Cricket South Africa on Friday played down its Director Graeme Smith's open backing of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for the ICC chairman's post and said a protocol would be followed before offering support to any candidate.
Former skipper Smith, who is now CSA's director of cricket, on Thursday supported Ganguly for the ICC top job, saying a "cricket man" like the ex-India captain would be ideal to lead the apex body at this juncture.
However, a day after, the CSA was treading a different path.
"We must respect both the ICC protocol and our own protocol in deciding which candidate to back," said CSA president Chris Nenzani in a statement.
"There have been no candidates nominated as yet and once such nominations have been made the Board of CSA will take its decision in terms of its own protocol and give the chairman the mandate to exercise his vote as an ICC Board Director accordingly."
A day before, Smith had said: "From our perspective, it would be great to see a cricket man like ...

CSA downplays Smith's backing of Ganguly for ICC chairman's post

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Ashley Cooper, who won four Grand Slam singles titles including the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. championships in 1958, has died. He was 83.
Tennis Australia said Friday that the former No. 1-ranked player and long-time administrator had died after a long illness.
Cooper led Australia's Davis Cup team to victory over the United States to retain the title in 1957. But after the result was reversed in a loss to the Americans the following year he was so upset, according to Tennis Australia, that he considered withdrawing from a professional contract because he felt he owed the country more.
After a back injury ended his professional career in 1959, Cooper returned to Brisbane, Australia, to run a business and work as an administrator in the sport.
He was involved in moving the state's main tennis facility from Milton  which hosted an Australian Open and three Davis Cup finals  to Tennyson, where Pat Rafter Arena is now the venue for the annual Brisbane International.
Ashley was a ...

4-time Grand Slam singles champion Ashley Cooper dies at 83

Nepal reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 487.
The coronavirus has so far claimed three lives in the country, which continues to impose a nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
The Health and Population Ministry on Friday said another 21 COVID-19 patients had fully recovered and discharged from hospitals. The total number of coronavirus recovery cases stand at 70.
Of the 30 new COVID-19 cases, nine were from Kapilvastu district -- eight men aged between 24 and 53 and an eight-year-old girl, the ministry said.
Similarly, 14 men aged between 22 and 39 and an 18-year-old woman tested positive for coronavirus in Sarlahi district. A 73-year-old woman from Chitawan district tested COVID-19 positive.
The rest of the new cases were from Nawalparasi district -- four males aged between 33 and 74 and a 15-year-old girl.
The country-wide lockdown, imposed on March 24, will remain effective till June 2. Nepal has ...

Nepal reports 30 new coronavirus cases; total infections at 487

Actor Josh Hutcherson says the fame that came his way post the success of "The Hunger Games" felt like a "double-edged sword".
The actor featured as Peeta Mellark in the Jennifer Lawrence-led dystopian franchise, based on Suzanne Collins's 2008 novel of the same name.
The series started with 2012's "The Hunger Games", which was followed by three sequels -- "Catching Fire" (2013), "Mockingjay  Part 1"(2014) and "Mockingjay  Part 2"(2015).
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, the 27-year-old actor said post the series, he was flooded with film offers but there was also the limelight that came with the success and he was not comfortable with it.
"It was like my college. That was like such a coming-of-age time for me. It was the first time I was away from my family, and on my own. It was worlds apart from anything I have ever experienced. It's like a double-edged sword.
"Obviously the benefit of having more projects come your way is great. But when I set out to become an actor at 8, being ...

Fame post 'Hunger Games' was like a double-edged sword, says Josh Hutcherson

Pop star Lady Gaga says she considered quitting alcohol while working on her new album Chromatica'.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, the 34-year-old singer revealed how she had planned to go sober after penning a song called 911, which focuses on her experience of taking an antipsychotic medication.
I don't take any pain medication, because it's not healthy for me. But I've flirted with the idea of sobriety.  I'm not there yet, but I flirted with it throughout the album. It's something that came up as a result of me trying to work through the pain that I was feeling.
But part of my healing process was going, Well, I can either lash the hell out of myself every day for continuing to drink, or I can just be happy that I'm still alive and keep going,' and feel good enough. I am good enough. It's not perfect, but wabi-sabi. I'm perfectly imperfect, Gaga said.
Though the singer did not quit alcohol, she did manage to ditch cigarettes following the album's recording.
"I quit ..

Lady Gaga says she flirted with sobriety' and quit smoking' while making new album

The Premier League trophy should have been in Tom Werner's hands by now. This week should have featured a victory parade through the streets of Liverpool.
But the wait to end the 30-year title drought continues.
Instead, Liverpool's chairman is analyzing the health procedures required just to ensure it is safe for his team to practice together again. Then further tentative steps can be taken on the path to resuming the season during the coronavirus pandemic.
Reading through protocols I'm trying to absorb the words that I never thought I knew a month ago, Werner says.
Social distancing ... all this stuff. The words particularly dreaded in the red half of Merseyside are null and void -- if a decision is made to abandon the season with no champion declared. It took a global health emergency to halt Liverpool's title charge. Juergen Klopp's team had surged an unprecedented 25 points clear before the league was abruptly suspended in March with nine games remaining.
There's a hole in so ...

Liverpool chair Werner on virus delaying title

On just one day this month, 50 Tanzanian truck drivers tested positive for the coronavirus after crossing into neighbouring Kenya. Back home, their president insists that Tanzania has defeated the disease through prayer.
All the while, President John Magufuli has led a crackdown on anyone who dares raise concerns about the virus's spread in his East African country or the government's response to it.
Critics have been arrested, and opposition politicians and rights activists say their phones are being tapped.
The country's number of confirmed virus cases hasn't changed for three weeks, and the international community is openly worrying that Tanzania's government is hiding the true scale of the pandemic.
Just over 500 cases have been reported in a country of nearly 60 million people.
While many African countries have been praised for their response to the coronavirus, Tanzania is the most dramatic exception, run by a president who questions  or fires  his own health experts and has ...

Concerns about virus in Tanzania grow amid lack of data

In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Florida's Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years.
In the age of coronavirus, local officials and NASA are split on whether that's a good idea.
NASA and SpaceX are urging spectators to stay at home next Wednesday for safety reasons. Officials in Brevard County, home to the Kennedy Space Center, are rolling out the welcome mat in an effort to jump-start a tourism industry hit hard this spring by coronavirus-related lockdowns.
If people are comfortable coming and watching the launch, "by all means, come. If they aren't, I respect that too, said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
I'm not going to tell Americans they can't watch a great piece of history. I'm just not going to do it," he said.
The sheriff said he is asking visitors to practice social distancing as they watch the launch of astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a test flight .

Will virus keep Florida spectators from astronaut launch?

Pop star Lana Del Rey has hit back at her critics who say that she "glamorises abuse".
Announcing her new album, a follow-up to her 2019's 'Norman Fucking Rockwell',
the 34-year-old singer posted a long statement on her official Instagram page and said she is "fed up" with being "crucified" all the time.
Lana called out the double standards of the critics for not pointing fingers at her fellow female singers Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce, who "have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f***ing, cheating, etc."
"Can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money  or whatever I want without being crucified or saying I'm glamorising abuse?" she said.
"I'm fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorise abuse when in reality I'm just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we ...

Lana Del Rey slams critics for saying she 'glamorises abuse'

Lower levels of ACE2 gene expression in nasal epithelium, the first point of contact for SARS-CoV-2 and the human body, may explain why children have a lower risk of Covid-19 infection and mortality, according to a study.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses ACE2 to enter the host. ACE2 nasal gene expression could potentially be used as a biomarker to evaluate Covid-19 susceptibility, said the researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the US.
The study, published in the journal JAMA, analysed 305 patients aged four to 60 years at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York.
The researchers found that ACE2 gene expression in nasal epithelium was lowest in younger children and increased with age.
These findings could help explain why children appear to be less susceptible to Covid-19 infection, they said.
The researchers said the results may point to a potential biomarker of Covid-19 susceptibility.
Prospective studies are needed to assess the degree to which ACE2 expression can be 

Why COVID-19 may infect less children than adults decoded

In April, as the coronavirus was ravaging New York, Susan Jones learned her older brother had been diagnosed with a blood cancer.
His supervisor at work launched a GoFundMe page to help with costs, and Jones shared it on Facebook. What happened next stunned her.
While Jones, who works as principal ballet mistress at American Ballet Theatre, was confident her closest friends would help, she was stunned to see scores of colleagues  some she didn't even know that well, and didn't even know she had a brother  donating, despite their own economic challenges in a struggling dance community.
Jones found herself asking: Would the response have been the same just two months earlier, before the pandemic? She's fairly certain it wouldn't.
Instead, she thinks the instinct to help shows, along with simple kindness, how people are striving to make a difference. At a time of helplessness, she says, helping others makes a mark on a world that seems to be overwhelming all of us.
People everywhere are .

In virus chaos, some find solace, purpose in helping others

A Florida man accused of coughing on and spitting at police officers while claiming to be infected with the coronavirus was indicted on a federal terrorism charge.
A federal grand jury in Tampa returned an indictment Wednesday charging James Jamal Curry, 31, with perpetrating a biological weapon hoax, according to court records. He had previously been charged by criminal complaint last month. He faces up to 5 years in federal prison if convicted.
Curry's attorney, Samuel Landes, said in an email that prosecutors are stretching a law meant for terrorists to cover a run-of-the-mill police encounter.
The United States Attorney's position in this case would make each of the millions of COVID-19 patients 'in possession' of a biological weapon, Landes said.
St. Petersburg police officers responded to a domestic violence call involving Curry on March 27, according to court documents. During his arrest, Curry declared that he was infected with COVID-19 and coughed on an officer's arm, police .

Grand jury charges man with threatening to spread virus

Muslims worldwide will celebrate one of their biggest holidays under the long shadow of the coronavirus, with millions confined to their homes and others gripped by economic concerns during what is usually a festive time of shopping and celebration.
The three-day Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramzan for the world's 1.8 billion Muslims. People usually celebrate by travelling, visiting family and gathering for lavish meals  all of which will be largely prohibited as authorities try to prevent new virus outbreaks.
The holiday will begin on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the sighting of the new moon, and the dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan will come to an end.
Some countries, including Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, will impose round-the-clock curfews for the duration of the holiday. In Saudi Arabia  home to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina  people will only be allowed to leave their homes to buy food and medicine.
But even in countries that have largely reopened, the ..

Virus fallout dampens spirits as Muslims mark major holiday

Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers sharply criticized China's move to take over long-stalled efforts to enact national security legislation in the semi-autonomous territory, saying it goes against the one country, two systems framework that promises the city freedoms not found on the mainland.
The proposed bill, submitted on the opening day of China's national legislative session Friday, is aimed at forbidding secessionist and subversive activity, as well as foreign interference and terrorism. It comes after a months of pro-democracy demonstrations last year that at times descended into violence between police and protesters.
The move, one of the most controversial items on the agenda of the National People's Congress in years, drew strong rebukes from the U.S. government and rights groups. Despite that, Beijing appears to have lost patience and is determined to assert greater control and limit opposition activity following last year's protests.
Xi Jinping has torn away the whole ...

Hong Kong opposition slams China national security law move

British researchers testing an experimental vaccine against the new coronavirus are moving into advanced studies and aim to immunize more than 10,000 people to determine if the shot works.
Last month, scientists at Oxford University began immunizing more than 1,000 volunteers with their vaccine candidate in a preliminary trial designed to test the shot's safety. On Friday, the scientists announced they now aim to vaccinate 10,260 people across Britain, including older people and children.
The clinical studies are progressing very well and we are now initiating studies to evaluate how well the vaccine induces immune responses in older adults and to test whether it can provide protection in the wider population, said Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group.
Earlier this week, drugmaker AstraZeneca said it had secured its first agreements for 400 million doses of the Oxford-developed vaccine, bolstered by a $1 billion investment from a U.S. government agency, for the ...

UK's COVID-19 study aims to vaccinate more than 10,000

The producer of Hulu show "Normal People" has slammed a porn website for circulating sex scenes from the series on its site, calling it "deeply disrespectful" to the actors and a violation of copyright.
The show, an adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel of the same name, has been a critical hit but also had caused a stir for the intimate scenes between actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.
The show's executive producer Ed Guiney has now spoken out against the  illegal circulation of these scenes from the show.
We're hugely disappointed that excerpts from the series of Normal People' have been used in this way, Guiney said to Variety.
It's both a violation of copyright and more importantly, it's deeply disrespectful to the actors involved and to the wider creative team. We have taken appropriate steps to require that the content be removed from the platform with immediate effect.

'Normal People' producer slams porn website for circulating show's intimate scenes

Pakistan's coronavirus cases on Friday crossed the 50,000-mark after a record 2,603 more patients were diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease, the health ministry said.
The deadly contagion claimed the lives of 50 people in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,067, the Ministry of National Health Services said.
Out of the total 50,694 patients, Sindh reported 19,924 cases, Punjab 18,455, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 7,155, Balochistan 3,074, Islamabad 1,326, Gilgit-Baltistan 602 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 158 cases.
It also reported that so far 15,201 people have recovered from the malignant virus. In the past 24 hours, 1,064 people recovered from the novel coronavirus.
The authorities also carried out a record 16,387 tests, taking the total number of tests so far in the country to 445,987.
A special flight of Emirates carrying 251 stranded Pakistanis arrived at Islamabad International Airport from Dubai after Pakistan allowed the airline to operate special flights.
Officials said that 

Pakistan's COVID-19 cases go past 50,000 with record 2,603 new patients

The family of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi announced Friday they have forgiven his Saudi killers, giving legal reprieve to the five government agents convicted of his murder who'd been sentenced to execution.
We, the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father as we seek reward from God Almighty, wrote one of his sons, Salah Khashoggi, on Twitter.
Salah Khashoggi, who lives in Saudi Arabia and has received financial compensation from the royal court over the killing, explained that forgiveness was extended to the killers during the last nights of the Muslim holy month of Ramzan in line with Islamic tradition to offer pardons in cases allowed by Islamic law.
The announcement was largely expected because the trial in Saudi Arabia left the door open for reprieve by ruling in December that the killing was not premeditated. That finding was in line with the Saudi government's official explanation of Khashoggi's slaying, which .

Khashoggi's sons forgive Saudi killers, sparing 5 execution

Production on James Cameron's Avatar sequels is all set to restart in New Zealand by next week, producer Jon Landau said in an update.
Sharing a picture from the set of the movie on Instagram, Landau said the sets were ready and the team behind the film was excited to head back.
The production on the sequels of the 2009 film had to stopped in mid-March after the New Zealand government announced a lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
"Our #Avatar sets are ready  and we couldn't be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week. Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top)  can't wait to share more," Landau said in his post.
Cameron had planned to complete the long delayed sequels of the film by the end of the 2020 by simultaneously working on four films with Avatar 2' slated for a release on December 17 2021, with follow ups to be released in December 2023, December 2025 and December 2027, ...

Production on Avatar' sequels to restart in New Zealand

Fox network has renewed its serial killer drama series "Prodigal Son" for a second season.
The show, created by created by Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver, premiered in September last year, before being picked up for a full season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It features actor Tom Payne as Malcolm Bright, the son of serial killer Dr. Martin Whitly aka 'The Surgeon' (Martin Sheen), who as a child was responsible for enabling the police to arrest his father.
Now a profiler, formerly with the FBI, until he was fired, and currently consulting for theNew York Police Department, Bright is forced to confront his father after a copycat serial killer uses Whitly's methods of killing.
The first season of the show also featured Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau and Frank Harts.
The series, a co-production of Warner Bros. TV and Fox Entertainment, is executive produced by Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter along with Fedak, Sklaver and Adam Kane.

'Prodigal Son' gets season two order at Fox

A senior Olympics official has warned that holding the postponed Tokyo Games next year faces "real problems", with even a vaccine unlikely to stave off the threat of the coronavirus.
John Coates, the International Olympic Committee's pointman for Tokyo 2020, indicated that officials would start deciding in October if and how the pandemic-hit Games could go ahead in July 2021.
He told a roundtable organised by Australian media giant News Corp that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been clear the Tokyo Olympics could not be delayed a second time.
"We can't postpone it again and we have to assume that there won't be a vaccine or, if there is a vaccine, it won't be sufficient to share around the world," he said.
Without the safety net of a widely available vaccine, there could be enormous challenges in screening tens of thousands of people from all corners of the world, he said.
"We've got real problems because we've got athletes having to come from 206 different nations," said ...

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