Two mixed martial arts (MMA) events planned behind closed doors in Singapore this month have been postponed after the city-state tightened restrictions to fight the coronavirus, organisers said Monday.
A spokeswoman for Asia's biggest MMA promotion, One Championship, confirmed that the events, on April 17 and 24, have been postponed.
Two more closed-door events next month could also be shelved because of the tougher restrictions imposed by the city-state, she told AFP.
The worldwide sporting calendar has been left in tatters because of the pandemic, which has killed more than 110,000 people and infected nearly two million.
It was still unclear about the fate of another One Championship event scheduled for May 29 in the Philippines capital Manila, which is also under a government lockdown.
"We are living through the most extraordinary of times. The good news is that these short-term restrictions will undoubtedly slow down the coronavirus, and flatten the curve," One Championship ...

MMA shows shelved after new Singapore virus clampdown

PTI Automatic

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has slowed in some of the worst-hit countries, with Spain readying Monday to reopen parts of its economy as governments grapple with a once-in-a-century recession.
Italy, France and the US have all seen a drop in COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, with Italy -- the European nation most afflicted -- reporting its lowest toll in more than three weeks.
It came as Pope Francis delivered an unprecedented livestream message to a world under lockdown on Easter Sunday, and Britain's Boris Johnson left hospital, thanking medics for saving his life.
More than half of the planet's population is staying home as part of efforts to stem the spread of the virus, which emerged in China late last year and has now killed at least 112,500 people, overwhelming healthcare systems and crippling the world economy.
Spain's death toll has fallen in recent days, but as a small bump in deaths was reported on Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that the ...

Cautious hope for pandemic peak as Spain readies to reopen some factories

Ecuador said police have removed almost 800 bodies in recent weeks from homes in Guayaquil, the epicenter of the country's coronavirus outbreak, after the disease overwhelmed emergency services, hospitals and funeral parlours.
Mortuary workers in the Pacific port city have been unable to cope with a backlog, with residents posting videos on social media showing abandoned bodies in the streets.
"The number we have collected with the task force from people's homes exceeded 700 people," said Jorge Wated, who leads a team of police and military personnel created by the government to help with the chaos unleashed by COVID-19.
He later said Sunday on Twitter that the joint task force, in operation for the past three weeks, had retrieved 771 bodies from homes and another 631 from hospitals, whose morgues are full.
Wated did not specify the cause of death for the victims, 600 of whom have now been buried by the authorities.
Ecuador has recorded 7,500 cases of the coronavirus since the first ..

Police collect nearly 800 bodies from Ecuador's virus epicentre

Malaysian scientists have created a barrel-shaped robot on wheels that they hope will make the rounds on hospital wards to check on coronavirus patients, reducing health workers' risk of infection.
"Medibot" is a 1.5 metre tall (five foot) white robot, equipped with a camera and screen via which patients can communicate remotely with medics.
The invention, built by scientists at the International Islamic University Malaysia, is also fitted with a device to check patients' temperatures remotely.
It is aimed at helping nurses and doctors working on the wards with social distancing, Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, a member of the team behind the invention, told AFP.
It cost about 15,000 ringgit ($3,500) to develop, and the university plans to trial it soon in their own private hospital, which does not treat virus patients, said Zulkifli.  If that proves a success, the scientists hope it can be used in government hospitals where people with COVID-19 are sent.
Malaysia has reported 4,683 ...

'Medibot' to do rounds on Malaysian virus wards

The US special envoy who negotiated a deal with the Taliban on Monday said an initial prisoner exchange between the insurgents and the Afghan government was an "important step" toward peace.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Taliban on Sunday released 20 Afghan security-force prisoners.
The move came after the government last week released hundreds of insurgent captives.
"The release of prisoners is an important step in the peace process and the reduction of violence," US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said on Twitter.
"Both sides should accelerate efforts to meet targets specified in the US-Taliban agreement as soon as possible," he added, noting the exchange was more important than ever with prison populations threatened by coronavirus outbreaks.
Khalilzad and the Taliban signed a deal February 29 that paves the way for US and other foreign forces to quit Afghanistan in return for various commitments from the ...

US envoy calls Afghan prisoner releases 'important step'

Doug Sanders, who missed one of the most heartbreaking potential winning putts in British Open history, has died of natural causes.
He was 86.
The US PGA Tour Champions website said he died in Houston, Texas.  Known as the "Peacock of the Fairways," Sanders was one of the most colourful personalities on golf's US PGA Tour, capturing 20 titles including the 1956 Canadian Open.
He had four close runner-up finishes in majors with the 1970 Open Championship at St Andrews engrained in the memories of most golf fans.
When he reached the 72nd green, he was left with less than three feet for par to beat Jack Nicklaus by one shot.
But Sanders nervously pushed his putt right of the hole, sending the tournament to an 18-hole playoff the next day where Nicklaus prevailed on the final hole.
"I missed a 30-inch putt on the last green that would have won the 1970 British Open. It's all anybody wants to talk about," Sanders said.
"I won 20 times on the PGA Tour, and if you gave me one birdie, four ...

Colourful 'Peacock of the Fairways' Doug Sanders dies at 86

China coach Li Tie has revealed the psychological toll coronavirus took on the national football squad during a five-week training camp prolonged by the pandemic.
Li's men spent much of March in Dubai, where many Chinese Super League (CSL) teams also took refuge, before returning home when the outbreak began to subside in China.
Chinese media previously reported that the squad were mentally fatigued by a combination of practice, quarantine and being away from their families for so long at a difficult time.
Coronavirus emerged in central China in December before spreading worldwide and has torpedoed football seasons -- and sport in general -- all over the globe.
"With the epidemic situation in Dubai worsening every day, the number of guests in our hotel was decreasing day by day," Li told Chinese television.
"The other Chinese Super League teams who had been training there returned to China one after another.
"During that time, all our players and staff were under great psychological ..

China's football squad left 'anxious, homesick' by coronavirus

As Europe and the United States struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, experts warn that disaster looms in war-torn Syria, where hospitals are unable to meet existing needs and hygiene conditions are dire.
The outbreak has infected more than 1.8 million people and killed more than 112,000 around the world since emerging in China in December last year.
In Syria, the Damascus government has closed borders, forbidden movement between provinces and shut schools and restaurants in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.
Official numbers are low with two deaths and 19 confirmed cases, but only 100 patients are being tested daily, with half of the testing carried out in the capital Damascus.
And while the government has regained control of most of the country after almost a decade of civil war, some areas are still held by pro-Ankara rebels and Kurds.
Experts accuse Damascus of minimising its death toll for political motives.
"Medical staff believe that there are many people who ...

Virus 'disaster in the making' in war-torn Syria

Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad said that they had shelved plans to resume training from Tuesday after talks with government officials.
Like all other clubs, Sociedad players have been in lockdown since mid-March as the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the country, causing almost 17,000 deaths.
"After today's discussions with (local officials), and in accordance with Real Sociedad's desire to respect and act according to the needs of society at all times, we have decided to continue with the individual work of our players as it has been developed so far," said the club.
"Therefore, the players will continue to work at home." Real Sociedad insisted Sunday that they had never intended to resume group training, but simply to offer the possibility to players of doing "individual work" on its premises.
The Spanish club said it was "working on developing a return to work" for its players but that it would always be done "while respecting the security measures established by the ...

Sociedad backtrack on training return

Stirling Moss, widely-regarded as the greatest motor racing driver never to win the world title, has died aged 90 following a long illness.
"It was one lap too many," his wife Susie Moss told Britain's Press Association on Sunday.
"He just closed his eyes."
Tributes flooded in from the world of motorsport and beyond to the gifted and revered driver who never won the Formula One title, finishing runner-up four times and third three times.
"Today we say goodbye to Sir Stirling Moss, the racing legend," reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton wrote on Instagram.
"Two people from massively different times and backgrounds but we clicked and ultimately found that the love for racing we both shared made us comrades," added the six-time world champion.
Meanwhile, three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, who came into Grand Prix racing shortly after Moss's injury-enforced retirement in the early 1960s, told the BBC: "I think he's probably the best example of a racing driver there's ever ...

'One lap too many': Motorsport 'icon and legend' Stirling Moss dies, aged 90

Former four-time all-star Chicago Cubs infielder Glenn Beckert died Sunday at the age of 79.
He played second base with the Cubs from 1965 to 1973 and then spent two seasons with the San Diego Padres before retiring.
"We lost a great one today, Glenn Beckert. Glenn was my friend, my Cubs teammate, and the best man at my wedding. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with the Beckert family," ex-pitcher Ferguson Jenkins wrote on Twitter Sunday.
In 1,320 career games, Beckert batted .283. In 1968, he finished ninth in the National League MVP voting and led the major leagues in runs scored with 98.

Ex-Cubs star Beckert dies at 79

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed a solo Easter concert from an empty Milan Cathedral streamed live to millions of people around the world in coronavirus lockdown.
The "Music for Hope" performance, which was streamed on YouTube from Milan's Duomo cathedral, has been watched more than 22 million times so far.
Accompanied by an organist, Bocelli sang four songs inside the magnificent Gothic building and ended with a rendition of "Amazing Grace" from the cathedral steps with a montage of images showing the empty streets of Paris, London and New York.
"On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I'm honoured and happy to answer 'Si' to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan," the visually impaired star said in a message played before the short concert.
"Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth's pulsing heart," he said.  The Lombardy region, of which Milan is .

Millions watch Andrea Bocelli sing in empty Milan cathedral

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome has said his recovery from the horror crash which almost ended his career is "pretty much complete".
The 34-year-old suffered multiple fractures and spent months in rehabilitation after a gust of wind hurtled him into a wall at 50 kilometres an hour during a recon at the Criterium du Dauphine in June last year.
He only returned fully to the saddle in February at the UAE Tour which was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The recovery is going really well - I'd go as far as saying it's pretty much complete," Froome told the Team Ineos YouTube channel after taking part in a virtual race alongside fellow Tour de France champions Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal.
"I am still doing some exercises off the bike to strengthen the right side which was injured, but I'm back in normal training again and that's going really well."
Froome is currently in lockdown in the south of France as he awaits the return of racing even though an assault on a 

Froome says horror injury recovery 'almost complete'

Former Chelsea forward Didier Drogba has offered his hospital in his native Ivory Coast to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a local politician said.
Drogba, who scored 65 goals in 105 appearances for his country and won the Champions League with the English club during his playing career, has proposed the use of the Laurent Pokou hospital in Abidjan.
"We thank Drogba for this gift considered as an act of patriotism," the head of the city's regional council Vincent Toh Bi said.
The centre located in the Attecoube district is not yet in a working state but can be used in a period of crisis.
"It's up to the state to validate it and make it functional," the director of Drogba' foundation, who run the unit, Mariam Breka said.
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak four people have died and 533 cases have been registered in Ivory Coast.

Ex-Chelsea star Drogba offers hospital in virus fight

The future of the Scottish football season below the elite Premiership appears to rest with Dundee amid confusion over whether they have yet voted in a controversial ballot to determine how the campaign ends amid the coronavirus crisis.
According to the Scottish Professional League, the Championship side gave an "unequivocal instruction" not to count their ballot in a vote designed to close at 1600 GMT on Friday.
Soon afterwards, the SPFL released the results on a resolution that said the three lower leagues would finish in the positions they stood at when play was halted because of the pandemic in March.
A decision on the Scottish Premiership would be taken at a later date if the first proposal was passed.
The Premiership and clubs in League One and Two have backed the plan with the required majority of 75 percent.
But the second-tier Championship remains finely balanced, with seven clubs having voted for the plan and two against.
Inverness chief executive Scot Gardiner said a ...

Scottish season's fate rests with unfashionable Dundee

It may be two decades since the Hansie Cronje corruption scandal rocked cricket, but even now the ripples are still being felt.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Cronje being stripped of the South Africa captaincy following an extraordinary sequence of events earlier in 2000.
In January, come the last day of a 'dead' Test against England (South Africa had already won the series) a draw seemed inevitable after rain had washed out three days' play.
Yet Cronje contrived a positive result by getting England captain Nasser Hussain to agree that both sides would forfeit an innings.
England were left with a target of 249 for victory after Cronje declared and eventually won by two wickets.
Traditionalists were aghast at the interference with the 'proper' course of a Test, yet few were prepared for what was to come.
In April, Cronje's image as a religious sportsman -- he wore a bracelet inscribed with the words 'What Would Jesus Do?' -- was shattered for all time.
An AFP report, later ..

Twenty years on, cricket still reeling from Cronje scandal

Asia markets fell Monday with investors cautious on news of an international deal to shore up oil prices and tentative signs of progress in efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
OPEC producers dominated by Saudi Arabia and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compromise deal on Sunday to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day from May.
Oil benchmarks surged in early Asian trade, with WTI climbing nearly eight percent and Brent up five percent before lunch.
The rally followed months of slumping prices after the COVID-19 outbreak sapped demand as countries around the world have put their populations under lockdown.
A Saudi-Russian price war also saw the ramping up of production as both countries bid to hold on to market share and undercut US shale producers.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo called the cuts "historic" in size but analysts said the measures may not go far enough to secure a long-term rebound.
"There remain concerns the agreement could be a day ...

Asia markets down as oil rallies on output cuts deal

Doug Sanders, who missed one of the most heartbreaking potential winning putts in British Open history, has died of natural causes. He was 86.
Known as the "Peacock of the Fairways," Sanders was one of the most colourful personalities on the PGA Tour, capturing 20 titles including the 1956 Canadian Open.
He had four runner-up finishes in majors with the 1970 Open Championship engrained in most golf fans minds.
When he reached the final green, he needed a three-foot putt to beat Jack Nicklaus. But he missed, sending the tournament to an 18-hole playoff the next day where Nicklaus made a putt on the final hole to beat him.
"I missed a 30-inch putt on the last green that would have won the 1970 British Open. It's all anybody wants to talk about," Sanders said.
"I won 20 times on the PGA Tour, and if you gave me one birdie, four pars and a bogey wherever I could put them, I'd have five majors.
"But it's that putt (at St. Andrews) that everybody remembers. What can I say? It's what I ...

Former pro golfer Doug Sanders dies at 86

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods says he can't help feeling like the green jacket he claimed for winning the Masters last year doesn't belong in his locker anymore.
The 44-year-old Woods doesn't like the idea of holding onto the coveted sports coat due to the world-wide coronavirus epidemic that led to the 2020 Masters tournament being postponed until November.
The pandemic "has been a shock to all of us. We know it's still going to continue to get worse. It's a very difficult situation, a very difficult time, a unique time in history," Woods told CBS television on Sunday.
The American broadcaster replayed Woods' stunning comeback victory on Sunday with the five-time Masters winner adding his own commentary from his home in Florida.
Woods said it felt odd not to be in full training for a major and also to be keeping the winner's jacket for another seven months.
"This is not the way I wanted to have the jacket for a longer period of time," he said.
"Come Masters Tuesday, after our 

Woods relives joy of winning fifth Masters

President Emmanuel Macron is on Monday expected to warn France its lockdown to combat the coronavirus must go on for several more weeks at least, while also outlining how the country will recover from the crisis.
At just after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), Macron will give his third prime-time televised address to the nation on the epidemic from the Elysee palace. In his last, he announced the nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the virus from March 17.
This speech will come after the first indications of a tentative easing of the crisis in France and that the lockdown is starting to have an effect, with the epidemic starting to plateau, albeit at a high level.
France on Sunday reported a lower number of COVID-19 fatalities over the last 24 hours, with 315 deaths in hospital over the last day, compared with 345 the previous day.
Its total toll from the coronavirus epidemic, including those who have died in nursing homes, now stands at 14,393, the health ministry said.
And for the fourth ..

Macron set to warn France virus lockdown must go on

Top oil-producing countries agreed on "historic" output cuts to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis and a Russia-Saudi price war, sending crude prices soaring on Monday.
The US benchmark WTI climbed 7.7 percent to $24.52 a barrel in early Asian trade while Brent was up 5.0 percent at $33.08.
OPEC producers dominated by Saudi Arabia and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compromise deal via videoconference Sunday after Mexico had balked at an earlier agreement struck on Friday.
In the compromise reached Sunday they agreed to a cut of 9.7 million barrels per day from May, according to Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, down slightly from 10 million barrels a day envisioned earlier.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo called the cuts "historic".
"They are largest in volume and the longest in duration, as they are planned to last for two years," he said.
The agreement between the Vienna-based Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners foresees ...

AFP

AFP

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