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Spurs in crisis after 13 players and staff test positive for coronavirus

AFP

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said on Wednesday that eight players and five members of staff had tested positive for coronavirus and he expected more confirmed cases.

Spurs are due to play a crucial Europa Conference League game against Rennes on Thursday and UEFA has said the match is due to take place as scheduled.

It remains unclear whether the club will ask for their Premier League match at Brighton on Sunday to be postponed.

“Eight players and five members of staff,” Conte said at a press conference, which was held virtually rather than in person at the club’s Hotspur Way training centre.

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“Every day we are having people with Covid, people who were not positive yesterday. This is not a good situation.”

Conte was supposed to be joined by Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at the pre-match press conference, but instead faced the media on his own.

“To speak about football today is impossible,” said the Italian, who became Spurs boss last month. “The last situation made me very upset.

“The situation is serious. There is a big infection. We prepare for the game against Rennes, but it is very difficult.

“Again at the end of the session, one player (tested) positive, another staff (member) positive — tomorrow, who (will it be)?

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“Now, for sure, we are a bit scared because tomorrow we don’t know what happens.”

The coronavirus pandemic largely forced football behind closed doors last season but full crowds have returned to English football during the current campaign even though Covid-19 infection levels remain high.

The Premier League on Monday reported 12 new positive coronavirus tests out of 3,154 tests among players and club staff. It was the highest figure since late August.

The new Omicron variant has caused global concern over signs that it can transmit faster than previous strains and fears that its multiple mutations could help it evade immune defences provided by vaccines. No deaths have yet been associated with the variant.

– ‘Strange and incredible’ –

An emotional Conte admitted the situation was “so strange and incredible”.

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The Italian added: “This for sure makes me upset because I am here to talk about football, about my players and the atmosphere that I want to see tomorrow. Instead we are talking about the people that have Covid.”

Conte was not able to confirm whether it was the Omicron variant at the centre of the outbreak, but confirmed he had been vaccinated.

Referring to vaccination take-up within his squad, the Spurs boss said: “I think everyone takes (their own) best decision and is a question for the medical department about people that whether they are vaccinated or not.”

Rennes are already through to the last 16 of the Conference League as group winners while Tottenham currently lead Vitesse on overall goal difference in the battle for second place.

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International

At least nine injured, including two children, in new US bombings in Yemen

At least nine people, including two children, were injured this Wednesday in a new wave of bombings carried out by the United States against at least four cities in Yemen under the control of the Houthi rebels, reported media affiliated with the Iranian-backed Shiite movement.

Al Masirah, spokesman for the Houthis, reported that at least “seven women and two children were injured in the US attack” in the Al Thawra district of Sana, the capital of Yemen controlled by the insurgents since 2014.

According to the chain, the bombings also targeted “the surroundings of the city of Saada”, north of the capital; the northern town of Hazm, in the governorship of Al Jawf; and a district of the city of Al Bayda, in the center of the country.

At least two missiles hit the capital’s neighborhood of Al Jeraf, on the road that leads to Saná airport, according to EFE.

Large columns of smoke and a large fire could be observed from different points of the city, while ambulance teams and firefighters went to the scene of the attack, which according to witnesses was aimed at a deposit.

Al Masirah added that one of the attacks hit “a celebration hall under construction in a residential neighborhood in the Al Thawra district” and, in Al Jawf, destroyed a farm and killed several head of cattle.

This new wave of bombings came minutes after US President Donald Trump warned that Iran must completely and immediately cease its support for the Houthis, not just reduce it, and threatened the latter that they will be “completely annihilated” if the attacks against Israel and the Red Sea do not cease.

The Republican leader estimated on his social network, Truth Social, that “tremendous damage” has already been inflicted on the Houthis and stressed that “the situation will progressively worsen.”

At the weekend, the United States began a series of airstrikes against different cities controlled by the Houthis in northern and central Yemen, as well as in the capital, Saná, bombings that resulted in more than fifty deaths.

 

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International

China celebrates the call between Trump and Putin and affirms that dialogue is the “only way out” of the war in Ukraine

China said on Thursday that the dialogue is “the only way out” to the war in Ukraine and held the talks held on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to start “negotiations immediately” to end the conflict.

“Russia and the United States are influential powers and we welcome them strengthening the dialogue. Regarding Ukraine, dialogue is the only way out of the crisis. From the beginning, Chinese President Xi Jinping has advocated for peace talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference.

The spokesman added that China “will continue to make efforts” for peace and that it will play “a constructive role” to end the European conflict.

He also reiterated that China supports “any effort that leads to peace” and emphasized that the Asian country hopes to “maintain communication with all parties” for this purpose.

The possibility of Russia and Ukraine starting peace negotiations for the first time in almost three years of war multiplies after that call between Trump and Putin, to which we must add the one made by the American with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

This Friday, the US Vice President, J.D. Vance, will meet on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, which will be attended by China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has maintained an ambiguous position from which it has called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, and attention to the “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.

Beijing has opposed “unilateral” sanctions against Moscow and advocated for “a de-escalation and a political solution”. However, the West has accused China of supporting the Russian military campaign, something it has always denied, and of supplying Putin with key components he needs to produce weapons.

In addition, European countries have repeatedly asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to use his influence on Putin to end the conflict, but the Asian country has given priority to strengthening its relations with Russia, a country from which it imports oil and gas at a lower cost.

China has limited itself to presenting peace initiatives that have had a lukewarm reception in the West, such as the plan it presented last year together with Brazil that did not include the withdrawal of Russian troops and that was rejected by Kiev.

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International

More than 400,000 migrants passed the Darién in 2024, according to the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office

More than 400,000 migrants, most of them Venezuelans, passed through the Darién Tapón, the natural border of Colombia and Panama, reported this Friday by the Ombudsman’s Office in 2024, which warned about the high risks of sexual and gender violence that women and adolescents can suffer.

According to the monitoring carried out by the Ombudsman’s Office, in 2024 there were a total of 400,612 migrants crossing the Urabá and Darién region in Colombia.

The figure was known in a bilateral hearing of the ombudsman, Iris Marín, with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Madi Gehad.

The Ombudsman’s Office detailed in a statement that most migrants are from Venezuela (302,185), followed by those from Ecuador (22,785), Colombia (17,529), Haiti (17,329), China (12,214) and India (6,927).

Of this total, 126,151 are women, 195,369 men and 72,092 boys, girls, adolescents and young people.

The Ombudsman’s Office also warned of the “special vulnerability of women, girls and adolescents, who face high risks of sexual and gender violence.”

In addition, they found deficiencies in the mechanisms to verify the kinship of minors with accompanying adults, increasing the danger of human trafficking and exploitation.

The entity highlighted the return of migrants by the National Border Service of Panama (Senafront), which has forced many people to use more dangerous routes.

Added to this is the recent issuance in Panama of a decree imposing sanctions on those who enter irregularly from Colombia, which could aggravate the humanitarian crisis at the border.

The National Migration Service (SNM) reported on February 1 that the flow of irregular migrants entering through the dangerous Darién jungle marked a “historic” drop of 94% last January, compared to the same period in 2024.

According to the comparative figures published by the entity, in January of this year 2,158 migrants entered the Darién, compared to the 34,839 who did so in the same period of 2024.

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