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WYWS: Laval's Fernandez in final, COVID-19 confirmation in Quebec

And some audience members at the Cesar film awards in Paris walked out after Polanski awarded prize.

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Good morning and welcome to the Saturday edition of While You Were Sleeping. Hope springs eternal as the Habs ready for another chance at redemption, hosting the Hurricanes (7 p.m., City, SNE, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio). And here are a few late-news highlights.

Laval teen tennis star wins again, advances to Mexico City final: Laval teenager Leylah Annie Fernandez has reached her first WTA final, set to face off against No. 7 Heather Watson at the Mexico Open. Late Friday, Fernandez downed home crowd favourite Renata Zarazua 6-3, 6-3 in the later semifinal. Fernandez broke Zarazua’s service three times in each set. The 17-year-old Quebecer is ranked No. 190 in the world. The Fernandez-Watson final match is set for 7 p.m. ET Saturday.

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Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval returns the ball during her semi-finals singles match with Renata Zarazua of Mexico as part of the WTA Mexico Open 2020 at Princess Mundo Imperial on February 28, 2020 in Acapulco, Mexico.
Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval returns the ball during her semi-finals singles match with Renata Zarazua of Mexico as part of the WTA Mexico Open 2020 at Princess Mundo Imperial on February 28, 2020 in Acapulco, Mexico. Photo by Hector Vivas /Getty Images
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Quebec has confirmed its first case of COVID-19: It’s official: Quebec has its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. Public health authorities in the province made the announcement Friday evening in a statement after receiving test results from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Health Minister Danielle McCann had disclosed the probable case Thursday. The patient, a Montreal-area woman, had just returned from a trip to Iran via Doha, Qatar, Monday when she went to a medical clinic that same evening because of “mild” symptoms, McCann said. Her condition did not require hospitalization, and she is now in voluntary confinement at home.

Polanski wins best director at Cesars, prompting walkout protest: Roman Polanski cast a shadow over France’s Cesar Awards on Friday even as he won best directing for his film An Officer and a Spy, with several women in the audience walking out in protest at honouring a man facing rape accusations. The French-Polish director’s dozen nominations had divided opinion in France, a country where the #MeToo movement that inspired women globally to out powerful men for sexual misconduct has struggled to gain traction. Polanski, 86, whose film also picked up awards for best adaptation and best costume designer, stayed away from the event, saying he feared he would be lynched. Controversy had swirled around the Cesar’s decision to include Polanski, who fled the United States for France in the late 1970s after admitting raping a 13-year-old girl, and faces more recent allegations of sexual assault. Polanski denies the latest accusations against him.

U.S. to remove all troops in Afghanistan if Taliban peace holds: The U.S. will remove all of its troops in Afghanistan within 135 days if a peace deal with the Taliban to end the U.S.’s longest war is respected, according to details of the agreement being signed Saturday in Qatar. Despite almost two decades of war and $900 billion in spending by the U.S., the Taliban are at their strongest since being ousted by American forces in late 2001, after the group refused to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Montreal Gazette

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