Local authorities are also expected to check if any COVID-19 protocols were broken during the gathering on Monday.

Local authorities are also expected to check if any COVID-19 protocols were broken during the gathering on Monday.

Spanish media said Messi invited his teammates and their partners for a barbecue to help the squad bond ahead of a decisive Spanish league match next weekend.

Barcelona can move into first place on Saturday if it beats league leader Atlético Madrid at the Camp Nou Stadium.

The barbecue came a day after Barcelona defeated Valencia 3-2 to stay within two points of Atlético with four rounds to go.

Local media said players could be heard chanting “campeones (champions)” from inside Messi’s house.

Barcelona did not immediately comment.

Sanctions against players and the club are possible but not likely to be severe.
Thena star Angelina Jolie praised Chloé Zhao's work on her upcoming Marvel film Eternals. Zhao is bringing a fresh perspective to the MCU with the upcoming film - the director has had unprecedented control over the creative process behind the scenes. Marvel president Kevin Feige was so impressed with Zhao's pitch for Eternals that he brought her onboard to work on the screenplay. Zhao was also able to use as much practical effects as possible while filming in real world locations. All of this has added up to make Eternals one of the most unique Marvel films yet and anticipation has steadily built for the film since its announcement.
Joining Jolie in the film are a cast of A-listers, including both Richard Madden and Kit Harrington from Games of Thrones, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, and Don Lee. Marvel showed off the first look at Eternals in a Phase 4 sizzle reel, giving a glimpse as to what's in store for one of the MCU's most mysterious projects. While the footage was only a few seconds long, the hype for the film was only strengthened by what was shown.
Jolie herself is particularly excited to see the final product, telling CinemaBlend that she can't wait for people to see the film. When asked about Zhao's recent Oscar wins, Jolie had nothing but praise for the director, professing how happy she was that Zhao was able to snag a few of the golden statues. Jolie goes on to say that she believes Zhao is bringing something new to the table for Marvel and that her voice as a director will shine through in the film.

I was very, very happy. Very, very happy. I think she’s a special director, She’s a really interesting woman. She’s very thoughtful, very serious about her work. And I think she’s bringing a new voice through her films, and I think to Marvel. So I’m very excited for people to see it.

Zhao's work on Nomadland scored her a Best Director and Best Picture trophy. The director is only the second woman to win the Best Director award and the first woman of color to do so. Zhao's grounded, naturalistic approach to her films may seem at odds with the more fantastical aesthetics of the MCU, but Feige and the studio clearly seem confident that Zhao's vision will translate well.

With the film slated for a November release, Zhao is still working on Eternals' final cut, tinkering with the film until she gets it just right. Zhao edited the entirety of Nomadland by herself from home during the pandemic and although the post-production process is quite different for a blockbuster of this size, the director is clearly pouring all she has into the film. Luckily, it won't be too long before another look at Eternals is released as Marvel is clearly gearing up to begin promoting their theatrical slate that will premiere in the second half of this year.
A pair of Indonesian lawyers are planning to sue a state-owned pharmaceutical firm after it was discovered to have allegedly reused nasal swabs for coronavirus tests for thousands of people.
Last week, police arrested five workers at Kimia Farma, including its Medan business manager, who were accused of washing and repacking cotton swabs at the company’s main office in the city, and then sending them to Kualanamu International Airport where they were used on unsuspecting travellers.
It is mandatory for people to produce a negative Covid-19 test result before going on board a flight, and many passengers choose to have the procedure done at an airport instead of a local hospital or clinic to save time.
Kualanamu airport offered the tests in conjunction with Kimia Farma, a major pharmaceutical producer and distributor which reported an annual revenue of 9.4 trillion rupiah (US$650 million) in 2019.
Local police said that the alleged fraud came to light when an undercover police officer took a test at Kualanamu International Airport which produced a false positive result. The officer subsequently tested negative for coronavirus, the police added.
Two passengers who regularly passed through Kualanamu airport were human rights lawyers Ranto Sibarani and Kamal Pane, who travelled to Jakarta from Medan almost every week from December 2020 to February 2021 to attend hearings for one of their cases at Jakarta’s Supreme Court.
“It was an awful experience because they did the tests far too deeply and insisted on swabbing my nose several times during a sitting, to the point I complained that the procedure was not being conducted professionally,” he said.
“Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I suspect the reason for having to swab my nose multiple times and do the test so deeply was because they were using rewashed, second-hand swabs which made the procedure more difficult,” he said. “I feel that I am the victim of serious fraud and that I was violated through my nose.”
Sibarani and Pane are planning to claim damages from Kimia Farma of 1 billion rupiah (US$69,000) per affected passenger and are compiling statements from potential victims of the scheme to launch a collective civil lawsuit.
Medan’s police chief, RZ Panca Putra Simanjuntak, told reporters that more than 9,000 passengers may have been affected by the recycled rapid test kits. Between 100 and 200 passengers were tested every day at the airport, some with real kits and others with the repackaged ones.
According to Simanjuntak, the motive for the scheme was financial gain, as Kimia Farma was charging 200,000 rupiah (US$14) for each test, a fee which was collected by its employees each time a second-hand swab was used.
The Kimia Farma employees may have pocketed up to 1.8 billion rupiah (US$125,000) since mid-December, said Simanjuntak, adding that authorities had seized more than 149 million rupiah (US$10,000) in cash during the arrests. He added that the police are following whether any passengers were infected by the reused swabs.
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An airport official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that airport staff had been blindsided by the news of the forged rapid tests and that the mood at the airport was one of shock.
“We had no idea this was happening and can’t believe anyone would do such a thing,” he said. “The airlines trusted Kualanamu airport to facilitate these tests, but this incident was out of our control.”
The official added that airport operations were running normally following the news of the swabbing scandal, and that the Kimia Farma testing centre at the airport has been closed and sealed by the police.
“We are now working with other vendors to provide rapid tests and offering a drive through service in the parking area for passengers,” he said. “Hopefully this case will be swiftly solved and the police will find out who the main culprits are behind it