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Substitute Kaoru Mitoma scored twice in the dying minutes as Japan beat Australia 2-0 on Thursday to book their place at a seventh straight World Cup and in doing so also helped Saudi Arabia qualify. Victory pushed Japan to the top of Asian Group B qualifying on 21 points, six clear of Australia with only one more game to play. The Saudis, on 19 points, face China in Sharjah later Thursday but are assured of their place in Qatar courtesy of Japan's win.

Source: france24.com

Swiss police say three adults and a child have died and a teenager was seriously injured after falling from a seven-story residential building Thursday in the lakeside town of Montreux. Police said the victims were all French citizens and members of the same family. In a statement, police identified the people killed as a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter. They said the couples 15-year-old son was seriously injured. 

Source: apnews.com

Sharon Bell, 58, is accused of harassing the Manchester United legend by sending him a series of letters and repeatedly attempting to contact him. She is even said to have turned up at the school of the footie ace's ten-year-old daughter Harper in a bid to meet her. Bell has now been charged with stalking after she allegedly also went to the Beckham's home in West London. A magistrate barred her from approaching or messaging Beckham, his wife Victoria, or any of the couple’s children.

Source: thesun.co.uk

Stephen Wilhite, the creator of the looping animated GIF image format, died this month. The death was confirmed in an obituary, which said Wilhite, one the chief architect of America Online, died March 14 — just days after his 74th birthday on March 3. He died of Covid, his wife, Kathaleen, confirmed.

Source: nbcnews.com

Ashleigh Barty said Thursday that she will remove herself from the WTA rankings after announcing her retirement, opening the door for Poland's Iga Swiatek to become world number one. The 20-year-old Swiatek is a massive 2,204 ranking points behind Barty, but could be elevated to number one depending on what happens at the ongoing Miami Open.

Source: france24.com

The Belgian government agreed a few hours before a NATO summit to inject an extra billion euros in its defence forces, on top of 10 billion euros already agreed, according to Belgian newspaper l'Echo, a move prompted by the war in Ukraine. The new investments aim at reinforcing the Belgian defence by 2030, including developing a cybersecurity unit in the Belgian army, replenishing stocks of fuel and munitions, military equipment and supplies and improving intelligence and communication systems, the paper said.

Source: reuters.com

MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $275 million to Planned Parenthood, a leading advocate for abortion rights in the United States. Planned Parenthood said Scott's donation to the group's national office and 21 affiliates was the largest gift from a single donor in the history of the organization, which operates clinics focused on reproductive and sexual health across the country.

Source: france24.com

Three months after being pardoned for one of South Korea’s worst government-corruption scandals, former President Park Geun-hye went home Thursday after being released from a hospital. She slowly walked out of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul as cameras flashed and dozens of supporters shouted: “Park Geun-hye! President!” “I express my greetings to our people for the first time in five years. My health has really improved, thanks to your worries,” Park said.

Source: apnews.com

North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile Thursday, Seoul and Tokyo said, apparently continuing a weapons testing blitz that could culminate with a major, long-range missile launch.

Source: france24.com

Boris Becker, the six-time Grand Slam tennis champion, offered his wedding ring in a bid to pay off his debts, a court has heard. Becker also wanted to sell his Mallorca estate in an effort to cancel his bankruptcy, the jury was told. The 54-year-old German national was declared bankrupt in June 2017 after borrowing more than £3m from a bank. He is on trial at Southwark Crown Court charged with 24 offences under the Insolvency Act. He denies all charges.

Source: bbc.com

Madeleine Albright, who helped steer Western foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War, has died of cancer. She was 84 years old. Albright's family announced her death in a statement Wednesday.

Source: cnn.com

Justin Bieber is dropping a $20 million (£16.2m) defamation lawsuit against two women who accused him of sexual assault. The singer, 28, was accused by two social media users in 2014 and 2015. He strongly denied the claims and at the time called them "outrageous lies" that were "provably fabricated". Last week, his lawyers requested for the case to be dismissed, according to documents obtained by the PA news agency. It's not clear whether a settlement between Bieber and the women has been agreed.

Source: bbc.com

The report, led by Prof Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Manchester University, found that wealthy countries such as the UK, US and Australia had until 2034 to stop all oil and gas production to give the world a 50% chance of preventing devastating climate breakdown, while the poorest nations that are also heavily reliant on fossil fuels should be given until 2050.

Source: theguardian.com

"Be aware that we will not only take part in the funeral of our martyrs, but also immediately take their revenge. This is a real and serious message. If your mischief is repeated, you will once again experience our attacks and suffer the bitter taste of our missile blows," the semi-official Tasnim news quoted Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami, addressing Israel, as saying.

Источник: reuters.com

Actor Amanda Bynes was released Tuesday from a court conservatorship that put her life and financial decisions in her parents’ control for nearly nine years. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Roger Lund terminated the conservatorship at a hearing in a courtroom in the Southern California city of Oxnard, her attorney David A. Esquibias said. Bynes, now 35, shot to fame on a pair of Nickelodeon shows as a teenager, but struggles with mental health, substance abuse and the law prompted her parents to establish court control through a conservatorship in 2013.

Source: apnews.com

On March 23, President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan received delegation headed by Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Taguhi Tovmasyan. Issues relating to the inter-parliamentary ties and parliamentary diplomacy were on the discussion agenda. The Head of the State expressed gratitude to Taguhi Tovmasyan for constantly voicing the problems facing Artsakh and its people and for keeping them in the spotlight.

Source: Office of the President of the Artsakh Republic 

Officials say two firefighters were injured Tuesday battling a massive blaze at a PepsiCo factory in New Jersey. WABC-TV reports that the fire started just after 6:30 p.m. in Piscataway and spread to a fifth alarm, according to police. Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler said one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion while the other injured their shoulder. The injuries were not considered serious, Wahler said.

Source: apnews.com

A book that claimed to have solved the question of who betrayed Anne Frank has been recalled by its Dutch publisher after its findings were discredited. The book's investigating team suggested a Jewish man called Arnold van den Bergh was responsible for her and her family's arrests during World War Two. But since it was published in January, the work has been widely criticised. Now a new report by a team of World War Two experts and historians has said its research does not stand up to scrutiny.

Source: bbc.com