Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova said she enjoyed her first outdoor training on Tuesday as the Czech government reopened sports grounds to ease its COVID-19 measures, but she complained practicing with no goal felt 'weird'.
Kvitova's native Czech Republic, which reported 4,828 COVID-19 cases including 80 deaths on early on Tuesday, closed borders, pubs, most shops as well as sports facilities in March to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the government said it would ease measures related to sports, recreation and leisure time ahead of this weekend's Easter holiday.
"Frankly, it feels very weird, motivation is at zero right now, and I don't know what to aim my training at," Kvitova said in a recording provided by her Sparta Prague club.
"So I'm rather trying to keep my body in shape," the 30-year-old current world number 12 added.
Kvitova spent the month of confinement doing exercises at home and running as well as reading and cleaning.
"This was my first opportunity 

Kvitova relishes 'weird' training return with no goal

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World Athletics on Tuesday suspended the qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics until December 2020 in wake of the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic following consultation with its Athletes' Commission, Area Presidents and Council.
"Qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is suspended effective from 6 April 2020 until 30 November 2020 included," World Athletics said in a statement.
"During this period, results achieved at any competition will not be considered for Tokyo 2020 entry standards or world rankings, the publication of which will also be suspended."
Results will continue to be recorded for statistical purposes, including for world records, subject to the applicable conditions but they will not be used to establish an athlete's qualification status.
"Subject to the global situation returning to normal, the qualification period will resume on 1 December 2020 and continue to the new qualification deadline in 2021 set by the International Olympic Committee (see ...

World Athletics suspends Olympic qualification period until December

At least 50 prisoners at a jail in Pakistan's worst-hit Punjab province have tested coronavirus positive, an official said on Tuesday.
"The total number of prisoners infected with the coronavirus in Punjab has reached 50 so far. Some 525 prisoners have been quarantined in separate cells of the province," Inspector General Prisons Shahid Baig told PTI.
He said some 20 cases have been reported in the camp jail Lahore and the remaining in others.
Baig said the outbreak stemmed from a Pakistani citizen who was arrested over narcotics smuggling in Italy and handed over to Pakistan last month. He was diagnosed on March 23.
"He was kept at the camp jail Lahore where he had infected several others. As soon as he tested positive, we immediately quarantined him and others suspected corona inmates, he said.
The authorities have shifted some 800 prisoners from the camp jail to other prisons in Punjab, he added.
The official said the home department also banned visits of prisoners' relatives in ...

50 prisoners contract coronavirus in Pakistan's jails

Voters lined up to cast ballots across Wisconsin on Tuesday, ignoring a stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in the state's presidential primary election.
The lines were particularly long in Milwaukee, the state's largest city and a Democratic stronghold, where just five of 180 traditional polling places were open.
Many voters across the state did not have facial coverings in line with public health recommendations.
The National Guard  and some Republican officials who resisted efforts to postpone the election  were forced to help run voting sites after thousands of election workers stepped down fearing for their safety.
Polls were scheduled to close at 8 pm CDT, although results were not expected Tuesday night. In the wake of a legal battle over whether to conduct the election as scheduled, a court ruling appeared to prevent results from being made public earlier than April 13.
The Election Day chaos that loomed over Wisconsin, a premiere general-election ...

Pandemic politics: Wisconsin voting underway despite virus

WhatsApp on Tuesday placed new limits on message forwarding as part of an effort to curb the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
The new policy limits users to forwarding certain messages to one "chat" at a time, aiming to limit the rapid propagation of content which is provocative but likely to be false.
The Facebook-owned messaging platform said it took the action to enable people to concentrate on personal and private communications during the health crisis.
In recent weeks, "we've seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation," WhatsApp said in a blog post.
"We believe it's important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation."
Last year, WhatsApp set limits on forwarded messages to five chats at a time, "to constrain virality," responding to events in India where the rapid proliferation of unverified ...

WhatsApp tightens sharing limits to curb virus misinformation

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham stepped down from her post on Tuesday and assumed a new role as chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump.
Grisham was appointed White House press secretary in June last year. However, she never hold a single formal press briefing since her appointment.
The White House said Grisham would now become spokesperson and chief of staff for Melania.
"I am excited to welcome Stephanie back to the team in this new role," the First Lady announced on Tuesday.
Grisham, 43, would replace Lindsay Reynolds who resigned early this week to spend time with her family.
"She has been a mainstay and true leader in the administration from even before day one, and I know she will excel as Chief of Staff.  I appreciate all that Lindsay Reynolds did over the past three years, and wish her well in her future endeavors," Melania said.
Grisham will begin her role as Chief of Staff with immediate effect.
"I continue to be honoured to serve both the President and ...

White House press secretary Grisham steps down, will head First Lady's staff

The price of Easter chocolates and cakes have spiked online in Italy, a consumer protection group warned on Tuesday as the country prepares to celebrate the upcoming holiday in lockdown.
Price hikes of up to 168 percent on Easter treats have been seen online, Federconsumatori said, calling on the government to crack down on price gouging.
Italy, one of the world's coronavirus hotspots, has imposed strict confinement measures and Italians are restricted to shopping at the stores closest next to them.
Online shopping and delivery has exploded as people avoid going out. Prices on festive items purchased by many Italians for Easter, an important holiday in the Catholic country, have only risen modestly in stores, however, according to Federconsumatori.
The price of a "Colomba di Pasqua," a Panettone-like cake in the form of a dove eaten at Easter costs on average 9.69 euros (USD 10.50) in a physical store but can reach prices of 19.90 euros or even 19.99 euros online, the group said in a .

Eggcessive price hikes for Easter treats in virus-hit Italy

UN's labour organisation estimates the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs could be lost in the second quarter alone from the COVID-19 outbreak, with businesses and plants shuttered worldwide.
The projection from the International Labor Organization is based on an emerging impact of the virus, and it amounts to a big increase from its March 18 prediction for an extra 25 million jobs losses for all of 2020.
ILO Director-General Guy Ryder says, These figures speak powerfully for themselves: That the world of work is suffering an absolutely extraordinary fall."
The agency says full or partial lockdown measures now affect nearly 2.7 billion workers or about 81 percent of the global workforce.
Some 1.25 billion are in hard-hit sectors such as hotel and food services, manufacturing and retail.

UN estimates loss of 195M full-time jobs

Iranian health officials cast doubt on Tuesday on China's reporting of its novel coronavirus toll, saying the figures appear to be too low.
"After the virus spread, it became evident it wasn't as China reported," said Minoo Mohraz, a health ministry official who is also a member of Iran's coronavirus-fighting taskforce.
"They're currently retracting many of their articles and their figures and studies have not been very correct," she said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
"With what we know of their scientific studies... their figures are not trustworthy." Another taskforce official said China's figures were "far from the truth", based on COVID-19's spread and high fatalities worldwide.
Hamid Souri, an epidemiologist, said "distorted data leads to distorted decision-making".
Iran's health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour came under fire on Sunday after saying China's reporting of its COVID-19 figures was a "bitter joke".
He was slammed on Twitter by the Chinese ambassador to ...

Iran health officials cast doubt on China virus tolls

Saudi Arabia's health minister on Tuesday warned of a huge spike in coronavirus cases of up to 200,000 within weeks, state media reported.
The warning comes a day after the kingdom extended the duration of daily curfews in multiple cities, including the capital Riyadh, to 24 hours in a bid to limit the spread of the deadly virus.
"Within the next few weeks, studies predict the number of infections will range from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 200,000," the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing health minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah.
Rabiah, who warned the kingdom faces a "critical moment" in the fight against the virus, said the projection was based on four studies by Saudi and international experts.
Saudi Arabia has so far reported a total of 2,795 infections and 41 deaths from the disease, according to the latest tally released by the health ministry on Tuesday.
The kingdom, which has reported the highest number of infections in the Gulf, is scrambling to limit the spread of .

Saudi expects virus cases to spike to up to 200,000: minister

President Donald Trump's chief spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, who never held a single press briefing in a White House where Trump runs much of the communications himself, stepped down on Tuesday.
The White House said Grisham would now become spokeswoman and chief of staff for Trump's wife Melania.
"First Lady Melania Trump is today announcing that Stephanie Grisham will be rejoining the East Wing full time as chief of staff and spokesperson," a statement said.
Grisham took up the once high profile job of White House press secretary in June last year but has been largely invisible since.
"My replacements will be announced in the coming days," she said.

Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham steps down: White House

Some 1.25 billion workers are seeing their livelihoods threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning it was the "worst global crisis" since World War II.
In a fresh study, the International Labour Organization warned that the global spread of the new coronavirus and the drastic measures taken to rein in the disease would, during the second quarter of 2020 alone, wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally.
That is equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, the UN agency pointed out.
The study comes as the number of cases of the new coronavirus, which first emerged in China late last year, soared past 1.35 million worldwide, including more than 75,500 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources.
The report found that the Asia Pacific region would see the greatest loss in hours worked, with the equivalent of 125 million full-time jobs obliterated there over the next three months.
"The pandemic is having very serious ...

Workers facing worst crisis since WWII amid pandemic: UN

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson battled the coronavirus in intensive care on Tuesday as death tolls in the United States and Europe reached new heights from the pandemic sweeping the world.
His case has highlighted the global reach of COVID-19, which has put more than half of the planet on some form of lockdown, upended societies and wrecked economies worldwide.
The disease's relentless march across the planet has now claimed more than 75,500 lives out of more than 1.35 million confirmed cases, with warnings that much worse is yet to come.
The number of daily deaths in Spain shot up to 743 on Tuesday, after France on Monday recorded a new surge of 833 fatalities and Italy saw its death toll rise after days of dropping.
New research showed Britain's toll on a steeper trajectory than other nations and predicted as many as 66,000 deaths there by July, far more than Italy.
Johnson himself was moved into intensive care when his condition worsened 10 days after his diagnosis. His ...

British PM in intensive care as global virus deaths soar

Wall Street stocks opened higher on Tuesday, surging for a second straight session amid hopes governments are making progress in combatting the spread of the coronavirus.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,380.75, up 700 points or 3.1 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 2.7 per cent to 2,735.25, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.2 per cent to 8,084.82.
Analysts said the gains reflected less bleak coronavirus case figures in key hotspot regions, such as New York city and Italy.
But many analysts are taking the surge with a grain of salt.
"It is gleeful that we could be nearing the worst of the coronavirus from a health standpoint," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
But he cautioned that sentiment might be "too far ahead of itself with an assumption that things will go back to normal when the stay-at-home orders are lifted".
Analysts expect more market volatility ahead as companies announce additional cutbacks ...

US stocks open much higher on hopes virus spread limited

Major League Baseball and its players union are showing interest in a plan that could allow the season to start in May at several stadiums in Arizona, ESPN reported Tuesday.
The idea, unnamed sources told the US sports network's website, has the support of top federal public health officials who think all 30 clubs could operate safely despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The plan would have teams play at empty outdoor stadiums in the Phoenix area where several teams conduct pre-season spring training and Chase Field, the retractable-roof home stadium for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Players, managers and coaches, umpires and others would be sequestered at area hotels, living in relative isolation with travel only to and from the stadium, essentially in a bubble to be kept from the public.
"I think there would be an adjustment but we would follow suit," retired MLB star and television commentator Alex Rodriguez told ESPN.
"Players want to play and fans want to watch." The MLB season .

MLB, players union eye plan for May restart in Arizona: report

A crew member of a Navy hospital ship sent to New York City for the coronavirus outbreak has tested positive for the disease.
The USNS Comfort crew member tested positive Monday and was being isolated, the Navy said in a prepared statement.
The positive test will not affect the 1,000-bed hospital ship's mission to receive patients, according to the Navy.
The Comfort has treated about 40 non-COVID-19 patients since arriving in the city last week, prompting complaints it was doing little to help overburdened hospitals in the area.
President Donald Trump said Monday he agreed to take COVID-19 patients aboard the ship after speaking with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Federal officials say emergency patients will now be seen on the ship, whether or not they have the virus, though the ship can only isolate only a small number of patients.

Crew member of Navy hospital ship in NYC has COVID-19

Global stock markets posted strong gains for a second straight session Tuesday as investors seized on signs of a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus, while some governments began making plans to ease restrictions.
"Investors are betting that the coronavirus outbreak may have peaked and are ignoring the economic slump that we are in," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst with Trading Candles.
But Razaqzada also said he "wouldn't be surprised if the rally were to end abruptly because the economic impact of COVID-19 is going to be severe".
In the meantime, oil was energised by hopes that key producers will agree to cut output at this week's emergency OPEC+ video meeting, which will address virus-sapped demand and a price war.
Following on from gains in Asian and European equities, Wall Street also posted solid gains shortly after the opening bell, with the DJIA up more than 800 points.
"Equities are still racing higher, as the news from key countries like Spain and Italy remains ...

Stock markets surge ahead on virus fight hopes

Saudi Arabia's health minister on Tuesday warned of a huge spike in coronavirus cases of up to 200,000 within the coming weeks, state media reported.
"Within the next few weeks, studies predict the number of infections will range from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 200,000," the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah.

Saudi expects up to 200,000 virus cases within weeks: minister

The European Union is to put up 15 billion euros (USD 16.4 billion) to help poor countries fight the coronavirus epidemic, the bloc's chief announced on Tuesday.
European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the money would help countries with weak healthcare systems tackle the impact of COVID-19 and also aid their long-term economic recovery.
Beating the pandemic in Europe alone is not enough, officials say, pointing out that if coronavirus continues to rage elsewhere in the world, it will simply return in time.
"We will only win this battle with a coordinated global response," von der Leyen said in a video posted on Twitter.
"This is why the European Union is securing more than 15 billion euros to help our partners worldwide to fight coronavirus." The brief video did not give details of where the money would come from nor which countries would benefit.
But officials have previously identified Africa as a concern because of its links to Europe and the poor state of healthcare in 

EU announces 15 bn euros to fight virus worldwide

A 101-year-old woman crept out of an old people's home in a bid to get to visit her daughter on her birthday, German police said Tuesday.
Officers intercepted her after she had escaped via an emergency exit at the home in northern Germany.
Brunswick police said they were called out after the enterprising senior lost her way in her search for her daughter's house in a suburb.
Although she claimed that she lived with her daughter, officers suspected the truth.
When they brought her to the house, the daughter explained that her mother had moved into the old people's home only two weeks before and had been "missing her daughter terribly".
Police said the elderly woman was able to see her daughter -- from the safety of the patrol car's window -- before they brought her back to the home.
Germany has been under nationwide lockdown for more than two weeks, with gatherings of more than two people in public banned and most businesses and institutions.
Old people's homes have been closed to ...

101-yr-old German woman escapes senior home amid virus lockdown

The UN human rights body has urged nations to release individuals detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, as the world body stressed the need to take a very close look at incarcerations and reduce overcrowding in prisons to prevent catastrophic rates of COVID-19 infection.
Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said recently in Geneva that some countries have been announcing prisoner releases of varying numbers, including of specific at-risk groups such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, elderly prisoners, those who are sick, minor and low-risk offenders, people nearing the end of their sentences and others who can safely be reintegrated into society.
"We urge states to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, and those detained for critical, dissenting views," Colville said.
"We stress that with respect to people fairly convicted of serious crimes ...

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