Lifestyle

The first Super Nintendo World has opened Thursday at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, featuring a real-world version of Mushroom Kingdom designed by Shigeru Miyamoto.

“This is an area where everyone from children to adults can use their five senses to enjoy,” Miyamoto said. “I want people from around the world to visit once the coronavirus pandemic is over.”

For the first time, a Catholic leader has travelled to Baghdad.

At the start of his trip, the Pope called for the coexistence of religions. Speaking at a reception with Head of State Barham Salih at the presidential palace, Francis said it was crucial to involve all political, social and religious groups and guarantee the fundamental rights of all citizens. "No one should be considered a second-class citizen," he said. At the same time, he called for an end to violence: "Let the guns be silent".

Thailand plans to allow foreign visitors to quarantine in local hotel facilities in a bid to revive its dormant tourism sector. The plan is initially planned for April or May in five provinces, including Phuket and Krabi, says Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn. Visitors would usually stay there for between one and three months.

Tourists would then have to be quarantined there for 14 days. But if there is a negative corona test after three days, they are allowed to leave their rooms and move freely around the hotel complexes. In 2020, tourism revenues in Thailand had plummeted by more than 80 percent to just under $11 billion (about 9 billion euros).

At an auction in Scotland, the targeted world record for a bottle of whisky was missed. According to the auction house, the highest bid for the 0.75-litre bottle of "The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare" was ultimately one million pounds (the equivalent of about 1.16 million euros).

In autumn 2019, a bottling from the same cask had gone under the hammer for just under 1.5 million pounds. The whisky comes from a legendary stock, for enthusiasts it is said to be the "holy grail".

Quaker Oats's "Aunt Jemima" is being rebranded as "Pearl Milling Company", PepsiCo, the parent company for Quaker Oats, said. The name change was announced in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism and police brutality.

"Pearl Milling Company-branded pancake mixes, syrups, cornmeal, flour, and grits products will start to arrive in market in June 2021. Pearl Milling Company will offer people all their favorite pancake mix and syrup varieties in the same familiar red packaging previously found under the Aunt Jemima brand. Products will continue to be available under the Aunt Jemima name without the character image until June," so PepsiCo.

Over 60,000 people in Romania petitioned for the abolition of immersing babies in baptism ceremonies, as the Ortodox Church blames the parents and stands by its practices following a baby’s death.

“Immersion has been practiced for two millennia and will continue for the next 1,000 years”, said the archbishop of Tomis to a nationalist TV broadcaster.

In a world-first, The Pope has appointed a woman to the role of undersecretary to the Synod of Bishops.

The woman, named as Sister Nathalie Becquart from France, will have voting rights in the body which advises the pontiff and debates some of the most controversial issues in the Catholic Church.

McDonald's has started a trial run for its new plant-based "McPlant" burger in select locations in Sweden and Denmark earlier this year. The burger is co-developed with plant-based meat substitutes producer Beyond Meat Inc. and is made from pea-based protein.

"Our new McPlant contains a steak that is juicy, spicy and plant-based - and then it is made from i.a. pea and rice protein. In addition, the burger contains a slice of melted cheese with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayo, mustard and ketchup, all in a delicious sesame bun," the description reads in the Danish McDonald's website.

The Michelin Guide has awarded a star to a vegan restaurant in France for the first time. It was awarded to ONA, where top chef Claire Vallée avoids meat, fish, dairy products and honey in her dishes.

Vallée founded ONA in 2016 with the help of crowdfunding and a loan from an eco-bank. Gourmet lovers will find it in Arès, west of Bordeaux.

The name of the restaurant, which is currently closed due to the pandemic, stands for "Origine Non Animale," meaning ingredients that are not of animal origin. According to the Guide Michelin, guests could choose from seven gourmet dishes using ingredients such as pine nuts, celery, sake or tonka beans.

Disneyland Paris announced on Monday that it would delay reopening until at least April 2nd. The park had initially planned to reopen on February 13th.

The company said in a statement that "due to the prevailing conditions in Europe, Disneyland Paris will not reopen on the 13th of February as initially planned. If conditions permit, we will reopen Disneyland Paris on the 2nd of April, 2021 and will welcome reservations from that date forward."

For the first time in history, mountaineers have climbed K2 in winter. The 8611-meter peak in the Karakoram in Pakistan is the second-highest mountain in the world and is considered extremely difficult. The group of Sherpas had paused at a point 70 meters from the summit to wait for each other before entering the world's history books together.

The Bremen District Court has convicted the Lutheran pastor Olaf Latzel of the regional church St Martini parish in the Hanseatic city, of incitement of the people. The fundamentalist pastor had made homophobic and sexist remarks at a marriage seminar in October 2019, and a recording was posted online in March with his consent on his YouTube channel, which has nearly 25,000 subscribers.

According to the court, the statements are incitement and could emotionally justify violence against homosexuals.

Bernd Kuschnerus, the senior theologian of the Bremen Protestant Church, said he was "deeply saddened that a pastor of our church has been convicted of incitement of the people." The statements on which the verdict was based were unacceptable and damaged the reputation of the church, he said. There had been strong opposition to Latzel from the congregations of the Bremen Protestant Church for years. The church leadership has initiated disciplinary proceedings against the pastor, but these are suspended until a legally binding judgment is reached. Latzel's defense filed an appeal.

Pope Francis' personal physician, Fabrizio Soccorsi, has died as a result of an infection with the coronavirus. As reported by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, the 78-year-old died after "complications" from a Covid 19 infection. Soccorsi had been admitted to Rome's Gemelli University Hospital on Christmas Day due to cancer.

The 84-year-old pontiff wants to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was pushed into the top slot after Tesla's share price increased on Thursday.

He takes the top spot from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had held it since 2017.

The Vatican said that it is "morally acceptable" to receive a Coronavirus vaccine even if cell lines from tissues of aborted fetuses were used in its production. The Vatican stated that the use of such vaccines "does not in itself constitute a legitimation, even indirect, of the practice of abortion".

The Administrative Court of Karlsruhe has dismissed a complaint by the cookies manufacturer after the city had forbidden him to distribute cookies containing sawdust. "The biscuits may not be marketed because they are not safe food but objectively unsuitable for human consumption," a spokesman for the court said on Monday.

The manufacturer argued that sawdust is a vegetable product and claims he uses only microbiologically safe wood flour.

The company had manufactured and distributed the sawdust cookies for about 20 years and had also specified sawdust as an ingredient.

Super Nintendo World in Osaka's Universal Studios Japan is set to open in February. During the company’s latest Direct live stream, game director Shigeru Miyamoto led a video tour through the new theme park that's modelled after the Mushroom Kingdom.

Visitors can use smart wristbands, the so-called "Power-Up Band", to interact with the attractions, such as punching question mark or POW blocks.

Super Nintendo World is set to open to visitors on February 4, 2021 and is planning to launch parks in other cities across the world.

Over 370 religious leaders from around the world are calling for an end to the criminalisation of LGBT+ people and a ban on gay conversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practise of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation. The leaders stated that "certain religious teachings have often, throughout the ages, caused and continue to cause deep pain and offence" to LGBTQ+ people and further have "created, and continue to create, oppressive systems that fuel intolerance, perpetuate injustice and result in violence."

Among those who signed are eight archbishops, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu; over 60 rabbis, including former Chief Rabbi of Ireland David Rosen; the Catholic former president of Ireland Mary McAleese and various senior Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus.

The chocolate Santa Claus candies of the German chocolate producer Milka have become smaller this year - but more expensive, reports the consumer center Hamburg after having taken samples in eight supermarkets. Instead of 50 and 100 grams, the hollow figures of the flavour Milka alpine milk weigh only 45 and/or 90 grams instead. In addition, the price has increased as the 45-gram Santa Claus now costs 1.19 euros. In the previous year, it was retailed at 99 cents for the figure with five-gram more mass.

According to a statement of the consumer center, it is also harder to detect the size decrease. Due to a flap with a folded edge, the two shrunken Santa Clauses appear even larger.

At least five passengers of the SeaDream 1 have tested positive for Covid-19. It's the first cruise ship taking passengers on a cruise since Covid-19 shut down the cruise industry. The ship left Barbados on Saturday and had traveled to Saint Vincent, Canouan Island, and Tobago Cays, according to Gene Sloan from Points Guy.

Keith Raniere, founder and leader of American multi-level marketing, cult-like company NXIVM, was convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography possession and other crimes last year and has now been sentenced to 120 years in prison on October 27.

After banning the first Borat movie featuring the fictional Kazakhstani journalist Borat in the country, Kazakhstan has now picked up the catchphrase "very nice", that the character uses repeatedly, for a tourism campaign to attract new people coming and visiting the country.

The deputy chairman of Kazakh Tourism, Kairat Sadvakassov, has stated that "Kazakhstan's nature is very nice. Its food is very nice. And its people, despite Borat's jokes to the contrary, are some of the nicest in the world,".

Pope Francis as made his most explicit endorsement of same-sex civil unions since becoming pontiff while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival.

"Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God," Francis said in one of his sit-down interviews for the film. "You can't kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered."

The Japanese Jesse Katayama was the first visitor on Machu Picchu, after months of Covid-19 closure.

Katayama had a entry ticket and permit to enter the UNESCO World Heritage site on March 16, the same day the Peruvian government opted to close the site. His original plan was to spend three days in the area, but with flights cancelled and movement limited by the virus, Katayama was stuck there for months.

"I thought that I wouldn’t be able to go, but thanks to all of you who pleaded with the mayor and the government, I was given this super special opportunity," he wrote on his Instagram account.

Delphine Boël has won a seven-year legal battle to be recognized as the daughter of the former king of Belgium, Albert II. She will now be called Delphine of Saxen-Coburg-Gotha, princess of Belgium, following a ruling of the Brussels Court of Appeal.

The second most senior official in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, has unexpectedly resigned from office after being involved in a controversial deal to use church funds to invest in the purchase a London building. Becciu has denied any wrongdoings.

"Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights connected to the Cardinalate, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu," so the Holy See.

"An investment was made on a building. It was good and opportune occasion, which many people envy us for today," Becciu earlier this year.

The Taj Mahal has reopened its doors to visitors after a six-month-long closure. To ensure people's safety, various Coronavirus measures have been implemented, e.g. reduced capacity, temperature checks and mandatory face masks.

The finals include the following cities: Espoo (Finland), Helsingborg (Sweden), Leuven (Belgium), Valencia (Spain), Vienna (Austria), and Cluj-Napoca (Romania).

The winner of the competition, to be announced on September 24, receives €1 million, which is to be used in consolidating activities which innovate the infrastructure. The five runners-up will receive  €100,000 each.

The Taj Mahal will reopen on September 21st," mit Srivastava, deputy director of Uttar Pradesh state’s tourism department has announced. Masks, social distancing and other Covid-19 protocols will be required for visitors. Instead of the usual daily 20,000 visitors, only 5,000 will be allowed. Visitors will have to buy tickets only as no physical tickets will be sold.