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France turn focus to 'unique' New Zealand tour after Six Nations success
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U.S. Soccer's Parlow Cone voted onto FIFA council
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Draper stuns two-time defending champ Alcaraz to reach Indian Wells final
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At least 27 dead as tornadoes ravage central US
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'Disney's Snow White' gets muted Hollywood premiere
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Spaun clings to one-stroke Players lead with McIlroy four back
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Pogba watches LAFC fall to MLS defeat
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France sweep to Six Nations title as England hand Wales record humiliation
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Edwards hails defensive effort as France clinch Six Nations crown
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Rune shocks Medvedev to reach Indian Wells ATP final
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Borthwick backs England's Itoje for Lions captaincy after Wales rout
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Three takeaways after France beat Scotland for the Six Nations title
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Ramos guides France to Six Nations title with Scotland demolition
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Wales boss Sherratt 'devastated' for his players after England humiliation
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Trump freezes VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe
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Real Madrid will never play with under 72 hours rest again: Ancelotti
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Teen sensation Andreeva takes aim at top-ranked Sabalenka in Indian Wells
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Macron wants 'clear pressure' on Moscow to accept ceasefire
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Reijnders saves Milan as Dele Alli sent off on Como debut
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Shein says US tariff hit won't stop fast-fashion flood
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US strikes Yemen's Huthis as Trump vows end to shipping threat
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France face win-or-bust Six Nations duel with Scotland after England rout Wales
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Francis still requires therapy, Vatican says, as pope looks ahead to 2028
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Mbappe double at Villarreal takes Real Madrid top
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Mumbai beat Delhi to clinch second WPL title
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England stay in Six Nations title hunt with Wales rout
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Guardiola backs Man City to overcome anxiety in European race
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Marc Marquez beats brother in Argentina MotoGP sprint
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Latest power outage leaves Cubans struggling to get by
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US Democrats fume as some in party cave to Trump on spending bill
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Ireland squeeze past Italy to stay in Six Nations title hunt
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Oil spill in Ecuador river brings emergency declaration
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Man City stumble, Forest soar in Champions League chase
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Man City held by Brighton to leave Champions League hopes in balance
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Ireland keep Six Nations title hopes alive as focus switches to Cardiff and Paris
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Bayern held at Union Berlin to leave title door ajar
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Amid tensions, Canada says reviewing purchase of US jets
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Major storm in central US leaves at least 14 dead: officials
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Deadly Israeli strikes mar fragile Gaza truce
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Ratcliffe would walk away from Man Utd if abuse reaches Glazer level
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Telegram founder Durov allowed to temporarily leave France
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UN considering humanitarian channel from Bangladesh to Myanmar
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Brazilians sentenced in beating death of Congolese migrant
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Australian Storer wins penultimate Paris-Nice stage in the snow
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Romania excludes second far-right poll hopeful
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Marc Marquez storms to record Argentina MotoGP pole
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Tens of thousands rally in Serbia's capital for anti-graft rally
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Telegram founder Durov allowed to temporarily leave France: sources
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Pope Francis receiving 'surge' in mail, says Italian post
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Paris-Nice contender Skjelmose hospitalised after fall

Cuba suffers fourth nationwide blackout in five months
Cuba suffered a general blackout on Friday caused by a crash of its national electricity grid, officials said, the fourth major power outage on the cash-strapped communist island in five months.
"At around 8:15 pm tonight, a breakdown... caused the significant loss of power in western Cuba and with it the fall of the national electricity system," the Ministry of Energy and Mines said.
Writing on the social network X, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said the government was "working tirelessly" to restore power.
In by now familiar scenes, the streets of Havana were plunged into darkness.
Only a few hotels and private businesses with generators still had lights on, as did essential services such as hospitals.
Angelica Caridad Martinez, a resident of the central city of Camaguey, said she was about to sit down for dinner when the power failed.
"I'm not even hungry anymore," the 50-year-old told AFP. "This situation is unsustainable, no one can live like this."
Andres Lopez, a 67-year-old resident of the eastern province of Holguin, said he had not been expecting yet another blackout so soon.
"It really bugs me," he said. "Let's see when they get it (the power) back on."
The island of 9.7 million inhabitants has suffered three nationwide blackouts in the final months of 2024, two of them lasting several days.
The repeated outages comes as the island battles its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by widespread shortages of food, medicine and fuel, high inflation and a massive outflow of migrants, mostly bound for the United States.
- Race to expand solar power -
Friday night marked the first general blackout of 2025, but citizens face almost daily outages of four or five hours across much of Havana, while in rural provinces the periods without power can last 20 hours or longer.
Cuba's eight thermal power plants, nearly all of which came online in the 1980s or 1990s, suffer routine failures.
And the Turkish floating power barges that help boost Cuba's national grid are fed with expensive imported fuel which is often in short supply.
In mid-October, a breakdown at the Guiteras plant, Cuba's largest, left the island without power for four days.
The same facility suffered another breakdown that took down the grid in December.
A month earlier, Hurricane Rafael had also knocked out power to the entire country.
Cuba's leadership blames a six-decade-long US trade embargo that intensified during Donald Trump's first presidency for its difficulties in keeping the lights on.
To make up its electricity shortfall, Cuba is racing to install a series of at least 55 solar farms with Chinese technology by the end of this year.
According to authorities, these facilities will generate some 1,200 megawatts of power, about 12 percent of the national total.
V.F.Barreira--PC