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You could have heard a pin drop in Rome’s fan zone as that last penalty was taken.

Italy’s goalkeeper saved it and not only did the hundreds staring at the big screen go wild but so did the rest of the Italian capital and the country.

People were simply ecstatic, celebrating a win they had hoped for but after England scored in the opening minutes, some began to doubt.

Italian fans celebrate Euro 2020 victory in Rome
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Football fans in Rome were ecstatic, and they celebrated together

The singing started and a refrain we’ve heard since we arrived in Rome rang out. “Football’s coming Rome” – the Italian fans adopting but adapting what has long been an England football anthem.

A man wearing a wig in the style of Italy’s Tricolore flag told us: “This is the best day of my life.”

Another fan told us, “It’s absolutely amazing, amazing. We are the champions.”

Close by, a man simply stood and cried with relief and joy.

More on Euro 2020

As we filtered out onto the streets it was mayhem. Literally. Thousands had turned out to celebrate. Cars clogged the roads, drivers beeping their horns, flags being waved, fireworks being let off.

A man in a rather elaborate frock formed of the Italian colours stood on the roof of one vehicle as it moved through the streets, his friends leaning precariously out the windows and holding his ankles. He popped a champagne bottle, took a swig and then sprayed the crowd. And they loved it.

This is a victory people here believe is long overdue. It may have taken more than 50 years of waiting but Italy are European Champions once again

And if the scenes post-match in Rome are anything to go by, you just wonder what the team’s return and victory parade promise.

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Two dead after plane crashes into vehicles on busy road in Sao Paulo

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Two dead after plane crashes into vehicles on busy road in Sao Paulo

Two people have died after a plane crashed into vehicles on a busy road in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

A fire department spokesperson confirmed the deaths to local media.

The plane crashed on Marques de Sao Vicente Avenue in Barra Funda at around 7.20am local time.

Images and video footage showing a bus on fire in the aftermath.

Two people – a motorcyclist and a woman who was on the bus – were injured after they were struck by debris from the explosion, CNN Brasil reported.

The aircraft – a small twin-engine King Air – had left Campo de Marte Airport, the Brazilian television news channel reported. The control tower lost contact with the plane minutes later.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

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Australian politician changes his name to ‘Aussie Trump’

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Australian politician changes his name to 'Aussie Trump'

An Australian politician has legally changed his name to Austin Trump in a move inspired by Donald Trump – in what he said was a protest against the country’s ruling centre-left Labor Party.

Ben Dawkins – who is an independent MP in Western Australia’s upper house of parliament where Labor holds a majority – is now listed as “Aussie Trump” on the WA parliamentary website.

He has also changed his username to “Hon. Aussie Trump MLC” on his X account.

“I’ve launched a political protest against the tyranny and systematic corruption of the Labor government in WA,” he wrote, in a post on the social media platform, signing off as “Aussie”.

“Vote Labor Out! & Drill Baby Drill!,” he wrote in a second post, appearing to echo the US president’s plan to increase the extraction of oil and gas in the United States.

He also posted a photo showing legal confirmation of the name change from Western Australia’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

“I want to be like Trump in the sense of calling out woke leftist nonsense,” he told 9News.

“I would love you to reach out Donald, just ring the office here.”

Read more from Sky News:
Trump sanctions International Criminal Court
Make the Moon Great Again – or lose it to China?

“This is simply attention-seeking stuff,” said Western Australia’s Premier Roger Cook, the state’s Labor leader, at a news conference on Thursday.

“I’m not sure how much lower he can go.”

Western Australia state elections are due to take place in March, before the country goes to the polls in a nationwide vote that must be held before 17 May.

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USAID crisis leaves South Africans living with HIV in turmoil

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USAID crisis leaves South Africans living with HIV in turmoil

A woman walks up to the security guards outside a shuttered USAID-funded sexual health clinic in Johannesburg’s inner-city district.

She looks around with confusion as they let her know the clinic is closed.

She tells us it has only been two months since she came here to receive her usual care.

Now, she must scramble to find another safe place for her sexual health screenings and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) – her regular defence against rampant HIV.

On the day he was sworn in as US president for a second time, Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing foreign aid for a 90-day period.

That is being challenged by federal employee unions in court over what it says are “unconstitutional and illegal actions” that have created a “global humanitarian crisis”.

However the order is already having an immediate impact on South Africa’s most vulnerable.

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Her eyes tear up as she processes the news. Like many sex workers in town, free sexual health clinics are her lifeline.

An HIV-positive sex worker shared her patient transfer letter from the same closed clinic with Sky News and told us with panic that she is still waiting to be registered at an alternative facility.

South Africa is home to one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS epidemics. At least 8.5 million people here are living with HIV – a quarter of all cases worldwide.

Widespread, free access to antiretroviral treatment in southern Africa was propelled by the introduction of George W. Bush’s US President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003.

PEPFAR is considered one of the most successful foreign aid programmes in history, and South Africa is the largest recipient of its funds.

A sign for USAID on the clinic's window
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A sign for USAID on the clinic’s window

A shuttered USAID-funded sexual health clinic in Johannesburg
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A shuttered USAID-funded sexual health clinic in Johannesburg

The programme has now been halted by President Trump’s foreign aid funding freeze – plunging those who survived South Africa’s HIV epidemic and AIDS denialism in the early 2000s back to a time of scarcity and fear.

“That time, there was no medication. The government would tell us to take beetroot and garlic. It was very difficult for the government to give us treatment but we fought very hard to win this battle. Now, the challenge is that we are going back to the struggle,” says Nelly Zulu, an activist and mother living with HIV in Soweto.

Nelly says access to free treatment has saved her and her 21-year-old son, who tested positive for HIV at four years old.

“It helped me so much because if I didn’t get the treatment, I don’t think I would be alive – even my son.

“My concern is for pregnant women. I don’t want them to go through what I went through – the life I was facing before. I’m scared we will go back to that crisis.”

Nelly Zulu, an activist and mother living with HIV
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Nelly Zulu, an activist and mother living with HIV

South African civil society organisations have written a joint open letter calling for their government to provide a coordinated response to address the healthcare emergency created by the US foreign aid freeze.

The letter states that close to a million patients living with HIV have been directly impacted by stop-work orders and that a recent waiver by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio continuing life-saving assistance explicitly excludes “activities that involve abortions, family planning, gender or diversity, equality and inclusion ideology programmes, transgender surgeries or other non-life saving assistance”.

The shuttered clinic we saw in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD) comes under these categories – built by Witwatersrand University to research reproductive health and cater to vulnerable and marginalised communities.

An activist and healthcare worker at a transgender clinic tells us everyone she knows is utterly afraid.

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USAID in turmoil: What you need to know

“Corner to corner, you hear people talking about this. There are people living with chronic diseases who don’t have faith anymore because they don’t know where they are ending up,” says Ambrose, a healthcare worker and activist.

“People keep asking corner to corner – ‘why don’t you go here, why don’t you go there?’ People are crying – they want to be assisted.”

South Africa’s ministry of health insists that only 17% of all HIV/AIDs funding comes from PEPFAR but that statistic is offset by the palpable disruption.

On Monday, minister of health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi met to discuss bilateral health cooperation and new US policy for assistance with US charge d’affaires for South Africa, Dana Brown.

A statement following the meeting says: “Communication channels are open between the Ministry and the Embassy, and we continue to discuss our life-saving health partnership moving forward.

“Until details are available the minister called on all persons on antiretrovirals (ARVs) to under no circumstances stop this life-saving treatment.”

A demand much harder to execute than declare.

“There is already a shortage of the medication – even if you ask for three months’ treatment, they will give you one or two months worth then you have to go back,” says Nelly.

“Now, it is worse because you can see the funding has been cut off.”

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