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Thanh Nguyen, 35, an ethnic Vietnamese man living in Virginia, always returns home to Maryland during Tet (Lunar New Year). But this year the nurse decided to stay back and instead celebrate the festival with his parents by video call. "My Vietnamese parents are disappointed because I did not drive home to see them, but the Covid-19 pandemic is a good reason to not travel, especially when I work in a hospital with infection risks," he said. He also made several video calls to relatives in Vietnam for Lunar New Year, which falls on February 12 this year. "My mom sent me two banh chung and I bought some spring rolls. I will go to a nearby Buddhist temple to pray for a new year if it is not too crowded during the weekend." Nguyen is among many members of the Vietnamese diaspora in America who have celebrated the traditional holiday of their forefathers amid the raging pandemic with a lot of differences this year. Asian Garden Mall (Phuoc Loc Tho) is a popular place to celebrate Tet among Vietnamese in Westminster, California. Photo by Shutterstock/Hung Tran. In California, even though Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the stay-home order in late January in response to an improving situation, a move hailed by some Vietnamese ahead of their traditional holiday, many people still have their guard up and are not gathering with relatives or going to public places. "We will not go to Vietnamese malls or supermarkets since the places are always packed" Thao Nguyen, a banker in Orange County, California, said. Nguyen’s family canceled a party with relatives on the last day of the lunar year, which "always used to be an indispensable part of our Tet. " Instead, she had dinner and went to a nearby Buddhist temple without her parents, who are old and likely to be vulnerable to the coronavirus. In December 2020, according to health officials in Santa Clara County, California, the Vietnamese and Philippine communities were more severely affected …

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Atletico Madrid's players celebrate at the end of the Spanish League football match between Atletico Madrid and Getafe at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on December 30, 2020.(OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) Suarez struck in the 20th minute with a superb header from Yannick Carrasco's cross to move Diego Simeone's Atletico up to 35 points, two ahead of local rivals Madrid after they were pegged back by a Fidel Chaves penalty following Luka Modric's early opener. Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Villarreal are all a further seven points back, with Barcelona 10 behind Atletico in sixth after their 1-1 draw with Eibar on Tuesday. Atletico have also played two fewer matches than reigning champions Madrid after a scrappy win emblematic of Simeone's reign on his 500th match as club coach. "When I got on the plane to come here I thought that when I left the club (as a player) that I always wanted to come back," said Simeone, who is in his 10th year as Atletico coach. "I found men (Koke, Saul Niguez) who wanted to get the club out of the bad patch it was in, and I have a relationship with them that goes beyond football." Uruguay forward Suarez's eighth goal of the season was a good as it got for Atletico, who despite fielding a strong line-up did not impress in a match of little incident at the Wanda Metropolitano. However Atletico's third straight win keeps them top of the pile after a fraught last few days in which Diego Costa was allowed to leave and Kieran Trippier was banned until the end of February for betting breaches. - 'Two points dropped' - Zinedine Zidane's Madrid knew that whatever happened in the late fixture they would trail Atletico going into the new year, but they looked on course for a routine win at struggling Elche when Modric opened the scoring in the 20th minute. Croatian Modric pounced to place a perfect header in the top corner after Marco Asensio's longe range shot thumped back out off the bar, the second time Madrid had hit the …

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Juventus hold Inter to make Italian Cup final (photo: youtube/Serie A) Andrea Pirlo's side will face one of Napoli or Atalanta, who are locked at 0-0 ahead of Wednesday's second leg in Bergamo, in May's final in Rome after comfortably holding Inter in a disciplined display at the Allianz Stadium. Inter barely troubled veteran Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon despite the return of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi, while Cristiano Ronaldo was twice denied by fine Samir Handanovic saves at the other end. Juve are unbeaten since losing 2-0 to Inter in Serie A last month as novice coach Pirlo drags his team into contention in league and cup after an uncertain start coaching the Italian champions. They have conceded just once since that defeat, in the first leg win at the San Siro last week, and look in ominous form as they return to the title chase at the weekend. Juve sit seven points behind leaders AC Milan with a game in hand and a trip to troubled Napoli awaiting them on Saturday. "It's a completely different feeling as a coach, we're really happy but we haven't done anything yet," said Pirlo to state broadcaster Rai. "We were really good today, they basically didn't have a shot on goal. Handanovic was the best player on the pitch," added the 41-year-old, who won four league titles as a Juve player. Antonio Conte, who led Pirlo to three of those Serie A crowns, will now have to concentrate entirely on overhauling Milan if he wants to win Inter their first trophy since 2011. Second-placed Inter are two points behind their city rivals ahead of their league clash with in-form Lazio on Sunday, while Milan travel to lowly Spezia. - Inter held at bay - Inter came into the match with a dismal recent record at Juventus, without a win since November 2012 when Conte was still managing the then-resurgent 'Old Lady' of Italian football. That win, 3-1 thanks to a brace from 2010 treble hero Diego Milito, ended a 49-match winning streak for Juve but no …

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