Two endangered Mexican beaded lizards have hatched at the Wroclaw Zoo in Poland, boosting the population of the venomous lizards. The zoo said the lizards, which are difficult to breed in captivity, hatched in late February at the zoo's terrarium, where the eggs had been kept in an incubator since an adult female laid them in August.

After over three years living in a Salt Lake City church to avoid being deported, Honduran immigrant Vicky Chavez stepped outside Thursday with tears in her eyes as church congregants and friends cheered, celebrating her newfound freedom. Chavez and her two young daughters took sanctuary in First Unitarian Church in January 2018 after she said she fled an abusive boyfriend in Honduras and sought asylum in the United States but was denied.

A photo symbolizing "love and compassion" of an 85-year-old Brazilian woman getting her first embrace in five months from a nurse through a transparent "hug curtain" was named the World Press Photo of the Year on Thursday. The choice of a winning photo portraying the global pandemic was almost inevitable for the contest covering a year in which news around the globe was dominated by the virus that has killed nearly 3 million people, including more than 360,000 in hard-hit Brazil.

Sikhs across the United States are holding toned-down Vaisakhi celebrations this week, joining people of other faiths in observing major holidays cautiously this spring as COVID-19 keeps an uneven hold on the country. Vaisakhi, which falls April 13 or 14 depending on which of two dueling calendars one follows, marks the day in 1699 when Sikhism took its current form. While the ongoing pandemic has many people celebrating remotely this year just as in 2020, some, especially in the United States, are joining in masked, socially distant Vaisakhi gatherings.

An expansive new show featuring works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, famous for mesmerizing polka dots, speckled pumpkins and fascination with the natural world, has opened at The New York Botanical Garden. Ticket sales have been brisk in a pandemic-weary city hungry for more outdoor cultural events. “Kusama: Cosmic Nature,” postponed by a year due to the coronavirus, will remain on view through Halloween.

Police clashed with protesters for a second night in the Minneapolis suburb where an officer who authorities say apparently intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop. Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting death Sunday of 20-year-old Daunte Wright as “an accidental discharge.” The shooting sparked protests and unrest in an area already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s death.

People across Britain flocked to shed shaggy locks and browse for clothes, books and other “non-essential” items as shops, gyms, hairdressers, restaurant patios and beer gardens reopened Monday after months of lockdown. Monday brought the easing of restrictions that have been in place in England since early January to suppress a surge in infections linked to a more transmissible new virus variant first identified in the southeast of the country.

More people fled their homes on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Sunday as La Soufrière volcano rumbled loudly for a third day and the heavy weight of its ashfall damaged some buildings. Residents reported widespread power failures early in the day, though authorities restored electricity to most of the island by late afternoon.

A Brazilian activist dressed as the grim reaper is taking to the streets of Berlin every night in a one-man protest against what he calls the "deadly health policies" pursued by his homeland's president in the pandemic. Multimedia artist Rafael Puetter, who has been in Berlin for five years and originally comes from Rio de Janeiro, made his nightly excursion early Wednesday as Brazil for the first time reported a 24-hour tally of COVID-19 deaths exceeding 4,000.

By Day 3 of being confined to his Australian hotel room for quarantine, David Marriott was getting bored. He'd watched a few seasons of "The Sopranos" and his eyes were getting tired from reading. Then his lunch arrived in a brown paper bowl and he thought "Aha. That's a hat waiting to happen." The paper cowboy was born. Using the good quality paper bags his food was delivered in each day, Marriott, an art director on TV commercials, began fashioning an outfit. He added a brim to his hat, and then came the waistcoat and chaps. Next? A horse, of course.