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Second seed Coco Gauff knocked out of Wimbledon
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'That's life': No regrets for former champion Kvitova after Wimbledon farewell
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AI videos push Combs trial misinformation, researchers say
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UK govt guts key welfare reforms to win vote after internal rebellion
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Polish supreme court ratifies nationalist's presidential vote win
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Macron, Putin discuss Iran, Ukraine in first talks since 2022
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French league launches own channel to broadcast Ligue 1
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Man City left to reflect on Club World Cup exit as tournament opens up
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Shock study: Mild electric stimulation boosts math ability
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Europe swelters as surprise early summer heatwave spreads
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Third seed Zverev stunned at Wimbledon
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Israel expands Gaza campaign ahead of Netanyahu's US visit
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Gaza mourns those killed in Israeli strike on seafront cafe
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Rubio hails end of USAID as Bush, Obama deplore cost in lives
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Berlusconi family sell Monza football club to US investment fund
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UN aid meeting seeks end to Global South debt crisis
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Trump ramps up Musk feud with deportation threat
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French paparazzi boss handed 18-month suspended sentence for blackmail
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Gilgeous-Alexander agrees record $285 mln extension: reports
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Tearful former champion Kvitova loses on Wimbledon farewell
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IMF urges Swiss to strengthen bank resilience
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Sri Lanka eye top-three spot in ODI rankings
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Trump hails new 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention center
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US Senate approves divisive Trump spending bill
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Krejcikova toughs it out in Wimbledon opener, Sinner cruises
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UK govt braces for crunch welfare reforms vote amid major rebellion
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Shifting to Asia, Rubio meets Quad and talks minerals
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Stocks diverge while tracking US trade deal prospects
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Bruce Lee Club closes archive doors citing operating costs
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Trump ramps up Musk feud with deportation, DOGE threats
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BTS announces comeback for spring 2026
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Beating England without Bumrah 'not impossible' for India captain Gill
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Krejcikova battles back against rising star Eala to win Wimbledon opener
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US Republicans close in on make-or-break Trump mega-bill vote
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Arsenal sign goalkeeper Kepa from Chelsea
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Olympic champion Zheng knocked out of Wimbledon
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Line judges missed at Wimbledon as AI takes their jobs
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Tshituka to make Test debut as Springboks change five
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'Remember Charlie Hebdo!' Protesters seethe at Istanbul magazine
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Top seed Sinner eases into Wimbledon second round
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Stocks retreat as profit-taking follows Wall Street records
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Israel expands campaign in Gaza ahead of Netanyahu's US visit
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Barcelona's Ansu Fati aims to kick-start career in Monaco
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Bordeaux-Begles drawn with Northampton in Champions Cup final repeat
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Sean Combs trial: jurors seek verdict for a second day
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Trump says will 'take a look' at deporting Musk
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Greece starts charging tourist tax on cruises
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Trump heads for 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention center
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US Senate push to pass Trump's unpopular spending bill enters second day

Mandatory Hong Kong Covid testing 'not a priority': city leader
Hong Kong's leader said Wednesday that mandatory coronavirus testing was no longer a priority after plans for mass screening of all 7.4 million residents and an accompanying citywide lockdown triggered panic.
Wednesday's announcement by Carrie Lam comes after weeks of uncertainty and mixed messages from the government, fuelling panic-buying sprees by residents snapping up vegetables, canned goods, frozen foods, and even over-the-counter medicine such as paracetamol, and testing kits.
Thousands of foreign and Hong Kong residents have also fled the city, as the United States issued a travel advisory warning against visiting and cited the risk of children being separated from parents in Covid isolation units.
But Wednesday's announcement rolls back a late February proposal by Lam that three rounds of compulsory testing would happen, and authorities saying it would be carried out alongside a citywide lockdown and movement restrictions.
"What we are doing now is planning and preparation but (mass testing) is not a priority for now," she said, adding that the plan for universal testing has not been nixed.
"If we do it, it must be for the greatest benefit of Hong Kong," Lam said.
Health experts have criticised Lam's administration for unclear messaging on where Covid-positive patients should go, the city's low vaccination rates among the elderly and a lack of preparation for medical staffing and facilities.
The city's top medical adviser also came out last week to express doubts over the effectiveness of mass testing, especially since the city currently lacks sufficient isolation wards.
Lam said Wednesday she was aware of the criticism, but defended her administration's "adjustments".
"Policies and measures need to be adjusted as the situation develops," she said. "Some people may say such adjustments are capricious -- that's a matter of opinions."
- Elderly deaths -
Despite two years of hard-won breathing room thanks to following the mainland's zero-Covid strategy, Hong Kong is now the throes of its worst-ever coronavirus outbreak fuelled by the extremely contagious Omicron variant.
It has recorded more than half a million cases since the Omicron-fuelled fifth wave kicked off in 2022, exponentially outstripping the total number of 12,000 infections the city saw in the pandemic's first two years.
It also now has one of the world's highest fatality rates in the developed world, the majority of deaths among its vaccine-hesitant elderly.
Elderly carehomes have been particularly hard-hit, as staff are downed with the virus, and Covid-positive patients are pushed away from overcrowded hospital wards.
Lam said Wednesday that care home residents across Hong Kong would receive at least one Covid jab by March 18.
The government will also provide more support for staff at care homes, providing hotels and cars for a "closed-circle management" to reduce their risk of being infected in their communities.
So far, government data shows that fewer than 60 percent of people aged 70-79 and only 32 percent of the above-80s have received two jabs.
A University of Hong Kong survey estimated that about 1.8 million residents have been infected so far, about one in four of the population.
A.Mahlangu--AMWN