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Japan's Princess Mako has married her college sweetheart Kei Komuro - thus losing her royal status. Under Japanese law, female imperial family members forfeit their status upon marriage to a "commoner" although male members do not. She also skipped the usual rites of a royal wedding and turned down a payment offered to royal females upon their departure from the family. She is the first female member of the royal family to decline both.
Source: bbc.com
Astronomers have found hints of what could be the first planet ever to be discovered outside our galaxy. Nearly 5,000 "exoplanets" - worlds orbiting stars beyond our Sun - have been found so far, but all of these have been located within the Milky Way galaxy. The possible planet signal discovered by Nasa's Chandra X-Ray Telescope is in the Messier 51 galaxy. This is located some 28 million light-years away from the Milky Way.
Source: bbc.com
The royal couple's November 16-19 visit will start in Jordan, a UK ally whose King Abdullah II has come under pressure over leaks about his offshore wealth and over an alleged coup plot. The tour comes after the heir to the UK throne visits Glasgow next week for the COP26 climate summit. It will end in Egypt, which will take over the UN climate presidency from Britain next year.
Source: france24.com
Israel is holding its largest-ever air force exercise this week with the participation of several countries including the United Arab Emirates, with whom it normalised ties last year. UAE ’s air force chief is expected to arrive on Tuesday.
Source: aljazeera.com
A German Muslim convert who joined the Islamic State group in Iraq has been jailed for 10 years in Munich over the killing of a Yazidi girl she and her husband had bought as a slave. Jennifer Wenisch was judged to have been an accomplice to a war crime, having stood by when her husband left the five-year-old to die of thirst, chained outside in the blazing sun. Wenisch's husband, an Iraqi jihadist, is on trial in Frankfurt. The girl died in Fallujah in 2015.
Source: bbc.com
The white leather shoes with the red Nike swoosh and soles were worn by the iconic player in the fifth game of his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls, when Nike’s Jordan-affiliated brand was only just taking off as a sensation both on and off the court. “The most valuable sneakers ever offered at auction – Michael Jordan’s regular season game-worn Nike Air Ships from 1984 – have just sold at $1,472,000 in our luxury sale in Las Vegas,” auction house Sotheby’s said.
Source: theguardian.com
Boxers, janitors, fishermen, the heroes of Keisuke Yoshida’s movies are Japanese society’s angst-filled losers, struggling against odds in a violent, imperfect, often-crazed world. The Japanese director and his three latest works are being featured at the Tokyo International Film Festival, opening Oct. 30. Yoshida’s works explore the dark side of the human condition, like petty jealousies and shameful guilt, although he insists he believes in the potential for change, what he calls “taking that first step” out of despair.
Source: apnews.com
The former prime minister came to power in 2016 after the death of his mentor, dictator Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan for 27 years. Mirziyoyev has been credited with launching what he calls a "New Uzbekistan" programme, ending a decades-old system of forced labour with roots in the former Soviet Union and introducing limited media freedoms.
Source: france24.com
A senior United States diplomat has urged North Korea to end its “concerning and counterproductive” missile tests and resume negotiations. Sung Kim, the top US official on North Korea affairs, spoke on Sunday after meeting with South Korean officials to discuss North Korea’s recent streak of missile tests, including its first underwater ballistic missile launch in two years.
Source: aljazeera.com
Eleven Pablo Picasso artworks that have been on display at a Las Vegas hotel for more than two decades have sold at auction for nearly $110m (£80m). The works, which were owned by MGM Resorts, featured in the Picasso Restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel. The auction featured nine paintings and two ceramic pieces by the Spanish artist, who died in 1973.
Source: bbc.com
Pope Francis has likened migrant detention centers in Libya to "concentration camps" and called on the international community to intervene in a worsening migrant situation in the central Mediterranean region. The Pontiff's remarks after Sunday's angelus come just a day after an Italian prosecutor summoned American Hollywood star Richard Gere to testify in a trial against Italy's right-wing politician Matteo Salvini.
Source: cnn.com
Ecuadorian Olympic sprinter Alex Quinonez has been shot dead in the port city of Guayaquil. Quinonez, 32, and another person were found dead close to midnight (05:00 GMT) on Friday, according to police, with the killing sparking an outpouring of grief in a country struggling to contain a surge in violence.
Source: aljazeera.com
Real Madrid piled renewed pressure on Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman as David Alaba scored a scintillating goal to help them seal a 2-1 victory in the Clasico at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Source: france24.com
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Sunday it had killed more than 260 Houthi rebels in the past three days near the strategic city of Marib.
Source: france24.com
Ed Sheeran says he is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19. The chart-topping musician said in a post on his Instagram page that he would continue to give planned interviews and performances from home.
Source: bbc.com
Japan's Princess Mako turned 30 on Saturday. Her marriage to Kei Komuro on Tuesday will mean she becomes a commoner in keeping with laws saying female members of the imperial family cannot keep their royal status after marriage. Princess Mako and Komuro met while attending the International Christian University in Tokyo in 2012.
Source: cnn.com
Seven students are suing a Texas school district over its dress-code policy banning boys from having long hair. School officials suspended a 9-year-old boy for a month, barred him from recess and normal lunch breaks as punishment for long hair, the lawsuit claims. He and the other students, aged 7 to 17, say the policy violates the constitution and Title IX - a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination. The school district said on Thursday it was reviewing the lawsuit.
Source: bbc.com
The US military has killed senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar in a drone strike in Syria, a US Central Command spokesman said. The strike comes two days after an American outpost in southern Syria was attacked.
Source: aljazeera.com
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