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LONDON (AP) — The British government is increasingly troubled by soccer players hugging and kissing in celebrations, risking coronavirus infections and the sport’s ability to be allowed to continue during the latest lockdown. Outbreaks at Premier League teams, forcing the postponement of matches, have heightened concerns about the avoidable and very visible close contact between players.

Norway’s public health agency has said that the infection rate is now sufficiently low that people can hug a small circle of close friends. “With the infection rate as low as it is now, I think it’s okay to give a hug to close friends,” Are Stuwits Berg from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), told Norway’s VG newspaper. On March 19th, Norway’s directorate of health advised people to “find alternatives to hugging and shaking hands”, and NIPH has also recommended people to avoid hugging, kissing, and holding hands with people outside their household. But late last month, the...

Nevermind what they were discussing, but this hug had people cringing into next Tuesday. This is the most fake and awkward hug of all time. It wasn't even a full hug! I guess socialists hate each other too!

Lucy Flores was among the first women to come forward this year and object to Joe Biden’s unwanted physical contact in the form of hugs, shoulder rubs and kisses on the head. Since it’s considered impolite to point out that she was a Bernie Sanders staffer and remains in his corner, we should probably offer the benefit of the doubt and simply consider the charges she’s brought forward on their own merit. But right from the beginning, it was a struggle to define precisely what those charges were. With the conversation having largely moved on, Flores was back in...

NBC has issued strict new anti-sexual harassment rules to employees — including that staffers must snitch on any misbehaving colleagues — in the wake of the firing of disgraced “Today” show host Matt Lauer. A source tells Page Six that NBC employees have been ordered to report any inappropriate relationships in the workplace — and if they fail to do so, they could be fired for covering up for colleagues. Detailed rules also have been issued about conduct in the office, including how to socialize and even how to hug colleagues. A source says, “Romantic relationships at work are not...

YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students. YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students, AdelaideNow reports. Following complaints from parents at Largs Bay Primary School, the school has banned hugging and other displays of affection for "boyfriends or girlfriends" in the two senior grades. "Hugging is not banned (between friends) at Largs Bay Primary...

In their endless campaign and their inherited duty to confound their elders, this latest generation of teenagers has adopted a new weapon: Hugging. As detailed by a recent front-page story in The New York Times, teenage hugging has become an epidemic stretching from one coast to the other. Girls are hugging girls. Boys are hugging boys. Boys are hugging girls and vice-versa, which is not really a new development, except that now the inter-gender embraces do not necessarily have ulterior motives. “For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?” according to the story’s headline. “We’re not afraid, we just get...

Study: Shy Swedes are habitual huggers Thu Nov 29, 5:09 PM ET STOCKHOLM, Sweden - While Swedes have a reputation of being reserved, a new study shows they'll hug just about anyone except their boss. Nine out of 10 Swedes embrace somebody at least once a week, with women aged 30-44 being the most active huggers, according to the study presented Thursday by the Swedish Red Cross. About 70 percent of the 1,036 people interviewed between Nov. 5-8 said they had hugged their partner or spouse that week, while 59 percent said they had hugged a friend or acquaintance. One-quarter...

MASCOUTAH, Ill. - Maybe they hugged it out: school officials resolved their dispute with the parents of a 13-year-old girl given detention for hugging her friends. Melissa and Dean Coulter met with officials of the Mascoutah School District 19 to discuss the two detentions given their daughter, Megan, for hugging friends goodbye for the weekend. School officials said the eighth grader violated a policy banning public displays of affection. "Our whole purpose of the meeting was to get them to talk to us and discuss what changes needed to be made and if (the policy) could be improved," Dean Coulter...

Victoria Sharts likes hugs. In fact, the principal of Julian Middle School in Oak Park said she could have used one herself Monday. Her announcement last week asking students to refrain from extreme hugging in hallways sparked a media response that caught her off guard, she said. Over the weekend, she had to issue an emergency parent response to dispel rumors of an outright ban on hugging anywhere in the school. Regardless of what parents have heard or read, the directive to the school's roughly 800 students is to quit clasping one another in the hallways, because group hugs are...

Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office. Among his crimes: hugging.

   Banned ... friends embrace School ban on hugging By JOHN COLESNovember 04, 2006      A SCHOOL headmaster was branded a killjoy yesterday after he ordered pupils to stop HUGGING each other.  Steven Kenning told teens to quit embracing because it made them late for lessons.He said hugging could be deemed “inappropriate” and “victims” could be hugged against their will.The barmy rule was posted on the website of Callington Community College, Cornwall.Mr Kenning said: “Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud.”He added that there...

" A family in Maynard is outraged after their 5-year-old daughter was forced to write a letter denouncing hugging after a classmate embraced her." "NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Brenda Brier and Michael Marino pulled their daughter, Savannah, out of school early Wednesday. The couple was angry after a meeting with officials at the Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, where Savannah is in kindergarten." "At issue is a hug Savannah said she got on the playground from a friend named Sophie. Savannah hugged Sophie back. The hugs resulted in Savannah having to write a letter, complete with teacher corrections,...

BEND, Ore. - Public displays of affection are against the rules at Sky View Middle School in Bend, and 14-year-old Cazz Altomare found that out the hard way. She got detention earlier this year after hugging her boyfriend in the hallway as he headed to lunch and she went to gym class. Her mother, Leslee Swanson was infuriated by the punishment — in fact, when she went to pick her daughter up from detention, she gave her a good, hard hug. "I'm trying to understand what's wrong with a hug," said Swanson, 42. But administrators said such policies are standard-issue...

A New Remedy for the Economic Blues -- Hugging Tue Jun 3, 9:47 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo! TOKYO (Reuters) - A middle-aged holy woman from India has come up with a remedy for Japan's economic blues that has escaped even the most astute politician -- give everyone a hug. For the past three days, thousands of Japanese have flocked to a hall in Tokyo for a loving embrace from Ammachi, a woman from India's southern state of Kerala on the Japan leg of her world hugging tour. A hug from Ammachi, short for Mata...