Radio Flyer Spin ‘N Saucer, Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins Ninja Strike Sickles and Walmart’s My Life As Shopping Basket are among the potentially hazardous “10 Worst Toys for 2021,” according to the 48th annual report of a consumer safety watchdog.

This year’s World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.) list seeks to make parents “fully informed” about child safety issues as COVID-19 supply issues limit holiday toy supplies, the Boston-based watchdog’s president said Thursday.

“Our advice to parents is to be cautious when deciding what toys to give children,” Joan Siff told The Washington Times.

“The toys on the list are representative of types of hazards in the marketplace, and therefore are not the only potentially unsafe toys on the shelves and online this season,” she added.

Hazards represented on this year’s list include toy weapons that could injure people in blows, plush toys that could suffocate infants, and small parts, including batteries, that could cause choking or chemical-burn injuries.

U.S. emergency rooms treat one child every three minutes for a toy-related injury, W.A.T.C.H. said.

The other seven worst toys on this year’s list are Squeakee Minis Poppy the Bunny, Bright Starts Tummy Time Prop & Play, Perfectly Cute My Lil’ Baby Feed & Go Set, Nerf Hyper Rush-40 Blaster, Hape Learn To Play Drum, Rollers Light-Up Heel Skates, and Hover-1 My First Hoverboard.

Ms. Siff said, “just because a toy is popular or is being sold by retailers does not necessarily mean it is safe.”

“We recommend that, if a toy has the potential to hurt a child, it’s just not worth the risk,” she added.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has rejected a request by Steven Avery to review his conviction for killing a young photographer in 2005, a case that became the focus of a popular Netflix series “Making a Murderer.”

Avery has been fighting unsuccessfully for years to have his conviction overturned. His latest appeal asked the court to review three issues: failure to disclose evidence, the destruction of bone fragments and ineffective assistance of counsel.

The court on Wednesday denied Avery‘s petition for review without commenting.

Avery, 59, is serving life in prison for killing Theresa Halbach, 25, on his family’s property on Halloween 2005. Halbach had gone to the Avery family salvage yard to photograph a vehicle that Avery planned to sell.

His nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also convicted in the case. Both Avery and Dassey have maintained their innocence.

“We are not surprised since the Wisconsin Supreme Court only grants 1-2% of petitions for review. Mr. Avery has many options including proceeding to the U.S Supreme Court, and then federal district,” Avery‘s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said in a statement. “Since the appellate court only ruled on 50% of the issues raised we will be filing a new petition with the circuit court at the appropriate time.”

The case gained widespread attention in 2015 after Netflix aired “Making a Murderer,” a series whose creators raised questions about the convictions. Those who worked on the cases accused the filmmakers of leaving out key pieces of evidence and presenting a biased view of what happened. The filmmakers defended their work and supported calls to set Avery and Dassey free.

Dassey was 16 when he confessed to detectives that he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach. A judge threw out the confession in 2016, ruling it was coerced by investigators using deceptive tactics. That ruling was later overturned by a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

The Screen Actors Guild has selected Dame Helen Mirren as their 57th Life Achievement Award Recipient, the union said Thursday.

The 76-year-old English stage and screen actor has credits spanning over 50 years and has played everything from a gangster’s girlfriend in “The Long Good Friday” to Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen.” Mirren will be adding this latest honor to a robust collection of awards including an Oscar, a Tony, and multiple SAG, Emmy and BAFTA Awards.

“I am honored to have been chosen to receive the SAG Life Achievement Award,” Mirren said in a statement. “Since I was a young actor starting out, I have always been inspired by and learned from American screen acting, so this award is particularly meaningful for me.”

With 13 SAG Awards nominations and five wins, Mirren is also the most decorated SAG Life Achievement recipient, the union said.

“Dame Helen Mirren is quite simply a brilliant and luminous talent,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, in a statement. “She has set the bar very high for all actors and, in role after role, she exceeds even her own extraordinary performances. I’ve always felt a kinship with Helen. She’s the Queen of England and I’m the Queen of Queens. She won an Oscar and I’m left-hander of the year. It’s uncanny.”

The 28th annual SAG Awards will be broadcast live from Santa Monica, Calif. on Feb. 27 on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. ET.

CAIRO (AP) — Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for the first time in 15 years, hoping to promote tolerance and cement bilateral ties. The visit is part of the royal couple’s first tour since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is also their first visit to Egypt since the country was rocked by a popular uprising in 2011 that was followed by years of political turmoil.

After arrival in Cairo, the royal couple received a formal welcome by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and his wife, Intissar el-Sissi, at the presidential palace, before meeting with top Muslim and Christian leaders. Under el-Sissi, a former general, Egypt has achieved a degree of stability but the government has also overseen the largest crackdown on political opposition in decades.

In their meeting, Charles and el-Sissi discussed efforts to counterterrorism and extremism as well as cooperation between the two countries in areas such as health and higher education, according to a statement issued by el-Sissi’s office.

After a separate meeting with Camilla, Egypt‘s first lady wrote on her Facebook page that the two discussed the Egyptian government’s efforts towards the empowerment of women.

The royal couple then met with the Sunni Muslim world’s top religious authority, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque Ahmed al-Tayeb, as well as with Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Alexandria Samy Fawzy.

After that, Charles headed to an interfaith reception at Al-Azhar Mosque, the oldest Sunni institution in the Muslim world. He was also to meet with students.

The Prince of Wales helped start a U.K. academic scholarship program that allows Al Azhar scholars to pursue degrees in Islamic studies at British universities before returning to Al-Azhar to work as faculty members. Launched in 2015, the program aims to promote mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Last week, the British Ambassador Gareth Bayley wrote on Twitter that the highnesses will be discussing U.K.-Egypt cooperation on climate change, religious tolerance and bilateral relations. Egypt has been selected to host the U.N. climate change conference COP27 next year.

While Charles was at the interfaith reception, Camilla visited a low-income settlement in Cairo, Ezbet Kheirallah, where the British Council has been carrying out social development programs since 2017.

The royals were also expected to visit some of Egypt‘s famous archaeological sites, including the Pyramids at Giza.

Earlier this week, Charles and Camilla concluded a three-day visit to Jordan, where they met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania and visited a series of religious and historical sites.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A Chinese professional tennis player not seen in public since she accused a former top government official of sexual assault purportedly sent an email claiming she was safe and that the allegation was false, a message that only amplified concerns about her safety and demands for information about her well-being and whereabouts.

So far, those calls have been met by silence.

Chinese officials have said nothing publicly since the accusation about two weeks ago by Grand Slam doubles champion Peng Shuai that she was sexually assaulted. The first #MeToo case to reach the political realm in China has not been reported by the domestic media and online discussion of it has been highly censored.

Steve Simon, the chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association, questioned the authenticity of what Chinese state media said was an email intended for him in which Peng says she is safe and that the assault allegation is untrue. It was posted Thursday by CGTN, the international arm of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

“I have a hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email we received or believes what is being attributed to her,” Simon wrote.

The statement, he added, “only raises my concerns as to her safety and whereabouts.”

Simon has demanded a full investigation, and the WTA said it is prepared to pull tournaments out of the country if it doesn’t get an appropriate response. Top players including Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic have spoken out, and the hashtag WhereisPengShuai is trending online.

China has largely suppressed a #MeToo movement that flourished briefly in 2018 and is forging ahead with the Beijing Winter Olympics in February despite boycott calls by activists and some overseas politicians over China‘s human rights record.

Asked repeatedly about the case, China‘s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said again on Thursday that he is unaware of it.

The 35-year-old Peng is a former No. 1-ranked player in women’s doubles who won titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014.

She wrote in a lengthy social media post on Nov. 2 that Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier who was a member of the ruling Communist Party’s top leadership committee, had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals three years ago.

The post was quickly deleted from her verified account on Weibo, a leading Chinese social media platform, but screenshots of the explosive accusation quickly spread across China‘s internet. She has not appeared in public since then, raising questions about her whereabouts and whether she is being detained.

Zhang, who is 75, dropped from public sight after his retirement in 2018, as is usual for former senior officials. He is not known to have any close connections to current leaders.

Peng’s accusation is the first high profile accusation of sexual assault against a powerful politician in China. Past accusations touched on prominent figures in the non-profit world, academia and media, but never reached the Communist Party’s top officials or state-owned companies.

CGTN posted the statement on Twitter, which is blocked in China along with many other foreign platforms such as Google and Facebook. It did not post it on Chinese social media, nor was there any mention of the purported email behind the Great Firewall, which separates the Chinese internet from the rest of the world.

Some internet users have circumvented the controls and posted about the news in private social media groups. Freeweibo.com, which records censored posts from Weibo, said searches for “Peng Shuai” and “Zhang Gaoli” were both among the top 10 searched topics on Thursday.

Searches for Peng Shuai’s name on China‘s Sogou search engine turn up only articles about her tennis career. Her account on Weibo no longer allows comments, and no results turn up if people search for her Weibo account.

Peng wrote that Zhang’s wife guarded the door during the alleged assault, which followed a round of tennis. Her post also said they had sex seven years ago and she had feelings for him after that. She also said she knew speaking up would be difficult.

“Yes, aside from myself, I kept no evidence, no recordings, no videos, only the real experience of my twisted self. Even if I’m destroying myself, like throwing an egg against a rock, or a moth flying into a flame, I will still speak out the truth about us,” the now-deleted post said.

Her allegation came just three months before Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics, which have been the target of a boycott campaign from multiple human rights organizations largely over China‘s repression of Uyghur Muslims. The games face a possible diplomatic boycott by the United States and other countries. Rights groups have likened Beijing’s 2022 Olympics to Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics. China has consistently denied any human rights abuses and says its actions are part of counterterrorism programs.

Peng has played in three Olympics. The International Olympic Committee said Thursday in a statement that, “We have seen the latest reports and are encouraged by assurances that she is safe.”

The Switzerland-based IOC, which derives 73% of its income from selling broadcast rights and another 18% from sponsors, has not criticized China, and often repeats that it is only a sports business and has no remit to act on policies of a sovereign state.

Xu Guoqi, a historian at the University of Hong Kong, explained the difference between the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2022 Games.

“The big difference between the two Beijing Games is that in 2008 Beijing tried to please the world,” Xu told The Associated Press recently in an email. “In 2022, it does not really care about what the rest of the world thinks about it.”

The WTA can better afford to bring pressure since it is less dependent on income from China than the IOC or the NBA. The basketball league lost an estimated $400 million in broadcast rights when China blacked out its games in the 2019-2020 season after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of protesters in Hong Kong.

Simon‘s statement said that Peng has displayed incredible courage, but that he is still concerned about her safety.

“The WTA and the rest of the world need independent and verifiable proof that she is safe,” he wrote. “I have repeatedly tried to reach her via numerous forms of communications, to no avail.”