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Syria's president has made his first trip to an Arab country since the Syrian civil war began 11 years ago. Bashar al-Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, and met several influential and controversial rulers who signalled a willingness to strengthen ties with Syria again. It marks a potential warming in Syria's relations with its Arab neighbours, which had previously isolated Mr Assad. But the US criticised the trip, saying it was "profoundly disappointed".

Source: bbc.com

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has ordered the shutdown of popular messaging application Telegram in the country, effectively banning one of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro‘s favourite communication channels ahead of elections later this year. In a decision published on Friday, Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the app blocked immediately across the South American nation, citing Telegram’s failure to comply with orders from Brazilian authorities and remove messages found to contain disinformation.

Source: aljazeera.com

A California man has pleaded guilty after he stole two baby bears from their mother and then told authorities he couldn’t actually care for them. Cody Dylon Setzer, 29, and one of his co-workers took the 4-week-old bears from their den in a fallen tree in Yreka in March 2019, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday. Setzer then contacted wildlife officials to say he’d found the baby bears along Highway 263.

Source: nypost.com

Australian Nick Kyrgios apologised for losing his temper after his defeat at the hands of Rafa Nadal at Indian Wells and for smashing his racket into the ground, which then bounced and nearly struck a ball boy. "I just want to apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match," Kyrgios wrote on Instagram. "It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.

Source: reuters.com

Tropical Cyclone Gombe has killed at least 53 people since it hit Mozambique a week ago, a sharp rise from earlier estimates. According to the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) on Thursday, another 80 people have been injured and 400,000 affected since the cyclone swept into northern and central areas of the country, flooding towns and destroying houses. Data showed Gombe had completely destroyed 45,000 homes and partially destroyed 30,000.

Source: aljazeera.com

Even though he's still an active player, a new film premiering Friday is attempting to tell the story of Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic by focusing on the star's childhood growing up in a poor part of the city of Malmo. Pitched as a "true underdog story," the movie "Jag ar Zlatan" (I am Zlatan), which premieres Friday, is based on the autobiographical book of the same name, but director Jens Sjogren told AFP that he wanted to hone in on the player's early years.

Source: france24.com

A three-year-old girl suffered serious wounds to her head and back after she was attacked by a kangaroo on the porch of her home. Paramedics and a rescue helicopter were called to the home in Armidale, in NSW' Northern Tablelands just before 5.30pm on Thursday. The little girl was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition after the attack, which left her with lacerations on the side of her head, on her back and arm.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Pete Davidson has bowed out of a short ride to space next week on a Jeff Bezos rocket. The Saturday Night Live star “is no longer able to join” the other five passengers on the next Blue Origin flight, Bezos’ space travel company said Thursday night. No other details were provided. The company said it will announce Davidson’s replacement in the coming days. The company has not disclosed the ticket price for paying passengers.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Peru’s constitutional court has approved the release from prison of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for murder and corruption charges. Judge Eloy Espinosa-Saldana confirmed the 4-3 ruling in remarks broadcast on local channel Canal N. It was unclear when Fujimori could leave prison or if new legal challenges could halt the decision.

Source theguardian.com

The American space agency has rolled out its new giant Moon rocket for the first time. The vehicle, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), was taken to the pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to conduct a dummy countdown. If that goes well, the rocket will be declared ready for a mission in which it will send an uncrewed test capsule around the Moon. This could happen in the next couple of months.

Source: bbc.com

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winner as Barcelona fought back from a goal down to beat Galatasaray 2-1 on Thursday to book their spot in the Europa League quarter-finals. After a goalless first leg at the Camp Nou last week, Xavi Hernandez's Barca trailed on aggregate in the last 16 when Marcao headed Galatasaray into a 28th-minute lead on the night in Istanbul. But 19-year-old midfielder Pedri drew the visitors level before the break.

Source: france24.com

A new dinosaur species from the early Jurassic period was discovered in southwestern China, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal eLife. Scientists originally found remains of an armored dinosaur, which they named Yuxisaurus kopchicki, in 2017 in the Yuxi region of Yunnan province. The ancient creature belongs to the thyreophoran group. It likely lived 192 million to 174 million years ago and is the first thyreophoran from that time period to be recognized in the region, according to the study.

Source: cnn.com

"Terminator" star Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed to Vladimir Putin on Thursday to end the "senseless" war in Ukraine and praised Russians protesting the conflict as his "new heroes."

Source: france24.com

A 13-year-old was driving the pickup truck that struck a van in West Texas in a fiery collision that killed nine people, including six members of a college golf team and their coach, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Thursday. The child and a man traveling in the truck also died. The University of the Southwest students, including one from Portugal and one from Mexico, and the coach were returning from a golf tournament when the vehicles collided Tuesday night.

Source: theguardian.com

The Czech Republic launched a tender on Thursday to build a new reactor at the Dukovany nuclear plant as the country aims to increase nuclear power generation. Three companies - Westinghouse, France’s EDF and Korea’s KHNP - have passed a Czech government security appraisal and are expected to bid for the lucrative project. The project’s estimated cost of around 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) is the biggest single investment in the Czech Republic, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela said.

Source: apnews.com

South Korea's Hyundai has launched the first electric car assembly plant in Indonesia, as the Southeast Asian archipelago looks to exploit an abundance of resources used in EV production. Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer and also rich in cobalt, bauxite and copper ores, key materials in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars.

Source: france24.com

Sharing your Netflix password with someone for free outside your household may soon be a thing of the past. In a news release posted to its website Wednesday, the streaming giant announced that it will begin testing ways to make users sharing an account outside the household pay for the additional members.

Source: nbcnews.com

Brazilian women wounded by burns and other physical trauma can now seek out relief from a tattoo artist on a mission to ink over the scars, transforming lingering reminders of pain with beautiful butterflies, flowers and animals. The studio of Sao Paulo tattoo artist Karlla Mendes has already applied its skill to more than 150 women in the Brazilian megacity with its 'We Are Diamonds' project.

Source: reuters.com