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Cristiano Ronaldo Tests Positive for Coronavirus and Enters Isolation
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of soccer’s biggest stars and among the world’s most famous athletes, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Portugal’s soccer federation announced Tuesday.
The federation’s statement said Ronaldo was not displaying symptoms of Covid-19, and that he had entered isolation, away from the rest of Portugal’s players. Those players continued their preparations for a match against Sweden on Wednesday in Lisbon.
“Following the positive case, the remaining players underwent new tests Tuesday morning,” Portugal’s federation said in a statement. “All tested negative.”
Ronaldo played for Portugal in a friendly against Spain last week and in a scoreless Nations League draw against France on Sunday. On Monday, he posted a photo of himself dining with his smiling teammates on his social media accounts.
Ronaldo’s positive test confirmed the worst fear of some European clubs, who had fought with FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to alter rules that require them to release players to represent their national teams during scheduled international breaks. Many clubs feared that sending their players on long trips to virus hot spots — particularly in South America, where qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began last week — could leave them vulnerable to infection or cause them to bring the virus back to their European teams.
Players who did travel now will face quarantines or other restrictions — and potentially even miss league games — upon their return to certain countries, including the United States.
Ronaldo, who plays for the Italian club Juventus, had been spared infection earlier this year when the virus swept through his team and the Italian league system. At least three Juventus players — Paulo Dybala, Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi — tested positive in the first wave of cases earlier this year.
Ronaldo is not the first soccer star to test positive this fall as Europe’s top leagues start their new seasons and players journey home for national team duty. The Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was found to be positive when he turned up for a training camp with France’s national team in August, weeks after the Brazilian star Neymar and two of his teammates at the French club Paris St.-Germain are believed to have caught the virus during a post season vacation in Spain.
While many of Europe’s top leagues were able to resume their seasons after pausing play for several months during the height of the pandemic this spring, the coronavirus remains a significant threat because — unlike in the restricted environments set up for this summer’s Champions League knockout rounds or the recently completed N.B.A. season — players are free to circulate in their communities.
Liverpool, the reigning champion of England’s Premier League, has had several players test positive in recent weeks. Forward Xherdan Shaqiri was the most recent, though his test result was later reclassified as a false positive. It followed earlier cases involving Thiago Alcantara and Sadio Mané.
In the top league in the United States, Major League Soccer, several games have been postponed or rescheduled this year after players or staff members tested positive. On Monday, the league announced that it had postponed the next three matches involving the Colorado Rapids after an outbreak on that team.
M.L.S. said the team had not recorded any new cases, but that the decision to postpone the games “was made based on the total number of current cases and in consultation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.”
Courtesy: nytimes
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
