Sola Aoi took to Instagram to reveal she will be having a baby in May with her husband, the DJ Non, but clearly felt obliged in her blog to fend off criticisms she has faced both before and after the announcement.

Aoi, who starred in her first adult movie at the age of 18 in 2002, has received messages saying what a pity it will be for her children to live with her past. One poster on her blog commented on her “poor children” while another sent her a message saying she should not have a baby as the poster’s own mother had worked in the sex industry and that had caused her to have an unhappy childhood.

Now 35, Aoi stated in a recent post to her blog: “If you think the children of AV [adult video] actresses will definitely be bullied in the future, then that is more of a reflection of your core values.

“Of course it’s better not to do AV, but if you do AV it does not mean that you are unhappy,” she wrote. “My desire to have a child is the same as anyone else’s. Good relationships between parents and a child are not necessarily based on a parent’s profession. They are based on the child’s environment.”

My desire to have a child is the same as anyone else’s

Reiterating that her family had always supported her decisions, Aoi added that her parents were happy when she told them she was getting married and she is looking forward to giving them a grandchild.

Most of the commenters appeared to support Aoi’s actions. On the SoraNews24 site, one poster wrote: “Good on her – and if the kid gets bullied, well it just goes to show you how the parents of those kids are.”

John Tan wrote: “Bravo. Those making a big deal out of her being in AV should re-evaluate their own lives. She is not harming anyone, which is a great deal better than all those fraudsters, murderers, rapists and robbers out there.”

On the Japan Today forum, one poster wrote: “AV actress, religious virgin – we’re all human beings, all with the same rights. People who think they have grounds to criticise someone else for wanting to be a parent are the ones deserving of criticism.”

That sentiment was echoed in the message: “Good for her! Glad to see she doesn’t let the opinions of others guide her.” Another added, “Can you imagine how better life was before hatred saturated the internet? Good on her and she’s a far better human being than her detractors. Wishing her the very best.”

Such are the crowds at the church built on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born that the authorities are planning to introduce an advance reservation system through an app.

The app, which will be introduced early next year, is aimed at ensuring a regular flow of tourists at the Church of the Nativity, where at busy times visitors wait hours to see the underground grotto where Christians believe Jesus was born in a manger.

Details of the app, which will be in English to start, are still being worked out.

    One priest said it would only apply to tour groups visiting the site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but the Palestinian tourism ministry said it would be for everyone.

While there are concerns visits could become unnecessarily complicated, the three churches that share control of the site — the Catholics, Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Church — say such an app is needed.

“There are times when for us there are specific prayers, celebrations, or masses, or with all the sects praying,” Orthodox priest Issa Thaljieh said outside the church.

“So of course there is a huge squeeze. With the app, everyone will know what time to enter and which groups are there, so it will become more organised.”

The first church was built on the site in the fourth century, though it was replaced after a fire in the sixth century. Its mosaics were recently restored in a major project.

Palestinian deputy tourism minister Ali Abu Srour said the app would also provide information about the church.

“We are going digital with this issue,” he told AFP in his office in Bethlehem.

– Record year –

Barbora Salyova, a 29-year-old tourist visiting Israel and Jordan from Slovakia, said the app could be useful for pilgrims like herself.

“This is a step we definitely planned to make,” she said. “We also came for religious reasons so this was an automatic stop.”

Tourism in Bethlehem is enjoying its best season in years, with hotels reporting especially high occupancy rates for the Christmas period, said Elias Al-Arja, chairman of the Hotels Association Palestine.

“We had occupancy rates of 74 or 72 percent in 2018,” he said, adding that it is expected to rise later in December.

In total around 2.8 million tourists have visited the Palestinian territories this year, up from 2.5 million last year, according to the tourism ministry.

Abu Srour said the primary reason is a decrease in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank this year.

The ministry has reached out to new tourists in locations across the globe, he said.

Israel is also enjoying record tourism figures and many visitors take day trips to Bethlehem and other West Bank sites from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Jewish state.

    The violence occurred around the evening of December 17 along Pyu Ma creek in northern Rakhine state’s Maungdaw township, the same area where forces waged a bloody crackdown against the Rohingya last year.

More than 720,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched clearance operations in August 2017, and UN investigators want the country’s top brass prosecuted for genocide for alleged abuses carried out during the expulsion.

Myanmar said it was defending itself against Rohingya militants who attacked police posts and has denied almost all claims of atrocities.

    But the commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing’s office said in the statement posted to his official website Thursday that security forces were active again and had been carrying out “area clearance operations along Pyu Ma Creek.”

The post said the activity was sparked after two ethnic Rakhine Buddhist men did not return from fishing and were later found on the creek bank with their throats slit.

On the same day two members of another ethnic Buddhist minority were attacked while fishing along the creek by six men “speaking Bengali language,” but they escaped and were treated at a local hospital.

The post said authorities did not know the identities of the attackers.

Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as one of its national races and refers to them as Bengali to falsely imply they are newly arrived immigrants from Bangladesh.

Tensions are high in northern Rakhine as the government seeks to kickstart a repatriation process but Rohingya in Bangladesh have refused to take part without being guaranteed rights, citizenship and safety.

The Rohingya still in Rakhine are increasingly isolated, and several boats full of men, women and children trying to flee the state have been stopped in recent weeks and turned around.

The minority has long been persecuted and subjected to apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine, with lack of access to healthcare and freedom of movement curtailed.

Many fear that in their absence Myanmar is changing the landscape of their former homes for good, erasing all signs of their local history.

The special investigation team at the Korea Immigration Service has arrested and recommended an indictment against the 30-year-old woman.

With the help of a South Korean accomplice, she introduced dozens of Thai women, who entered South Korea on tourist visas, to massage parlors from September last year to May this year and took tens of millions won as fees for the brokering, the ministry said.

Whenever the woman introduced a masseuse to a massage shop, she was paid 1.5 million won (around $1,333) from the masseuse and 500,000 won to 1.1 million won from the shop.

The Thai is also suspected of having arranged a fake marriage with a South Korean man in his 50s to allow her to remain in South Korea over the long term. She paid the man about 8 million won for the marriage.

The police have sent the two Korean accomplices to prosecution without detention.

According to the ministry’s statistics, the number of Thai nationals staying in South Korea came to 194,000 as of November, about a two-fold increase from the 101,000 recorded in late 2016.

Under the visa arrangements, Thai visitors are allowed to enter South Korea with a maximum stay of 90 days per visit without a visa.

The bodies of the New Zealand fur seal pups were found by a tourism operator on Monday at Scenery Nook near the South Island city of Christchurch, the Department of Conservation said.

The department’s local operations manager Andy Thompson said the animals, which are protected under New Zealand law, were estimated to be 11 months old.

“Due to the disturbing, brutal and violent nature of this crime… it has been reported to the police,” he said.

Thompson said the seals’ heads were nowhere to be found and it appeared they had been killed elsewhere then dumped in the beauty spot from a boat.

“We believe it’s incredibly unlikely sharks would have bitten the heads off six seals but left the bodies untouched,” he said.

Thompson added the killers may have mistakenly believed the seals were competing with local anglers for fish.

“Regrettably, antagonism towards seals is often due to the misplaced belief that seals are eating large amounts of fish species valued for human consumption,” he said.

“That isn’t the case. Research shows 90 per cent of Banks Peninsula fur seal diet is made up of lantern fish which are not sought after in fishing.”

The DOC has appealed for information about the killings.

In 2011, a South Island teenager was jailed for two years after he admitted to bludgeoning 25 seals to death, including newborn pups.

Witness as the wild Himalayan cherry trees dot the city in pink, imbuing a sense of romance befitting the season. Known locally as the “Tiger Queen” or Nang Phaya Sua Kroang, here are the best places to catch the blooming pink petals and other interesting sights for your next Instagram tryst.

Khun Chang Khian Highland Agriculture Research Centre, Chiang Mai

The Khun Chang Khian Highland is engulfed in cherry pink.

High up in the Doi Suthep mountain of Chiang Mai lies a research centre run by the University of Chiang Mai’s Faculty of Agriculture, which planted the blossom trees in an effort to promote tourism in the area.

Drawing locals and foreign tourists alike, visitors can make your way up the unpaved and narrow roads by riding the songthaew – a red taxi truck commonly found in the province. The journey usually takes about 40 minutes from the base, but be mentally prepared for heavy traffic come peak holiday period.

Once on top, take in the breathtaking hues and sip a cup of locally grown coffee, as you mingle with the ethnic Hmong who call the hill home. Warm yourself with a piping bowl of noodle soup and local delicacies such as sai-ua (northern Thai sausages) and steaming purple sweet potatoes.

Khun Wang Royal Agricultural Research Centre, Chiang Mai

Take Instagram-worthy photos against the sakura backdrop.

At an elevation of 1,400m, this royal agricultural centre in Doi Inthanon National Park is arguably one of the most scenic places to view the cherry blossoms.

Walk under canopies of the stunning pink shade, and take dreamy travel shots against the beautiful background to feed the wanderlust to your social media followers. The park is also home to a variety of fruits like strawberries and pears, which you can pick from the research garden.

Phum Lom Lo, Loei

The cherry trees were planted in 2010 by Hmong farmers.

More than 100,000 wild Himalayan cherry trees line this former cabbage plantation site in Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park in Loei. The cherry trees were planted by the Hmong farmers in 2010, when park authorities took over the land from agriculture use.

Just like bees to the blossom, the pilot project began to bloom and sees a flurry of visitors every Jan and Feb without fail. With a temperature that rarely hovers above 10°C, you could also experience winter-like weather closer to home.

Doi Chang, Chiang Rai

The wild Himalayan cherry blossoms.

Come December, the hills of coffee producing Doi Chang region come to life with pastel-coloured dreams that last until mid-January. Over 500,000 blooming cherry trees rain petals down the streets of this outskirt Chiang Rai district.

Interestingly, the flowers here were grown by the Chiang Rai Highland Agricultural Extension Centre for experimental purposes, as well as to attract visitors.

What’s a trip to a coffee region without sampling its finest offering? With cool weather all around, it’s the perfect temperature to enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee with a sight of beautiful flowers.

Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai

Besides cherry blossom, the people of Doi Mae Salong grow quality oolong tea.

Located deep in the heart of Chiang Rai, this hilltop village is home to the ethnic Chinese minorities in Thailand, due to its proximity to the border.

Although fleeting, the cherry blossoms are widely celebrated here as part of the culture along with oolong tea – the village’s main income production. The Doi Mae Salong Tea and Sakura Festival falls from Dec 28 to Jan 2 with plenty of cultural activities and ethnic performances lined up.

This article is brought to you by Tourism Authority of Thailand. The cherry blossom season varies depending on weather conditions and destinations, so it’s best to do your research before going. Embrace winter in Thailand with great travel deals from Expedia.com.my and enjoy instant savings up to 58% off selected hotels until the day of your trip.

The social media giant — Myanmar’s most popular and influential site — has been lambasted for years for its ineffective response to malicious posts, particularly against the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

The problem reached new levels of urgency last year as Myanmar’s military drove more than 720,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, while dehumanising material about the stateless group spread on the site.

Facebook said Wednesday some 425 pages, 17 groups, 135 accounts and 15 Instagram accounts had been removed, which were posing as independent news, entertainment, beauty and lifestyle pages but in reality had links to the military or to pages previously removed.

This is Facebook’s third sweeping takedown of pages and accounts for what it calls ” coordinated inauthentic behavior” in Myanmar following deletions in October and August.

Hardline nationalist monks and even the army’s top generals, accused by UN investigators of genocide, are among the users Facebook blacklisted this year.

Facebook said in a newsroom post that it does not want people or organisations “creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing,” adding that one page had 2.5 million followers.

Some of the deleted pages were called “Down for Anything”, “Let’s Laugh Casually”, and “We Love Myanmar”.

Facebook has been trying to repair its battered reputation, improving the speed with which hate speech is taken down and vowing to beef up its Myanmar-language reviewers on staff to 100 by the end of 2018.

But critics say this is not enough to oversee some 20 million Facebook accounts in the country, many in a patchwork of regional languages.

An independent report commissioned by Facebook concluded last month that the state was ultimately responsible for rights abuses, but the company should have done more to prevent the platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence.

It also warned that Myanmar’s 2020 election will likely be a flashpoint for abuse and misinformation.

Most people in Myanmar only came online in the last few years, when smartphone usage soared as the country opened up to the outside world after decades of isolated military rule.

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s government — which is in an uneasy power-sharing agreement with the military — has come under fire for not doing more to stand up for the Rohingya.