GOIANIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Paraguay went behind to an early penalty but scored three times in the second half for a 3-1 win over Bolivia, who were reduced to 10 men just before halftime in their Copa America opener on Monday. Bolivia were without five players who tested positive for COVID-19, including striker Marcelo Martins, who scored seven times in Bolivia’s last seven games. They had not beaten Paraguay in a Copa America clash since 1963 but their hopes were raised after only 10 minutes when they took the lead from the penalty spot. Paraguay dominated from the restart and made the breakthrough after 62 minutes when Kaku’s low volley skipped past a diving Ruben Cordano. The result leaves Paraguay top of Group A, ahead of Argentina and Chile, who drew 1-1 earlier on Monday.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Argentina's Lionel Messi scored one of his trademark free kicks in the first half but Eduardo Vargas equalised for Chile to leave honours even at 1-1 in their Copa America opener in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. Messi curled a superb free kick into the corner of Claudio Bravo's net from 25 metres after 33 minutes. Chile equalised 13 minutes into the second half when Vargas followed up to head home the rebound after Arturo Vidal's penalty was tipped on to the bar by Emiliano Martinez. The result extended Argentina's unbeaten run to 14 games under coach Lionel Scaloni, a sequence dating back to the 2019 Copa America semi-final. Paraguay take on Bolivia in the second Group A game later on Monday, with Uruguay, the fifth team in the section, debuting on Friday.

SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - Sweden were out-passed by a factor of over five to one against Spain in their opening Euro 2020 Group E match but they made no apologies for shutting down the Spaniards in a dull 0-0 draw on Monday. Spain dominated possession and played a massive 953 passes, according to UEFA statistics, compared with Sweden's 178, yet their stifling tactics and superb goalkeeping from Robin Olsen earned them a point. In football, it's about scoring goals, so for me there's no problem," Sweden defender Victor Lindelof told reporters. "It's not like it was raining goal-scoring chances for Spain, even if they had a lot of the ball. Robin (Olsen) made some good saves, and there were some other good chances for them too," he told reporters.

BUENOS AIRES - An Argentine prosecutor began hearing evidence on Monday involving seven people accused of contributing to the death of soccer player Diego Maradona. A medical board formally appointed to investigate Maradona’s death concluded that several members of the star’s medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner” and that he was not properly monitored before he died. Monday’s pretrial hearing had been delayed by an increase in coronavirus infections in Argentina. It began with questions to the nurse who, according to his own witness statement, was the last person to see Maradona alive. Questions will be put in the coming days to Maradona’s doctor, psychologist, neurosurgeon and personal physician, among others.

CAIRO - 14 June 2021: Egypt and Qatar have agreed on settling all outstanding issues between the two countries during the coming stage, following the signing of "Al-Ula Declaration" on January 5, 2021, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said in a statement on Monday. This comes during a meeting held between Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha on Monday. They also agreed to advance aspects of bilateral cooperation in priority sectors so as to achieve the interests of the two countries and brotherly peoples,” Hafez said. In addition, the two sides' discussions addressed the consultative meeting scheduled tomorrow in the framework of the League of Arab States, which will tackle the main Arab issues and ways to deal with external interferences harming Arab national security. Finally, both ministers exchanged views on their two countries’ positions regarding the key issues of mutual concern at the regional and international levels.

REUTERS: Kevin De Bruyne trained with Belgium for the first time at the European Championship on Monday, boosting his country's hopes for the tournament after recovering from a double facial fracture suffered in last month's Champions League final. De Bruyne will train again twice on Tuesday and Wednesday in a bid to prove his readiness for the Group B clash with Denmark in Copenhagen on Thursday, officials said. He had surgery five days after the final, which was described as a minor intervention, and spent a week recovering at home before joining up with the Belgian squad last Monday. De Bruyne was hardly missed as Belgium underlined their top ranking in the world with a 3-0 win. De Bruyne, named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year for a second consecutive season, is still expected to play a major role in Belgium's bid for a first major tournament success.

MUNICH, Germany: Germany on Monday (Jun 14) refused to accept the underdogs tag in their Euro 2020 Group F opener against world champions France on Tuesday, saying they were out to win the game and pay back fans for a disappointing World Cup campaign three years ago. "It is very important to start with a successful result," goalkeeper Neuer told a virtual news conference. The three-times European champions are not among the title favourites this time, unlike France. "What will be important tomorrow is to do what the team has showed in the past 14 days," he said. Germany also play European champions Portugal before taking on Hungary in their last group game.

Egypt’s Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 609 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total up to 274,404. The total number of COVID-19-related deaths has now reached 15,691 nationwide, after the ministry announced 37 deaths. 609 patients were discharged from quarantine at isolation hospitals, raising Egypt’s total number of fully-recovered cases to 202,650. A country-wide partial lockdown aimed at curbing cases that has been in place since May 6 ended on Tuesday. Egypt is currently using China’s Sinopharm vaccine and the UK’s AstraOxford vaccine, and it has plans to soon begin locally manufacturing China’s Sinovac vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik-V.

After a 23-year wait to qualify for a major tournament, Scotland's hopes of making more history by getting out of the group for the first time now look slim. Steve Clarke's men face England next on Friday at Wembley before hosting World Cup finalists Croatia at Hampden Park on Jun 22. Playing in front of fans at Hampden Park for the first time since November 2019 with 12,000 in attendance, Scotland made a nervous start. Marshall was called into action to make two quick saves from Schick and Vladimir Darida in an explosive start to the second-half. But it was Schick who had the best opportunity late on to complete a memorable hat-trick when he fired too close to Marshall.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anany announced that 525,000 tourists from 20 countries visited Egypt during the month of April. During an interview with Ahmed Moussa’s on his show “Ala Massoulity” (On My Responsibility), Anany added that 300,000 tourists arrived in Egypt last year despite the coronavirus pandemic. The minister said that the number of tourists coming to Egypt is constantly increasing, and the country is prepared with COVID-19 precautionary measures to keep tourists and Egyptians safe. The tourist occupancy rate in Sharm el-Sheikh is currently at 40 percent and will likely see an increase in Arab tourists room, he said. The minister stressed that Egypt is ready to receive tourists from all over the world, pointing out that there are currently tourists from countries like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

A delay will be a particularly bitter pill for nightclubs, as they have not been allowed to reopen since March 2020. Argar said 10 million second jabs would be administered over the month, providing recipients with high protection against the delta variant. Professor Andrew Hayward, an epidemiologist from University College London who is a member of a group advising the government, said removing remaining restrictions could “fan the flames” of rising infections. Across Europe, many countries, including France, have tightened restrictions for British travelers to prevent the delta variant from spreading. Despite concerns about the delta variant, the UK’s vaccine rollout has won plaudits as one of the world’s speediest and most coherent.

According to Al-Ahram online, the National Bank of Egypt’s exchange rates for the following foreign currencies on Monday are as follows:The sterling pound is LE21.94 for purchase and LE22.13 for saleThe euro is LE 18.84 for purchase and 19 for saleThe Canadian Dollar is LE 12.81 for purchase and 12.91 for saleThe Chinese yuan is LE2.42 for purchase and LE2.45 for sale

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday that rumors that Ethiopia will sell water to Egypt and Sudan is inconsistent with the rules of international law. According to the rumors, the the 2015 Declaration of Principles signed between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia had dissolved Egypt’s water rights to the waters of the Nile River. Shoukry clarified that the agreement rather preserved Egypt’s water rights and set the legal framework that negotiations around the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) rely on now. Moreover, the minister accused Ethiopia of obstructing efforts to reach an agreement on GERD, saying that there is no real political will in Addis Ababa. Egypt meets about 90 percent of its water needs through the Nile river, with an annual quota of 55.5 billion cubic meters of water.

Egyptian actor Akram Hosni and Lebanese superstar Haifa Wehbe announced the release of their first joint duet music video “Law Kont” (If I Was). The song is written and composed by Hosni, distributed by Tomah, produced by the Ideology company for artistic and media production, and directed by Hossam al-Husseiny with photography director Ahmed Bashary. Hosni as well as Wehbe launched a hashtag for the song on Monday morning along with the poster of the song. Hosni commented: “If I were a geometric shape, I would be tempted to deviate,” while Wehbe wrote: “If I had a closed eye, I would still see.”The hashtag went trending on Twitter, becoming #3 in Egypt and #1 in Lebanon.

One worker was killed and 12 others left injured on Monday after a a pick-up car turned over on the Belbes-10th of Ramadan desert road. The Sharqiya Security Directorate was notified of the incident, and police filed a report to the public prosecution for further investigation. The agency added that the number of car accident deaths rose to 3,484 in 2019 – an increase of 12.9 percent. The rate of car accidents increased to 27.4 accidents per day in 2019, it said. CAPMAS attributed the main cause of car accidents to human error at 79.7 percent of the total road accident causes in 2019, followed by technical vehicle defects at 13.5 percent.