Cristiano Ronaldo returned to training with Juventus in Turin on Tuesday after an absence of over two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 35-year-old drove himself into the Juventus Training Centre in a Jeep with tinted windows.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner will undergo medical and physical tests before joining up with his teammates in training, according to media reports.
Juventus players returned to individual training on May 4, the day Ronaldo returned to Italy after spending lockdown in his native Portugal.
For the past two weeks, he has been in quarantine in his villa in Turin.
Ronaldo played in Juventus's last Serie A game before the season was suspended, a 2-0 win over Inter Milan behind closed doors at the Allianz Stadium on March 8.
Italy has been one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 32,000 deaths.
Juventus are leading Lazio by one point as they target a ninth consecutive Scudetto.
Ronaldo is the first Juventus foreign ...

Ronaldo back training at Juventus after two months

PTI Automatic

Australian Rules footballers have reportedly been told to limit their sexual partners to minimise the chances of COVID-19 disrupting plans for a season restart next month.
AFL officials have told players that one-night stands will not be banned but they could be punished if they engage in risky behaviour such as a string of hook-ups, Melbourne's Herald-Sun reported.
"I think what it is saying is calm down a bit guys and just keep the visitors down to a minimum," Collingwood club president Eddie McGuire told radio station Triple M.
"There's no point going through this if randoms (sexual encounters) are coming from everywhere." The AFL intends to resume on June 11 and has implemented strict health protocols for players.
However, Melbourne player Jake Lever said some of his teammates were not happy with what one media outlet has described as the "bonk ban".
"It doesn't really affect me. I've got a little baby at home and a wife so lucky for me, I'm pretty happy," he told the ...

Aussie rules Romeos warned over one-night stands: report

Billionaire Saudi businessman Saleh Abdullah Kamel, who founded the banking and real estate conglomerate Dallah Albaraka Group, has died, according to relatives quoted in the kingdom's media. He was 79.
People close to Kamel told The Associated Press he died at the Dr. Samir Abbas Hospital in the city of Jiddah, where he was taken after suffering a heart attack early on Tuesday.
Kamel's business empire grew from its humble beginnings in the late 1960's  at the same time that the kingdom was using its oil wealth to rapidly develop and in need of homegrown companies to build roads, highways and cities.
Over the years, the business expanded to tens of thousands of employees and today includes subsidiaries and stakes in a range of businesses, such as the operation and maintenance of airports and roads, tourism, trade, trucking and transportation, telecommunications, media, agriculture, poultry and health care.
Kamel's son and the CEO of Dallah Albaraka Group, Abdullah Kamel, was quoted in 

Billionaire Saudi banking tycoon dead at 79, family says

A special anti-corruption court in Iran has sentenced a couple to death on money laundering and other charges, the judiciary said Tuesday.
The couple  Najva Lasheidaei and her husband Vahid Behzadi  are said to have smuggled hard currency and laundered $200 million, said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.
Authorities also confiscated nearly 300 kilograms of gold from the couple and said they had bought 6,700 cars from Saipa, one of top two automakers of the country.
In connection to the Saipa part of the charges, the court separately sentenced lawmakers Fereidoun Ahmadi and Mohammad Azizi to five years in prison each, as well as Mehdi Jamali, a former CEO of Saipa, to seven years in prison.
Both lawmakers represent the city of Zanjan, about 300 kilometers (187 miles) northwest of the capital, Tehran.
Under Iranian law, the couple can appeal the verdicts within 20 days. Their lawyers were not reachable for comment.
Iran is struggling to battle corruption, including among its ...

Iran sentences couple to death over money laundering

Cristiano Ronaldo has reported back to Juventus' training center after a 10-week absence.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner showed up for medical tests with the Serie A leaders.
Ronaldo observed a two-week isolation period at his home in Turin after spending the lockdown period in his native Portugal.
Ronaldo has not been alongside his teammates since helping Juventus to a 2-0 win over Inter Milan on March 8. He flew to his home island of Madeira, Portugal, after that.
Serie A was suspended a day later when the Italian government ordered a nationwide lockdown. The league is hoping to resume playing on June 13.

Ronaldo reports back for Juventus practice

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega blamed new coronavirus-related health monitoring measures taken by neighboring Costa Rica for his country's decision Monday to close their two border crossings.
In a nationally televised address, Ortega said more than 1,000 trucks were stranded on Nicaraguan highways. The dispute boiled over after Costa Rica on May 8 began testing all truck drivers entering the country for COVID-19.
Costa Rica said 61 truckers had so far tested positive, most trying to enter from Nicaragua though some were also entering from Panama.
The truckers are tested at the border before being allowed to continue. Those who test positive are forced to turn around. Those showing symptoms are rejected without a test.
It isn't Nicaragua that has closed the border, Ortega said. It is Costa Rica (that has) with measures it began to take, to demand, to establish. He called the testing a pretext used by Costa Rican authorities.
At Costa Rica's southern border with Panama, truckers ...

Nicaragua closes Costa Rica border to protest virus testing

The Mediterranean resort town of Ayia Napa is known for its boisterous parties. Each summer, thousands of young foreign tourists pack the dance floors of its nightlife district after a day at the beach.
But the pandemic silenced the exuberant Napa Strip district as the island nation of Cyprus went into a lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
Now nightclub owners wonder when social distancing rules will be eased enough for the party to resume - and what those new parties will look like.
We know at nightclubs, young people will go to dance and have a good time. But then you have to tell them that they have to keep 2 metres (6 feet) apart from each other? asked Charalambos Alexandrou, the spokesman for a group representing local clubs, bars and restaurants.
Across southern Europe, in places where tourism drives much of the economy, officials are weighing how to entice travellers to come back, even while the pandemic remains a threat.
Juggling the sometimes-competing needs of ...

Beaches, nightclubs? Europe mulls how to get tourists back

Unemployment claims in Britain jumped 69 per cent  in April, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and hit the labor market, UK authorities said Tuesday.
The Office of National Statistics says jobless claims surged by 856,000 to 2.1 million in April as compared to the month before. The figures covered only the first weeks of the lockdown, said Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS.
In March, employment held up well, as furloughed workers still count as employed, but hours worked fell sharply in late March, especially in sectors such as hospitality and construction,'' he said.  Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey told the BBC that the government was focused on those claiming benefits under Universal Credit, a welfare payment for those who need help, including the unemployed.
I think so far the employment stats really are indicative to the end of March and we won't have a more detailed understanding for about another month,'' she said. So at 

UK unemployment claims surge 69% as pandemic takes hold

Australia's trade minister said Tuesday that his country does not want a trade war with China, but maintained Beijing had erred by imposing stiff tariffs on Australian barley in what is widely seen as punishment for advocating an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic.
China effectively ended imports of Australian barley by putting tariffs of more than 80% on the crop, accusing Australia of breaching World Trade Organization rules by subsidizing barley production and selling the crop in China at below production costs. The move came a week after China banned beef imports from Australia's four largest abattoirs over labeling issues.
Australia is not interested in a trade war. We don't pursue our trade policies on a tit-for-tat basis, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told reporters. We operate according to the trade rules that we strongly support.
Birmingham said China has made errors of both fact and law in applying WTO rules, adding that there was no evidence that Australia was ...

Australia says it doesn't want trade war with China

A 5-magnitude earthquake has struck China's southwestern Yunnan province, killing at least four people and injuring 24 others, according to officials.
One person was trapped in debris, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
It said that rescue and relief teams, including firefighters and emergency response, have been sent to the quake zone.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the 5-magnitude shallow quake struck Qiaojia county at 9.47 PM on Monday.
The tremors were felt in Qujing city's Huize county as well as in the cities of Zhaotong, Xuanwei and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
The epicentre, with a depth of eight kilometres, was monitored at 27.18 degrees north latitude and 103.16 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre.
The county government of Qiaojia has sent rescuers to 16 townships for rescue and disaster relief assistance.
According to the report, the earthquake has damaged 10 telecom base stations.
The Yunnan provincial ...

4 killed, 24 injured as quake hits China's southwestern Yunnan province

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called on China to immediately make public the Panchen Lama's whereabouts and uphold its international commitments to promote religious freedom, saying he is one of the most important figures in the Tibetan Buddhism with spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama.
His remarks came on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama.
The Department of State has made the promotion and protection of religious freedom a priority, especially in China, where people of all faiths face severe repression and discrimination, Pompeo said.
As part of that mission on May 17, we marked the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has not appeared in public since the PRC (People's Republic of China) government abducted him in 1995 at age six, he said in a statement.
The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism with spiritual authority second ...

Pompeo calls on China to immediately make public Panchen Lama's whereabouts

More than a century ago, the Sotiria hospital in Athens was built as a public sanatorium for patients with a feared infectious disease that spread through coughing and killed indiscriminately  tuberculosis.
Now Greece's main hospital for COVID-19 patients, it's also the focus of a hands-on training program for dozens of medical students who volunteered to relieve hard-pressed doctors from simpler duties while gaining a close peek at the front lines as medical history is being made.
When the Sotiria  which means salvation in Greek  was designated to lead the country's coronavirus response in March, medical staff quickly found themselves too busy to properly carry out ordinary duties at a major Athens hospital that treats all kinds of patients.
That's when two doctors and professors of medicine at Athens University thought of seeking help from volunteers.
The program was initially designed for graduates in medicine, but so many students, mostly in their final year, asked to join that it 

Students help keep Greek COVID hospital on track

Actor Colin Farrell has teased that he has a few "tasty scenes" in Matt Reeves' upcoming directorial "The Batman".
The Irish actor is playing The Penguin in the movie which will feature Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader.
Talking to the GMA News Network, Farrell revealed that he hasn't got "much to do" in the film but he liked the "creation" and "aesthetic" of his character.
"I had only started it and I can't wait to get back. The creation of it, the aesthetic of the character, has been fun and I really am so excited to get back and explore it. And I haven't got that much to do. I have a certain amount in the film. I am not all over it by any means," the actor said.
"But there are a couple of some tasty scenes I have in it and my creation and I can't wait to get back. Yeah, I totally feel like it is something that I have not had the opportunity to explore before. It feels original and fun. But I am only at the start of the journey so I can't wait to get back and really get into ...

Colin Farrell has 'some tasty scenes' in 'The Batman'

The second season of the comedy-drama "The Politician" is set to start streaming from June 19, Netflix has announced.
According to Deadline, the streamer released the first look photos for the upcoming season of Ryan Murphy's series.
"The Politician" follows Payton Hobart (played by Ben Platt), a well-to-do student from Santa Barbara, California, who has known since childhood that he's going to be the president of the United States one day.
But first he will have to go through high school, the most treacherous political landscape of all.
The series also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Zoey Deutch, Lucy Boynton, Bob Balaban, David Corenswet, Laura Dreyfuss, Theo Germaine, Jessica Lange, Benjamin Barrett, among others.
The new season will see Payton trying to unseat Dede Standish (Judith Light) in the New York State Senate race.
"As a long-time incumbent and greatly admired Senate Majority Leader with no-nonsense Chief of Staff, Hadassah Gold (Bette Midler) at her side, Dede's re-election was ...

Netflix unveils season two premiere date for 'The Politician'

An influential group of British lawmakers is accusing the government of failing to conduct enough tests for the new coronavirus, saying the lapse helped COVID-19 cut a deadly swath through the country's nursing homes.
The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee says that testing capacity has been inadequate for most of the pandemic so far.
In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, committee chairman Greg Clark said Britain's testing capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity.
The UK authorities initially sought to trace and test everyone who had been in contact with people infected with the coronavirus. But they abandoned that strategy in mid-March as the number of infections overwhelmed the country's limited testing capacity.
Clark, a lawmaker from the governing Conservatives, said that pivotal decision meant that nursing home residents and staff were not tested at a time when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant. Thousands of nursing home 

UK government accused of virus testing failures

Hollywood star Stephan James calls himself a fan of great stories and as someone who has played lead roles in Barry Jenkins' film If Beale Street Could Talk and Amazon series Homecoming, the young actor says he wants to continue to be a part of art that reflects life in society.
James, 26, is coming back for his second innings on "Homecoming", which introduced his talent to global audiences.
"I don't claim to be a politician or an activist by any stretch of the imagination, but I've had an incredible opportunity in my life to be a part of telling stories that matter. To be a part of art that reflects life in society and that can in turn, maybe, change the world.
"For me, I think that is sort of my guiding light for the roles I choose and the people I indulge with. At the core of it all, I've just been a fan of great stories," James said in response to a question from PTI during a virtual group interview.
Saying yes to the opportunity of sharing the screen space with Hollywood icon ...

Lucky to tell cool stories with really cool people: Homecoming' star Stephan James

Cigarette smoke spurs the lungs to make more of the receptor protein which the novel coronavirus uses to enter human cells, according to a study which suggests that quitting smoking might reduce the risk of a severe coronavirus infection.
The findings, published in the journal Developmental Cell, may explain why smokers appear to be particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease.
"Our results provide a clue as to why smokers who develop COVID-19 tend to have poor clinical outcomes," said study senior author Jason Sheltzer, a cancer geneticist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US.
"We found that smoking caused a significant increase in the expression of ACE2, the protein that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter human cells," Sheltzer said.
According to the scientists, quitting smoking might reduce the risk of a severe coronavirus infection.
They said most individuals infected with the virus suffer only mild illness, if they experience any at all.
However, some require intensive care ...

Quitting smoking might reduce severe coronavirus infection risk: Study

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Monday sentenced two militants to death for their involvement in a suicide bombing at a shrine in Sindh province that claimed 82 lives.
According to police, the accused -- Nadir Ali and Furqan -- were identified by the eyewitnesses and judicial magistrate Mushtaq Ali Jokhio through CCTV footage.
They were found guilty in the 2017 bombing case in Sehwan Sharif area of Sindh province.
The suicide bombing at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif on February 16, 2017 killed 82 people and left hundreds of others injured.
The convicts had reportedly carried out recce of the shrine with the suicide bomber a day before the explosion.
In his statement to the court, Jokhio had identified Ali and said that he had confessed to facilitating the terrorists, the Express Tribune reported.
The convict had told the magistrate that he rented a room in Sehwan a day before the blast, while also inspecting the tomb of Lal Shahbaz Qalander from the inside 

Pak court sentences 2 militants to death for involvement in shrine bombing at Sindh

Singapore continues to report a high level of coronavirus infection among foreign workers, confirming 451 new cases on Tuesday, taking the total to 28,794.
Of the new cases, only one is Singaporean citizen or a permanent resident while all others are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, said the Health Ministry in its preliminary daily update.
Meanwhile, about 85,000 foreign construction workers living in public housing and private residences are being allowed to leave their homes on Tuesday, with their stay-home notice (SHN) ending on Monday at 11.59pm.
They must, however, continue to abide by circuit breaker measures and head out only for necessities, like buying food, reported The Straits Times.
The move does not apply to construction workers living in dormitories such as purpose-built dormitories, factory-converted dormitories and temporary quarters on construction sites. They have to wait until after June 1.
The restriction on movement was imposed as a ...

Singapore reports 451 new coronavirus cases

A rocket struck Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government, early on Tuesday morning, according to an Iraqi military statement, the first attack on the area since a new prime minister was sworn in earlier this month.
The Katyusha rocket hit an empty house, causing minor damages,. The Green Zone is where government buildings and foreign embassies are located. A preliminary investigation indicated the rocket was launched from the nearby by Al-Idrisi neighbourhood on Palestine Street, the statement said.
Previous attacks have frequently targeted the US presence in Iraq, including the US Embassy and Iraqi bases hosting American troops. The US has blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia group backed by Iran, of perpetrating the attacks.
The new administration of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who came to power earlier this month, is preparing for a strategic dialogue with Washington, expected to take place next month. The talks will touch on security and ...

Iraq military: Rocket hit Baghdad Green Zone, minor damages

West Indies captain Jason Holder has said he won't force his players into travelling to England for a three-Test series amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The West Indies were originally scheduled to play the Test series from June 4 but the fixture had to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
However, the the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) hope they can kickstart the season by rescheduling the series for July.
"Each player has to be comfortable in making the step. It's been made clear if we are to hop on a plane and go over to England to play, it must be safe" Holder told BBC Radio 5.
"Certainly from my perspective, I won't be forcing anyone to go anywhere,"  Holder added.
Last week, ECB director Ashley Giles said they have to create an environment where West Indies and Pakistan both feel safe while travelling to the United Kingdom. He assured that a complete risk assessment would be done before taking the plunge.
"We've been given assurances from Cricket West Indies that we'd 

Page 53 - PTI Stories National