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A man has been fined 9,000 yen ($80; £59) over online abuse directed at a Japanese reality star who took her own life last year, prosecutors say. Reports say the unnamed man posted messages on Hana Kimura's social media account about her "awful personality", and asking "when will you die?" Kamura, 22, was the target of hundreds of abusive tweets from fans and critics on a daily basis.

Source: bbc.com

A mama bear hilariously herds uncooperative cubs across road. CNN reports human mothers can relate.

With COVID-19 surging in Europe and other parts of the world, numerous nominees had expressed concern about their ability to participate in the April 25 ceremony, given the producers' previously stated requirement that nominees must participate in-person or not at all. The producers, accompanied by their COVID-19 consultant Dr. Erin Bromage of UMass Dartmouth, addressed those concerns directly in an opening statement and then a Q&A statement. The big news: "hubs" are being set up in London and Paris to help nominees there participate in-person.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

The rate at which the world’s forests are being destroyed increased sharply last year, with at least 42,000 sq km of tree cover lost in key tropical regions. According to data from the University of Maryland and the online monitoring platform Global Forest Watch, the loss was well above the average for the last 20 years, with 2020 the third worst year for forest destruction since 2002 when comparable monitoring began.

Source: theguardian.com

An antelope shocked safari visitors when they spotted a spider's web densely woven between its horns. The tourists were initially concerned that the animal was trapped in plastic at the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. Jess Isden, 39, saw the oryx in the distance through a pair of binoculars and thought it looked unusual. As the antelope walked closer to their car, Jess realised it was a thick spider web. The whole space between the oryx's horns had been covered by the web which had even been built over the animal's face and down its nose.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

The Bidens' dog Major has nipped again, just days after returning from training in Delaware for a biting incident at the White House earlier this month. A spokesman for First Lady Jill Biden said that "out of an abundance of caution" the individual who was bitten was seen by the White House medical unit before returning to work.

Source: bbc.com

Germany’s vaccine committee, known as STIKO, on Tuesday recommended using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine only for people aged 60 and over following further reports of a rare brain blood disorder. “After several consultations, STIKO, with the help of external experts, decided by a majority to recommend the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine only for persons aged 60 years and older on the basis of available data on the occurrence of rare but very severe thromboembolic side effects,” it said in a statement.

Source: reuters.com

The cherry blossom season, Japan's traditional sign of spring, has peaked at the earliest date since records began 1,200 years ago, research shows. The 2021 season in the city of Kyoto peaked on 26 March, according to data collected by Osaka University. Increasingly early flowerings in recent decades are likely to be as a result of climate change, scientists say. The previous record there was set in 1409, when the season reached its peak on 27 March.

Source: bbc.com

There will be plenty of teams interested in signing the 32-year-old striker with clubs around the world keen to bring in a striker with a proven track record of scoring lots of goals. The frontrunners at the moment appear to be Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, PSG and Independiente. Inter Miami in Major League Soccer could also be a possible destination.

Source: eurosport.com

Catalonia’s separatist parties on Tuesday failed to agree on forming a coalition government in the northeastern Spanish region, raising the prospect of a snap election if no candidate manages to convince a parliamentary majority in two months. The leader from leftist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya Pere Aragones did not get the support from rival centre-right separatist Junts in parliament, leaving him short of votes to be the new regional head.

Source: reuters.com

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued the latest verbal salvo after South Korean President Moon Jae-in criticized the North’s ballistic missile launches last week. She said Moon’s “illogical and brazen-faced” comments echoed the U.S. stance. “We can hardly repress astonishment at his shamelessness,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the North’s state media. “He cannot feel sorry for being ‘praised’ as a parrot raised by America.”  

Source: politico.com

Nike is suing Brooklyn art collective MSCHF over a controversial pair of "Satan Shoes" that contain a drop of real human blood in the soles. The $1,018 trainers, which feature an inverted cross, a pentagram and the words "Luke 10:18", were made using modified Nike Air Max 97s. MSCHF released 666 pairs of the shoes on Monday in collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X and says they sold out in less than a minute. Nike claims trademark infringement.

Source: bbc.com

Ships have started sailing through Egypt's Suez Canal again, a day after a giant container vessel blocking the vital trade route was freed. Thirty-seven ships that were struck at the midway point cleared the waterway overnight, while 70 others are due to travel its entire length on Tuesday. The canal authorities hope to clear the traffic jam of some 300 vessels waiting to use it within three-and-a-half days.

Source: bbc.com

The proposal asks Iran to halt some of its nuclear activities, such as work on advanced centrifuges and the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, in exchange for some relief from U.S. economic sanctions, said one of the people, who stressed that the details are still being worked out.

Source: politico.com

Hong Kong's leading TV broadcaster will not air the Academy Awards next month for the first time in more than half a century. Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) has been home to the awards in Hong Kong since 1969. Its decision not to broadcast the ceremony this year was "purely a commercial decision," a spokesperson said. But the decision to drop the Oscars comes as two nominees — "Do Not Split," a documentary about the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and Chloe Zhao, who wrote and directed the drama "Nomadland" — face heated criticism in mainland China.

Source: cnn.com

Researchers in Australia have discovered a gene responsible for a particularly aggressive type of hormone-sensitive breast cancer which has tragically low survival rates. "Hopefully this will dramatically improve the poor outcomes these patients currently suffer," said Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research epigeneticist Pilar Blancafort.

Source: sciencealert.com

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo resigned on Monday, two sources said, amid growing criticism of the combative China hawk’s failure to guarantee additional vaccine supplies from Beijing and Washington. A loyal ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, Araujo represents an ideological wing of the right-wing populist administration whose attacks against China, environmentalists and the left were increasingly seen as noisy distractions from tackling Brazil’s raging pandemic.

Source: reuters.com

A fugitive Italian gangster's urge to show off his cooking skills has landed him in jail after seven years on the run. Italian police tracked down Marc Feren Claude Biart, 53, through the culinary videos he had uploaded to YouTube. While he carefully hid his face, he failed to disguise his body tattoos. The alleged member of the 'Ndrangheta crime gang was arrested in the Dominican Republic last Wednesday and has now been extradited back to Italy.

Source: bbc.com