Dewey

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Top racing trainer Gordon Elliott has apologized after a photo surfaced of him sitting on top of a dead horse. Elliott, who trains horses at Cullentra stables in County Meath, Ireland, has won a slew of major titles including two Grand Nationals - regarded as the most grueling and spectacular steeplechase in the world. "Firstly, I apologize profoundly for any offense that this photo has caused and can categorically state that the welfare of each and every horse under my care is paramount and has been central to the success that we have enjoyed here at Cullentra," wrote Elliott as he put out a statement on Twitter on Sunday after the image went viral online. "The photo in question was taken some time ago and occurred after a horse had died of an apparent heart attack on the gallops. I appreciate that an initial viewing of this photo suggests it is a callous and staged photo but nothing could be further from the truth. " The image shows Elliott astride the horse, which is lying on its side of him. He is making a peace sign with one hand and holding his phone to his face of it with the other, and a caption across the photo reads: "New work rider this morning." In his statement Elliott said he had received a phone call as he was standing over the horse, waiting to help with the removal of the body. When the call came in he sat down "without thinking" and then responded to a shout from a member of his team by gesturing "to wait until I was finished," said the statement. "Such background information may seem trivial at this time and will not allay the concerns of many people both within and outside the world of horse racing," continued Elliott. "However, I feel it is important to provide people with some context surrounding this photo." Elliott ended the statement by saying he was cooperating fully with an investigation announced by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in a brief statement on Twitter on Saturday. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) said it had been in contact with the IHRB and welcomed its investigation. "We hope the Irish authorities will quickly confirm how this shocking picture originated," a BHA spokesperson said in a statement published Sunday. "Respect for horses is a fundamental value of our sport, contrary to the impression in this picture," the spokesperson added. "The IHRB have assured us that the investigation will be carried out as quickly as possible and that they will keep us informed as more information becomes available." On Monday betting company Betfair said Elliott will no longer serve as a brand ambassador for the firm. "While we recognize that Gordon deeply regrets and apologized unreservedly for his poor judgment his actions are completely at odds with the values of the Betfair brand and that of our employees," a Betfair spokesperson said. "With that in mind, we have decided to discontinue our association with Gordon with immediate effect." Elliott is a former jockey who started training horses in 2006, according to his website. He won the Grand National in 2018 and 2019 with Tiger Roll, which is owned by Michael O'Leary, owner of airline Ryanair. According to the Animal Aid charity, 186 horses died in 2019 "as a direct result of racing" in Britain. The charity, which describes itself as one of the UK's largest animal rights groups, said 145 of those 186 horses were killed in jump racing.

The owners of Jiangsu FC, the defending Chinese Super League (CSL) champion, announced on Sunday that the club would "cease operations" with immediate effect. Jiangsu FC - formerly known as Jiangsu Suning - hit the headlines in 2019 after it was reported to have offered Gareth Bale a highly lucrative contract to leave Real Madrid. "Due to various uncontrollable elements, Jiangsu Football Club cannot effectively guarantee to continue to play in the Super League and the AFC [Asian Football Confederation]," the club's owners, Nanjing-based retailer Suning, said in a statement. "In the past six months, the club has gone all the way to seek to transfer the club's equity with great sincerity, and did not give up the opportunity of Jiangsu Football Club's inheritance. "On the occasion of the deadline for admission to the 2021 season ... we have no choice but to announce: with immediate effect, Jiangsu Football Club ceases operations of its teams, and at the same time, on a larger scale, we expect people of insight and enterprises from the society to discuss follow-up development matters with us. " The decision also impacts Jiangsu FC's successful women's team, which won its second Chinese Women's Super League title in 2019. If Jiangsu FC is unable to find a new buyer, that could have implications for the Asian Champions League - the continent's most prestigious club tournament - which starts in April. The Asia Football Confederation did not immediately respond to CNN Sport's request for comment. Eye-watering contracts For several years, CSL clubs have been luring some of the world's top talent with eye-watering contracts, leading many to question the long-term viability of the league. Just last month, fellow CSL club Shandong Luneng was barred from competing in the Asian Champions League due to its breaching of financial regulations. Local reports also say that Tianjin Tigers - formerly known as Tianjin Teda - is also on the verge of collapse, after its state-owned owner TEDA Holding reportedly pulled its funding ahead of the season. Part of the issue stems from a recent Chinese Football Association (CFA) ruling that no longer permits clubs to have corporate sponsors in their titles. The Tigers' city rival Tianjin Tianhai, once the home of Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato and Italian coach Fabio Cannavaro, collapsed and ceased to exist in May of last year. Suning is also a majority owner in current Italian league leader Inter Milan after purchasing 68.55% of the club for $ 307 million in 2016. Inter did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment as to whether Suning's new football strategy had any implications for the Serie A club. 'Soccer powerhouse' The CFA said it "regrets" Jiangsu FC's suspension of operations, but "respects the decision." "Jiangsu football has had a glorious history and, since its takeover in 2015, the Suning Group has contributed tremendously to football development in general," the CFA said in a statement on its website, reported Reuters. "The Chinese Football Association appreciates this effort. "The Chinese Football Association will work towards implementing the China Football Reform and Development Plan to continue its reforms, with an emphasis on strengthening youth development, improving the professional league and uniting all the forces around Chinese football to keep fighting for Chinese football." As vice president in 2011, Chinese President Xi Jinping made getting better at the beautiful game a national goal. As a child, Xi had played football at school and had ambitions for the entire nation to fall in love with the sport. In 2016, China unveiled its blueprint to transform the country into a "soccer powerhouse" able to challenge the world's top teams by 2050. Businessmen including Alibaba's Jack Ma were encouraged to invest billions in the CSL, while Wang Jianlin's Dalian Wanda Group (DWG) also poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the sport. However, not a single Super League match sold out in the 2019 season, with stadium capacity averaging at 51% full. During that season Jiangsu's average attendance was 27,508 in the 62,000-capacity Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the 2020 CSL season began behind closed doors, before a limited number of fans were allowed into stadiums.

A French court on Monday sentenced former President Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison for corruption and influence peddling, but suspended two years of the sentence. President from 2007 to 2012, he was found guilty of trying to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about an ongoing investigation into his campaign finances from him. The judge said Sarkozy did not need to serve time in jail. He could serve the sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet at home. The 66-year-old is the first president to have been sentenced to jail in France's modern history. The Paris prosecutor had requested a two-year prison sentence and a two-year suspended sentence for Sarkozy and his co-defendants, his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former magistrate Gilbert Azibert. Herzog and Azibert were found guilty and handed prison sentences. After a lengthy investigation and legal entanglements, the trial began at the end of last year. The judge handed down Sarkozy's sentence Monday afternoon in front of a full courtroom. Dubbed the "wiretapping case," it began in 2013 when investigators bugged phones belonging to Sarkozy and his lawyer Herzog, in the context of an inquiry against Sarkozy. They discovered that the two men promised senior magistrate Gilbert Azibert a prestigious position in Monaco, in exchange for information about an ongoing inquiry into claims that Sarkozy had accepted illegal payments from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his successful 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy faces other accusations. In just over two weeks' time he will once again be on trial accused of violating campaign financing rules during his failed 2012 re-election bid, by working with a friendly public relations firm to hide the true cost of his campaign. In a separate case, French prosecutors are looking into alleged illegal campaign funding from Libya. Libya's former deceased leader Muammar Gaddafi allegedly provided Sarkozy's 2007 campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases. In 2011, former president Jacques Chirac was found guilty of misuse of public funds and given a two-year suspended prison sentence for the employment of fictitious officials when he was mayor of Paris in the early 1990s. The last French head of state to be sentenced to jail was Marshal Philippe Pétain in 1945 - for treason after he collaborated with the Nazis.

Shortly after the US intelligence community published its long-awaited report on Friday afternoon on the Saudis who were responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, it was taken down without explanation and replaced with another version that removed the names of three men it had initially said were complicit. The quiet switch by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence went largely unnoticed as the outcry grew that the Biden administration was failing to punish the prince in any way, despite having just declared in no uncertain terms that MBS was responsible. The first link to the report that was sent out by ODNI went dead. It was then replaced with a second version that removed three of the men it had just announced "participated in, ordered, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi." The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to clarify why the names were originally on the list and what roles, if any, they may have had in Khashoggi's killing. "We put a revised document on the website because the original one erroneously contained three names which should not have been included," an ODNI spokesperson told CNN. A senior administration official had argued on Friday afternoon before the change was noticed that the report contained no new information. "This [is] information that has been known to the U.S. government and briefed to select committees and members of Congress over one year ago," the official said. Yet three of the names that ODNI had first listed had not previously been mentioned in reports about Khashoggi's death of him. The White House referred requests for comment to the ODNI. Biden had said during the presidential campaign he would make Saudi Arabia "the pariah that they are." "Historically, and even in recent history-- democratic and republican administrations-- there have not been sanctions put in place for the leaders of foreign governments s where we have diplomatic relations and even where we don't have diplomatic relations," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN on Sunday. "We believe there is more effective ways to make sure this doesn't happen again." The first of the three names removed is Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, who has not been previously connected with Khashoggi's death. According to a person familiar with the inner workings of Saudi intelligence, he's the brother of General Abdulaziz bin Mohammed al-Howraini, a minister who is in charge of the powerful Presidency of State Security which oversees multiple intelligence and counterterrorism agencies. Abdulla (as it's spelled by ODNI) appears in Saudi reports as the assistant chief of state security for counterterrorism. The two other names that appeared in the unclassified intelligence report and then disappeared are Yasir Khalid Alsalem and Ibrahim al-Salim. It was not immediately clear who they are. The three men are not among the 18 who have been sanctioned by the US for Khashoggi's murder. Those 18 were listed in the revised intelligence report, whose file name on the ODNI website includes "v2," clearly indicating it's the second version. The initial intelligence report appears to have been online for several hours before ODNI took it down, according to the Wayback Machine internet archive. The discrepancy between the two lists of names was noticed on Capitol Hill and clarification has been asked of ODNI, a House Intelligence Committee official said. A spokesperson for the Senate Intelligence Committee declined to comment. The report, which was declassified by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, assessed that the Crown Prince, known as MBS, approved the operation in Istanbul to "capture or kill" Khashoggi. The report concludes with a list of names - first 21, then 18 when it was revised - who US intelligence has "high confidence" were involved in the grisly murder but does not assess whether they knew that the operation would lead to his death . Seventeen Saudis had already been sanctioned for the murder by the US Treasury Department. An eighteenth, a former senior intelligence official, was added Friday. The force that serves as the protective detail for MBS, known as the "Tiger Squad," was also sanctioned. The State Department also announced 76 unnamed Saudis would be barred from the United States under a "Khashoggi Ban." The Saudi government immediately responded to Friday's report and criticized its conclusions. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions," a statement read. Biden said over the weekend that more announcements regarding Saudi Arabi would be coming Monday. The White House clarified his comments from him, saying the State Department would provide more details about the announcements already made. "The recalibration of relations with Saudi Arabia began on January 20th and it's ongoing. The Administration took a wide range of new actions on Friday," a White House official said. "The President is referring to the fact that on Monday, the State Department will provide more details and elaborate on those announcements, not new announcements."

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Dozens of towns in Italy have been selling abandoned dwellings for a song, sparking a new kind of gold rush as enthusiastic buyers from all over the world try to secure a bargain in beautiful, remote villages. The deal is seen as a win-win, with dying communities getting an influx of new life and investment as dilapidated properties spring back to life and, more importantly, start contributing revenue. But there could still be losers. Now families of the original owners of some of the abandoned homes are starting to come forward to stake their claim on these old stone structures, saying that they should've been contacted to be made aware of the sales. Among those now disputing the potential sell-off of their family home is Josie Faccini of Niagara Falls, Canada. Faccini's grandmother, Consilia Scapillati, migrated to Canada in the 1950s, leaving behind a cute little stone house in the historical center of Castropignano in Italy's southern Molise region that the family has visited regularly over intervening years. After reading about Castropignano's plan to offload its old housing stock, Faccini began worrying about a "property grab" and has spent months trying, from afar, to reassert her claim to the home her grandmother left decades ago. And she's not the only one. Despite efforts by local authorities to contact the families of the original owners, others say they've also feared losing their ancestral homes as they struggle to assert their claim because of distance, time and legal complications. 'Angry and frustrated' "I'd heard of the plans of selling and reached out in August," Faccini tells CNN Travel. "Then I saw the article saying the mayor had sent notifications abroad but no one in my family was notified of this." Faccini says she's sent multiple emails and a registered letter to Nicola Scapillati, the mayor of Castropignano, who shares the same surname as her grandmother, but has received no reply. "Nothing," she says. "I am so angry and frustrated. I would like to see the town flourish and help be a part of this, but please don't steal our home from us." Faccini says she finally got a reply from the mayor after an agonizing eight month wait, but says Scapillati told her she needed to provide a deed of ownership and information to verify her claim. This could prove tricky. Asked by CNN to comment on Faccini's claim, Scapillati points out that over the years, the home could have passed to new owners outside the family or to other heirs or distant relatives. Faccini has cousins back in Italy who she has never met. It's also not unknown for sales or transfer of ownership to be made informally in Italy, especially in rural locations, to avoid taxes, Scapillati says. Castropignano is doing things differently compared to other places selling € 1 homes. The town has roughly 100 abandoned buildings, but the mayor says he wants to match interested parties with the right house for them. He says he’s moving along two parallel paths, reaching out both to potential buyers and old owners at the same time, step by step, to ensure demand meets supply. Once interested buyers get in touch with a detailed plan of what kind of house they'd like and why, the mayor says he attempts to reach the original owners based on the land registry data.

Abraham began burying the bodies in the morning and didn’t stop until nightfall. The corpses, some dressed in white church robes drenched in blood, were scattered in arid fields, scrubby farmlands and a dry riverbed. Others had been shot on their doorsteps with their hands bound with belts. Among the dead were priests, old men, women, entire families and a group of more than 20 Sunday school children, some as young as 14, according to eyewitnesses, parents and their teacher. Abraham recognized some of the children immediately. They were from his town in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, Edaga Hamus, and had also fled fighting there two weeks earlier. As clashes raged, Abraham and his family, along with hundreds of other displaced people, escaped to Dengelat, a nearby village in a craggy valley ringed by steep, rust-colored cliffs. They sought shelter at Maryam Dengelat, a historic monastery complex famed for a centuries-old, rock-hewn church. On November 30, they were joined by scores of religious pilgrims for the Orthodox festival of Tsion Maryam, an annual feast to mark the day Ethiopians believe the Ark of the Covenant was brought to the country from Jerusalem. The holy day was a welcome respite from weeks of violence, but it would not last. A group of Eritrean soldiers opened fire on Maryam Dengelat church while hundreds of congregants were celebrating mass, eyewitnesses say. People tried to flee on foot, scrambling up cliff paths to neighboring villages. The troops followed, spraying the mountainside with bullets. A CNN investigation drawing on interviews with 12 eyewitnesses, more than 20 relatives of the survivors and photographic evidence sheds light on what happened next. The soldiers went door to door, dragging people from their homes. Mothers were forced to tie up their sons. A pregnant woman was shot, her husband killed. Some of the survivors hid under the bodies of the dead. The mayhem continued for three days, with soldiers slaughtering local residents, displaced people and pilgrims. Finally, on December 2, the soldiers allowed informal burials to take place, but threatened to kill anyone they saw mourning. Abraham volunteered. Under their watchful eyes, he held back tears as he sorted through the bodies of children and teenagers, collecting identity cards from pockets and making meticulous notes about their clothing or hairstyle. Some were completely unrecognizable, having been shot in the face, Abraham said. Then he covered their bodies with earth and thorny tree branches, praying that they wouldn't be washed away, or carried off by prowling hyenas and circling vultures. Finally he placed their shoes on top of the burial mounds, so he could return with their parents to identify them. One was Yohannes Yosef, who was just 15. "Their hands were tied ... young children ... we saw them everywhere. There was an elderly man who had been killed on the road, an 80-something-year-old man. And the young kids they killed on the street. I've never seen a massacre like this and I don't want to [again], "Abraham said. "We only survived by the grace of God." Abraham said he buried more than 50 people that day, but estimates more than 100 died in the assault. They're among thousands of civilians believed to have been killed since November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for resolving a long-running conflict with neighboring Eritrea, launched a major military operation against the political party that governs the Tigray region. He accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018, of attacking a government military base and trying to steal weapons. The TPLF denies the claim. The conflict is the culmination of escalating tensions between the two sides, and the most dire of several recent ethno-nationalist clashes in Africa’s second-most populous country. After seizing control of Tigray's main cities in late November, Abiy declared victory and maintained that no civilians were harmed in the offensive. Abiy has also denied that soldiers from Eritrea crossed into Tigray to support Ethiopian forces. But the fighting has raged on in rural and mountainous areas where the TPLF and its armed supporters are reportedly hiding out, resisting Abiy's drive to consolidate power. The violence has spilled over into local communities, catching civilians in the crossfire and triggering what the United Nations refugee agency has called the worst flight of refugees from the region in two decades. The UN special adviser on genocide prevention said in early February that the organization had received multiple reports of "extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, looting, mass executions and impeded humanitarian access." Many of those abuses have been blamed on Eritrean soldiers, whose presence on the ground suggests that Abiy’s much-lauded peace deal with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki set the stage for the two sides to wage war against the TPLF - their mutual enemy. The U.S. State Department, in a statement to CNN, called for Eritrean forces to be "withdrawn from Tigray immediately," citing credible reports of their involvement in "deeply troubling conduct." In response to CNN's findings, the spokesperson said "reports of a massacre at Maryam Dengelat are gravely concerning and demand an independent investigation." Ethiopia responded to CNN's request for comment with a statement that did not directly address the attack in Dengelat. The government said it would "continue bringing all perpetrators to justice following thorough investigations into alleged crimes in the region," but gave no details about those investigations.

Former Arsenal star Thierry Henry is stepping down as head coach of Major League Soccer (MLS) side CF Montreal due to family reasons. Henry made the announcement on Twitter, saying: "It is with a heavy heart that I'm writing this message. The last year has been an extremely difficult one for me personally. Due to the worldwide pandemic, I was unable to see my children. . "Unfortunately, due to the ongoing restrictions and the fact that we will have to relocate to the US again for several months (at least) will be no different. The separation is too much of a strain for me and my kids. Therefore, it is with much sadness that I must take the decision to return to London and leave CF Montreal. " The 43-year-old - who has two children - spent 15 months with Montreal, which has been forced to relocate to the United States this season due to Canada's Covid-19 travel restrictions. "Thierry's departure is unfortunate and premature because this was very promising, but he informed me of his desire to be back with his family because the situation was and remains very difficult for both him and his family," said CF Montreal Sporting Director Olivier Renard . "I want to thank him, first on a human level because he led the players by example last year by being away from his family, but also from a sporting level and for what we have built together since his arrival. We wanted to elevate this. club and we are on the right track. "The process of finding a new head coach is already underway and I will be looking for someone who is aligned with the philosophy we have implemented." In his lone season as head coach, Henry led CF Montreal to an 8-13-2 record and their first playoff appearance since the 2016 season.

Following a car accident Tuesday morning in California that resulted in significant leg injuries and required an extraction from his vehicle by first responders, Tiger Woods now begins the arduous recovery process. He was moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he "received follow-up procedures on his injuries this morning," a tweet posted Friday to Woods' Twitter account said. "The procedures were successful, and he is now recovering and in good spirits." "Tiger and his family want to thank you for all the wonderful support and messages they have received over the past few days. We will not have any further updates at this time," the tweet said. "Thank you for your continued privacy. - TGR," the tweet read. Woods' injuries include "comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones," Dr. Anish Mahajan, the chief medical officer and interim CEO at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center - where Woods was initially treated - said Tuesday, meaning the bones broke into more than two pieces and pierced the skin. A rod was inserted into the tibia to stabilize the leg. Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins. Woods told investigators at the hospital after the accident that "he had no recollection of the crash" that left him seriously injured, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has denied CNN's requests for documents and footage related to the incident, including bodycam footage, dash cam footage, surveillance and other reports. Cedars-Sinai network is known for sports rehabilitations The reasons for Woods' transfer have not been released, yet facilities affiliated with Cedars-Sinai are known for their sports medicine and related surgeries. Should Woods and his family choose to continue care within its network, options are available in terms of recovery. The Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute provides orthopedic surgeries, and practitioners at their clinics work with Los Angeles-area sports teams. Other professional athletes from around the country have had procedures performed at their centers. The California Rehabilitation Institute, a partnership between Cedars-Sinai, UCLA Health and Select Medical, provides programs as well for those on the mend. The institute is "the largest inpatient facility of its kind on the West Coast," according to its website, and "is designed to help each patient recover the strength, skills and independence they need to return home and resume their lives." Golf pros continue to show support Webb Simpson, who is tied atop the Thursday leaderboard at the PGA WGC-Workday Championship in Florida, shared his thoughts on Woods, saying his focus of him was on the golfer's well-being. "Of course you think about the golf career, you think about what he's done for the game, but the thing I kept thinking about was his kids from him and how thankful I am that he made it out of that," Simpson said.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that her country could be caught in a third wave of Covid-19 if it lifts its lockdown too quickly. Her comments come as daycare centers and elementary schools were reopened in 10 of the Germany's 16 states this week, and as the nation mulls ways to lift the heavy restrictions that have shuttered the country's non-essential businesses for more than 10 weeks. "Because of (variants), we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, from which a third wave may emerge, '' Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in an interview published on Wednesday. "So we must proceed wisely and carefully so that a third wave does not necessitate a new complete shutdown throughout Germany." Much of Europe is recording cases of newer Covid-19 variants, particularly ones that first emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Both are believed to spread more rapidly than previous variants. In Germany's staggered approach to reopening, hairdressers are due to resume business on March 1, while most other businesses must stay shut until March 7. There are currently around 61.7 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country's public health authority. Merkel has said the goal is to reduce that incident rate to 35 per 100,000 in order to reopen the economy in a meaningful way. Merkel defended the states' decisions to reopen schools, saying that districts achieving the 35 in 100,000 rate could do so without having an impact on other areas. She added that widescale testing would be rolled out in line with the country's staggered reopening. "An intelligent opening strategy is inextricably linked with comprehensive quick tests, as it were as free tests," Merkel added. "I cannot say exactly how long it will take to install such a system. But it will be in March." Germany has been able to slow the Covid-19 infection rate with its lockdown, which included the closure of its borders with Austria and the Czech Republic. Czech health authorities are now confirming record daily infection cases, with its death toll climbing to one of the world's worst per capita, pushing its hospitals to the brink of collapse. Germany, like many European Union nations, is struggling to roll out a widespread vaccination program that would aid a more rapid reopening of its economy. The European Union is distributing its vaccines equally among its 27 member states, proportionate to their populations, but it has received tens of millions fewer doses than it expected. The European Parliament is expected to grill pharmaceutical companies in a public hearing Thursday, demanding answers around failures to deliver on agreed numbers of vaccine doses. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has warned that restrictions in his country are starting to lose their impact, highlighting the urgent need of a boost to the bloc's vaccine stocks. "The objective situation in Austria was simply that after six weeks the lockdown had lost its effect. People have adhered to it less and less, there have been more and more shifts to the private sector, and a lockdown where no one participates, of course , makes little sense, "I have told German newspaper Bild. He will push the European Union on Thursday to instate a "green passport" system to allow people who have been vaccinated to travel within the bloc. As Germany and several other European nations consider how to lift their restrictions, France - which resisted a new national lockdown as new variants emerged - is imposing new ones. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce new measures on Thursday. The French Riviera has been placed under weekend lockdowns, for the next two weeks, while the region around the northern port town of Dunkirk will begin weekend lockdowns on Saturday.

Boris Johnson didn't have a very good start to the pandemic. The United Kingdom still has one of the world's worst coronavirus mortality rates, and is near the top of the table in total infections and deaths - truly the Covid capital of Europe. Critics have blamed this on several errors made early on, from going into lockdown too late and making a mess of testing to poor government communications. However, of late, Johnson's fortunes appear to have turned. On Monday, the Prime Minister was able to reveal a roadmap that would take England out of lockdown before the end of June. Johnson would not have been able to deliver this good news had the UK's vaccine rollout not gone so remarkably well to date. As things stand, the UK has administered more than 18.5 million doses, or 27 per 100 people. Compare this to other European giants like France and Germany, who have each managed only six per 100, and a very favorable narrative emerges for Johnson. The UK, no longer a member of the European Union, opted not to work with its European partners in procuring or approving vaccines. As a result, it was able to negotiate contracts and approve vaccines for use more quickly. "If you wanted a single demonstration of why Brexit was important, you've got it. If we were still in the EU now some people would be dead who are not. It's nothing to crow about, it's just true," said David Davis , a veteran lawmaker and former Brexit secretary. There are other reasons the UK got ahead, not least Johnson's massive spending spree when it came to procuring vaccines. Of the 357 million vaccines the UK has purchased, the largest contract by far is with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, whose vaccine was developed in partnership with Oxford, Britain's oldest university and Johnson's alma mater. The bet on Oxford and AstraZeneca paid off spectacularly, and the UK was the first country to authorize the vaccine for use in all adults. So proud were Brits of their homegrown vaccine that Paul Williams, a GP and former opposition lawmaker, tweeted that patients had turned down vaccines from Pfizer, saying they would "wait for the English one." Johnson and his government of him, though proud of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the extent officials confirmed to CNN it considered plastering a Union Jack on the vials, have publicly encouraged Brits to accept any vaccine offered by their doctor. It's a different story on the other side of the Channel, where the European Union was slower to authorize vaccines for use, then waged a war of words with AstraZeneca over delays in supply in late January. As the spat overheated, some European leaders went as far as publicly casting doubt on the effectiveness of the vaccine. French President Emmanuel Macron described the AstraZeneca vaccine as "quasi-ineffective" in older people, saying "the first results are not encouraging for those over 60-65 years old." The claim was disputed by multiple scientists. The day before, Germany officials declined to authorize the vaccine for use in people over 65, citing a lack of sufficient data for that age group in the drugmaker's trials. France, Spain, Italy and others followed suit, limiting authorization of the vaccine to younger segments of the population. But this week, Scottish scientists published new research showing that AstraZeneca's vaccine reduced the overall risk of being admitted to hospital by up to 94% four weeks after having a single dose, and that one shot was highly effective in preventing hospitalizations in elderly populations too. The study not only further vindicated the UK's authorization of the vaccine for all adults, but also its strategy of delaying second doses in order to provide partial protection to as many people as possible. Now, European regulators are reconsidering their restrictions on who can get the shot. France's health ministry told CNN on Wednesday that it was "likely" to extend its AstraZeneca vaccine age range guidance in the wake of the Scottish study. But the crisis over delayed vaccine supply continues in Europe; one EU official told Reuters on Tuesday that AstraZeneca had informed the bloc it would only be able to deliver less than half of the expected doses in the second quarter. There also fears that the EU's bruising public battle with AstraZeneca has undermined confidence in the vaccine, and signs that some European countries appear to be struggling to convince their citizens to take the shot. The spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the extraordinary step of tweeting that the "AstraZeneca [vaccine] is both safe and highly effective" earlier this week, following reports that Germans were turning it down. Germany has administered just 15% of its available AstraZeneca shots, according to the health ministry, partly because the country is only administering it to people under 65 and most of those eligible for vaccination at this point are older. To solve the issue, Germany has reworked its vaccinations schedule and will start vaccinating teachers sooner. But some also see the AstraZeneca vaccine as a lower quality shot, because of its slightly lower efficacy rates compared to other authorized vaccines. "It's extremely worrying. Any doubt in the confidence of vaccines means the potential need for a complete overhaul in your rollout strategy. And during a pandemic, you are in a constant battle to keep public confidence high," said Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook, executive director of the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at the Harvard Kennedy School. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while admitting her own failure on Europe's vaccine rollout, has suggested that while the UK had moved faster, it had done so irresponsibly and put its own citizens at risk. "Yes, Europe left it later, but it was the right decision. I remind you that a vaccine is the injection of an active biological substance into a healthy body. We are talking about mass vaccination here, it is a gigantic responsibility," she said in early February. This week, however, von der Leyen rushed to vocally support the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying she would take it "without a second thought."

A fiber-glass mannequin stands strapped into a pair of ski boots angled at 45 degrees and somewhat bizarrely spray painted in pink. It bears an unnerving resemblance to the British slalom skier Dave Ryding on which it was molded. Occasionally, the mannequin gets clothed and disrobed in a variety of cutting-edge ski wear in between taking a battering from the elements inside a wind tunnel on England's south coast. It is one of many schemes the British ski and snowboard team is using to transform from a nation of once plucky amateurs into one of the alpine powerhouses. Others involve harnessing the expertise of the McLaren F1 team, emulating the innovations of James Bond's Q branch, and turning netballers into ski jumpers. "We're in a building phase that's exciting and dynamic," Britain's performance director Dan Hunt tells CNN Sport. "It might be that some of the decisions we're making now won't be felt until three or four years down the line." Ryding, who learned to ski on a dry slope, is spearheading a new era for British ski racers, with two second places in World Cup slalom races in the last three seasons. He also claimed the scalp of Austrian superstar Marcel Hirscher in the parallel event in Oslo at the start of 2019. His efforts are equal to compatriot Konrad Bartelksi's second in a downhill in Val Gardena, Italy in 1981, but otherwise, Britain's success is scant, perhaps unsurprisingly given its lack of natural resources and top-level participants. Then again, Britain has become one of the dominant nations in skeleton with women's gold at the last three Winter Olympics as well as a handful of other medals. It's the job of Hunt, who took up the role with governing body GB Snowsport in 2016, to try to emulate that success with Britain's skiers and snowboarders. His approach has echoes of the marginal gains philosophy set up by Sir Dave Brailsford at British Cycling and Team Sky, understandable in that Hunt was formerly a key coach behind much of Britain's early track cycling success. His body's innovation team is known as Q Division - a nod to the fictional character in the Bond movies - working out how to gain mere hundredths of seconds for its skiers and snowboarders. Hunt's usual question is to ask whether an idea will make Ryding and his fellow skiers go quicker. If the answer's "yes," they tend to tackle it. With Ryding, it was seen that he was on average 0.87 seconds off the World Cup podium last season. So, the primary goal was to see how to cut that deficit. Such innovations have ranged from new skis, to wind tunnel activity to perfect his race suit and the waxing of the skis to given the least friction between snow and ski. "I can spend a whole winter myself trying to eke out three hundredths of a second," said Ryding, who is on course for another top-10 finish in the World Cup season slalom standings. "If a race suit can do that alone, you embrace that." In addition, the organization is taking on board ideas from Formula 1, the military and Ineos Team UK, the Sir Ben Ainslie-led team looking to win the America's Cup for Britain for the first time. The McLaren link-up is through Tom Stallard, more regularly known as the race engineer for Carlos Sainz Jr, but also a former Olympic silver medalist in rowing. "Tom's the perfect fit as he's got the engineering brain but he very much gets the athlete side of things," explains Hunt, whose remit covers alpine, cross country and freestyle skiing, park and pipe snowboarding and snowboard cross, ski jumping, speed skiing and telemark. Imposter syndrome Hunt jokes that he suffers from "imposter syndrome" in his role of him and instead surrounds himself with innovators, leading coaches and sports scientists. "I didn't know about cycling when I went into, so too football [he worked for the Premier League] and now this," he said. "But I don't like to turn ideas down. "My philosophy is to recruit the experts and then not to tell them what to do, but just leave them to get on with it." At the last Winter Olympics in South Korea, Britain finished 19th in the medals table with two medals from the sports under Hunt's umbrella - Billy Morgan won bronze in snowboarding big air and Izzy Atkin won bronze in the women's skiing slopestyle. The budget of £ 5.15 million ($ 6.7M) for Hunt's sports was a fraction of powerhouses like Austria, Switzerland and France, but a significant improvement on the £ 1.5M for the four-year cycle leading up to Sochi in 2014. Some of the extra cash - which comes from the National Lottery and exchequer-funded UK Sport, and is based on medal potential - was spent on a gargantuan air bag to enable its freestyle skiers and snowboarders to practice their tricks more readily without the risk of major injury. One area Hunt is looking at is identifying athletic talent that can cross over into winter sports. Morgan was an acrobatic gymnast before getting into snowboarding at 14. Hunt hopes to launch a scheme to attract new female ski jumpers - netball is seen as the ideal talent pool - and female cross country skiers, for which endurance athletes would be well suited.

Slovakia's Petra Vlhova was crowned "Snow Queen" of Zagreb for the second straight year after claiming the World Cup slalom event as four-time winner Mikaela Shiffrin finished back in fourth. Vlhova powered down the second of her two runs under the floodlights for a combined time of 1 minute 59.05 seconds, edging out second-placed Katharina Liensberger of Austria by just five hundredths of a second. Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin, who claimed her first World Cup slalom win in Semmering last week, completed the podium of Sunday’s event. Shiffrin, who has only recently returned to the circuit after the unexpected death of her father Jeff last year, was seeking her fifth victory at the iconic venue, just outside the Croatian capital, but came up just short. A fine second run boosted the American’s hopes, but first Gisin then the other podium finishers edged ahead, leaving her 0.27 seconds off the pace. The "Snow Queen" race, named after Croatia's four-time Olympic champion Janica Kostelic, went ahead despite last Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude earthquake, which had its epicenter just 50 kilometers from the Sljeme Mountain site. Vlhova has consolidated her lead in the overall World Cup and individual slalom standings with her 11th career victory, but acknowledged it had been a close run thing with tough conditions for the later starters on the second run. "Today was a really tough day and in particular the second round but I found something and pushed more before the finish," she told Eurosport. "When I saw I was only the 11th fastest in the second run, I thought I was for sure out of the podium, but then the green light showed up and I couldn't believe it." Mikaela Shiffrin competes during her first run of the World Cup slalom event on Sljeme Mountain on her way to an eventual fourth place. Three-time World Cup overall champion Shiffrin has been concentrating on her favored technical events since her return, claiming her 67th win in the Courchevel giant slalom last month. Sunday's race was her sixth in slalom without a victory, but she insisted "things are going in a good direction" in only her sixth race back following her extended break. Shiffrin won two golds at the last world championships in 2019 but has yet to decide on whether to defend her Super-G crown at next month’s championships in Cortina, Italy, having done little specific training in the speed events. But with the three podium finishers in Zagreb in fine form and with Shiffrin returning to her best the stage is set for a battle royal for medals in the slalom and giant slalom races at the championships.