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A total of 155 plants, 16 fish species, 17 amphibians, 35 reptiles, and one mammal have been found in the Greater Mekong region of southeast Asia, conservation charity WWF has said. The discoveries showed the area, which spans Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, is rich in wildlife diversity but also highlighted the need to protect species and habitats from being lost, the organisation added.

Source: news.sky.com

Rihanna is backing her belief that climate change is a social-justice issue by pledging $15 million to the movement through her Clara Lionel Foundation. The “We Found Love” singer on Tuesday announced the donation to 18 climate justice organizations doing work in seven Caribbean nations and the United States. They include the Climate Justice Alliance, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Movement for Black Lives.

Source: apnews.com

Climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Olympics, reducing the number of suitable venues for the event around the globe, a report warned ahead of the Beijing Games. The Olympics in China, which start on February 4, will be the first Winter Games to rely almost 100 percent on artificial snow, according to the study.

Source: france24.com

Ozzie, the world's oldest male gorilla and the third-oldest gorilla in the world, died Tuesday at Zoo Atlanta, the facility announced. He was 61. The 350-pound western lowland gorilla's cause of death is not yet known.

Source: cnn.com

The Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) Indigenous community said on Tuesday that a geophysical survey revealed "93 reflections" with characteristics "indicative of potential human burials" at the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school in British Columbia.

Source: france24.com

Meet Methuselah, the fish that likes to eat fresh figs, get belly rubs and is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world. In the Bible, Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather and was said to have lived to be 969 years old. Methuselah the fish is not quite that ancient, but biologists at the California Academy of Sciences believe it is about 90 years old, with no known living peers. Methuselah is a 4-foot-long (1.2-meter), 40-pound (18.1-kilogram) Australian lungfish that was brought to the San Francisco museum in 1938 from Australia.

Source: apnews.com

Rescuers from the United States Coast Guard are searching the waters off Florida’s Atlantic coast for 39 people reported missing for several days after a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized. Search mission launched after survivor said he was one of a group of migrants who left Bahamas on Saturday.

Source: aljazeera.com

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog will make a historic visit to the UAE at the end of the month, his office has said, in the latest high-profile diplomatic trip since the countries normalised ties. Isaac Herzog will travel with the first lady and will meet Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during the January 30-31 trip.

Source: aljazeera.com

The Blue Boy, Thomas Gainsborough's famous oil painting, has gone on display at the National Gallery, 100 years after it was bought and shipped to the US by an American businessman. The London gallery's 1922 farewell show for the work attracted 90,000 visitors. The 1770 masterpiece has now been loaned back for an exhibition which opened on Tuesday, 100 years to the day that it left Britain.

Source: bbc.com

Manchester United have agreed a deal which will see Anthony Martial join Sevilla on loan for the rest of the season, subject to a medical. There is no option to buy and no loan fee but the Spanish club will cover the striker's wages. France forward Martial, 26, has been targeted by the Spanish club for a number of months.

Source: bbc.com

An Iranian court sentenced Benjamin Brière, a Frenchman, to eight years in prison on spying charges on Tuesday. His Paris-based lawyer has denounced the trial as a "masquerade". Brière, who was arrested in May 2020 while travelling in Iran and is currently on hunger strike, was also given an additional eight-month sentence for propaganda against Iran's Islamic system, his lawyer Philippe Valent said in a statement.

Source: france24.com

Christian Eriksen is training with Ajax's second team as he looks to step up his return to fitness ahead of a potential move to Premier League side Brentford. It now appears Eriksen could soon join Thomas Frank's Brentford side on a six-month deal until the end of the season but until then, is sharpening up at one of his old clubs.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

More than 1,000 people gathered in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou on Tuesday in support of a coup that a day earlier ousted President Roch Kabore, dissolved government, suspended the constitution and closed borders.

Source: france24.com

Thailand on Tuesday became the first country in Asia to approve the de facto decriminalization of marijuana, though authorities have left a grey area around its recreational use. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that the Narcotics Control Board had approved the dropping cannabis from the ministry’s list of controlled drugs.

Source: apnews.com

Sony Music Entertainment announced it has fully acquired Bob Dylan’s entire back catalog of recorded music, as well as the rights to multiple future new releases, in a major expansion of SME’s six-decade relationship with the artist. Sources tell Variety that the deal was worth between $150 million and $200 million, although the number was not confirmed; reps for Sony and Dylan declined comment.

 

Indian actress Shilpa Shetty has been formally cleared of obscenity charges dating from when Hollywood star Richard Gere publicly kissed her at an AIDS awareness event 15 years ago. The incident triggered a local firestorm at the time, with radical Hindu groups burning effigies of both celebrities to protest the perceived insult to Indian values. The case against Shetty languished in India's glacial legal system for more than a decade until it was finally discharged in Mumbai last week.

Source: france24.com

Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on January 15 released "hundreds of times the equivalent mechanical energy of the Hiroshima nuclear explosion," referring to one of two atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Japan during World War II.

Source: cnn.com

Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic appearing to insult the Fox News journalist Peter Doocy, seemingly calling him a “stupid son of a bitch” after Doocy posed a question about US inflation. “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?” the reporter asked the president as journalists were leaving the room at the end of an event at the White House on Monday. Biden responded: “No, it’s a great asset – more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”

Source: theguardian.com