoli's only working airport




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Obama lashes out at Trump in call with supporters

Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster” during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo News. Obama also reacted to the Justice Department dropping its criminal case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying he worried that the “basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.” Obama’s comments came during a Friday call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who served in his administration.





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Taliban say they don't have missing US contractor

Taliban leaders searched their ranks, including in the much-feared Haqqani network, and on Sunday told The Associated Press they are not holding Mark R. Frerichs, a Navy veteran turned contractor who disappeared in Afghanistan in late January. “We don't have any information about the missing American,” Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman, told the AP. A second Taliban official familiar with the talks with the United States said “formally and informally” the Taliban have notified U.S. officials they are not holding Frerichs.





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Virus delay, early ice melt challenge Arctic science mission

Now dozens of scientists are waiting in quarantine for the all-clear to join a year-long Arctic research mission aimed at improving the models used for forecasting climate change, just as the expedition reaches a crucial phase. News of the pandemic caused jitters among those already on board, said Matthew Shupe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado and co-leader of the MOSAiC expedition. The rest of the crew will be exchanged with the help of two other German research ships that will meet the Polarstern on the sea ice edge.