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Swiss voters rejected a proposal by animal rights activists to make Switzerland the first country to ban medical and scientific experiments on animals, but approved tougher restrictions on cigarette advertising in referendums held on Sunday. Only 21% of voters were in favour of the animal experiment ban, with 79% against, according to government figures, in the nationwide referendum held under the Swiss tradition of direct democracy.

Source: reuters.com

Police officers began arresting the remaining protesters near a key US-Canadian border bridge, trying to end one of the main demonstrations that broke out across Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions. Police in Ontario province’s city of Windsor said in a statement on Sunday arrests were made and vehicles towed just after dawn near the Ambassador Bridge linking the US city of Detroit.

Source: aljazeera.com

Israeli soldiers have shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian boy during clashes near the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and official Wafa news agency said on Monday. The health ministry said Mohammed Abu Salah was killed in the village of Silat al-Harithiya as troops arrived late on Sunday to demolish the home of Muhammad Jaradat, a man accused of killing an Israeli late last year. Witnesses said soldiers and Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire.

Source: aljazeera.com

Four people were shot early Saturday morning (around 2:45 a.m. local time) in West Hollywood after a fight broke out near an after-party for singer Justin Bieber. Bieber was hosting an after-party at The Nice Guy restaurant and lounge, following a concert, and "the shooting occurred ... near The Nice Guy, but it was not directly in front," a source familiar with the event told CNN. The source said the musician was inside the venue when the shooting took place, and he decided to leave the venue once he learned of the incident.

 

Heavy snow has caused major disruption to the Winter Olympics schedule with temperatures set to plummet below -22C at the Beijing Games. Several ski slopestyle events had to be pushed back a day because of the conditions at the Genting Snow Park.

Source: bbc.com

Thirteen people have been injured after a mezzanine floor collapsed at an east London pub. Emergency services were called to the Two More Years bar in Hackney Wick at about 16:50 GMT on Saturday. Firefighters rescued seven people who were trapped after the collapse. London Ambulance Service said three people were seriously hurt and 10 more had minor injuries.

Source: bbc.com

The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data. The area destroyed was five times larger than 2021, the highest January total since records began in 2015. Environmentalists accuse Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro of allowing deforestation to accelerate.

Source: bbc.com

Canadian demonstrators were blocking the busiest international crossing in North America on Saturday in defiance of a court order -- setting up a potential showdown with police over the Covid-19 protests that have snarled supply chains and alarmed political leaders. On Friday, officials warned that those blocking the Ambassador Bridge between the US and Canada will face severe consequences if they do not clear the critical economic artery that's been shut down for days.

Source: cnn.com

Gao Tingyu thrilled the home crowd in Beijing by becoming the first Chinese man to claim an Olympic gold medal in speedskating, winning the 500 meters. Gao added to the bronze medal he took in the 500 at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Source: apnews.com

Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are continuing the love story of their first collaborative track, "Everything Has Changed," with the release of a new duet, "The Joker and The Queen." Sheeran initially released a solo version of "The Joker and The Queen" in October 2021 as part of his fifth studio album, "=" (Equals).

Source: cnn.com

The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent. U.S. officials said the State Department plans to announce early Saturday that virtually all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave ahead of a feared Russian invasion. A small number of officials may remain in Kyiv but the vast majority of the almost 200 Americans at the embassy will be sent out or relocated to Ukraine’s far west, near the Polish border.

Source: apnews.com

Jenner, 24, shared her baby's name on her Instagram Story: Wolf Webster. The beauty mogul previously announced the birth of her second child with Scott, 30, in a post Sunday on social media — with a blue heart emoji.

Source: foxnews.com

Fox News anchor Jim Angle has passed away at the age of 75 at his home in Arlington, Virginia. The long time Fox News anchor's cause of death has not yet been released, according to the network.

Source: independent.co.uk

Two journalists working with the United Nations have been detained along with several Afghan workers, the organisation's refugee agency said on Friday. The Taliban administration's security and intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, said it had no information on the matter.

Source: reuters.com

The President of North Macedonia walked an 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome to school after he heard she was being bullied. President Stevo Pendarovski held Embla Ademi's hand as he walked her to her elementary school in the city of Gostivar on Monday. Pendarovski "talked to Embla's parents about the challenges she and her family face on a daily basis," and discussed solutions, his office said in a press release.

Source: cnn.com

The death toll from Cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar jumped to 120 on Friday from 92 reported earlier this week, the state disaster relief agency said. The cyclone hit the Indian Ocean island late on Saturday, slamming the southeastern coastline before receding late on Sunday. The agency said the cyclone had left just over 124,000 people with their homes damaged or destroyed.

Source: reuters.com

The Japanese foreign ministry said on Friday it had issued an advisory urging Japanese nationals in Ukraine to leave immediately. There are about 150 Japanese citizens in Ukraine, a foreign ministry official said.

Source: reuters.com

Russia on Friday said French President Emmanuel Macron was made to sit at an enormously long table for his talks with Vladimir Putin because he refused to take a Kremlin-performed Covid test. The leaders sat at opposite ends of an unusually long table in the Kremlin on Monday, when Macron came to Moscow with a mission to defuse fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Source: france24.com