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Anna Possi, 100, outside her cafe Bar Centrale in Nebbiuno, in northern Italy, where she has been serving coffee every day for 67 years. Photo: courtesy of Anna Possi
Food and Drinks

Italy’s oldest barista, still serving at 100, asks: ‘Why should I stop?’

Since her last holiday 67 years ago, Anna Possi has opened her cafe in northern Italy every day. ‘I’m around people. I feel good,’ she says.

Thailand

Ghostbusted: bungling burglar with ‘Scream’ mask arrested in Thailand

Food and Drinks

Why Germany’s Wine Queen could be dethroned by a man for the first time

Music

Why Sufi music lovers in Kashmir still swear by cassette players

Listened to by artisans as they work or at gatherings of Sufi music aficionados, cassette players hold sway in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Self-taught tape recorder mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo repairs a tape recorder at his shop in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. Cassette tapes remain popular in the region among lovers of its Sufi music. Photo: AP
Art

Statue of Liberty, Big Ben models made of scrap in underwater art show

A Swedish art project aims to create an underwater city of the world’s most famous buildings to highlight the threat from rising sea levels.

Art

When this 9-year-old tattoo artist grows up, he wants his own parlour

His dad started teaching him to tattoo to get him off his phone. Now Napat Mitmakorn wants to do it for a living when he grows up.

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Australia

Australian woman admits trying to sell human toes she found in dog vomit

Joanna Kinman was working at an animal shelter at the time. She faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

The woman working at an animal shelter in Victoria state when two dogs reportedly regurgitated the toes and other human remains in February 2024. Photo: Shutterstock
Food and Drinks

Cappuccino after noon? 100-year-old barista in Italy thinks it’s fine

Coffee with milk in the afternoon is a no-no for many Italians. Not Anna Possi, a barista since 1958 who’ll happily pour it past midnight.

Music

‘Pretty neat’ or ‘gimmicky collector bait’? New Bon Jovi LP splits fans

The special limited-edition vinyl disc reissue of the rock band’s bestselling Slippery When Wet album features actual liquid in the record.

United States

Dog shoots US man in bed after ‘paw stuck in trigger’

The man from Tennessee escaped serious injury with a graze to his left thigh.

A pit bull dog. An American dog owner was shot by his pet after it jumped on his bed this week. File photo: Shutterstock
Australia

His heart will go on: Australian man survives for 105 days with titanium heart

The artificial heart uses magnetic levitation – the same technology used in high-speed trains – to pump blood around the body.

A BiVacor artificial heart. Its makers say the long-term goal is for patients to live with the device indefinitely without needing a transplant. Photo: BiVacor
TV shows and streaming video

Meet ‘Daechi mom’, education-obsessed Korean helicopter parent

She wears Moncler, drives a Porsche and speaks English to her 4-year-old. Comedies about Korean tiger mums are a hit online and on TV.

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Art

An art print that only costs US$1? Head to one of these vending machines

Aided by Instagram and TikTok, artist Anastasia Inciardi has started a bit of a trend in the US – vending machines that sell art prints.

Crime

Suspected robber swallows US$770,000 Tiffany diamond earrings during arrest

Police now face the unenviable task of waiting to ‘collect’ the stolen items, which appear to be visible in an X-ray, ‘after they’re passed’.

An X-ray shows what are believed to be two diamond earrings that were stolen from a Tiffany & Co. jewelry store in central Florida and were swallowed by the suspect. Image: Orlando Police Department office via AP
Art

A Lego Van Gogh Sunflowers? It’s like painting with bricks, curator says

Using standard Lego brick shapes and colours, designer recreates painting in 2,615 bricks. It’s on show beside the real thing in Amsterdam.

A Lego recreation of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings on display next to the actual painting in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Lego fans can buy a 2,615-piece brick set to take home and make their own Sunflowers. Photo: Reuters
New Zealand

Surprise dolphin hitches a ride in New Zealand fishermen’s boat

The bottlenose dolphin, weighing more than 400kg, leapt aboard the open-top boat as its occupants were fishing off the country’s north coast.

Science

Scientists take first step to bringing back mammoth by creating ‘woolly mouse’

US start-up Colossal Biosciences says it is on track to produce a woolly mammoth calf born to a surrogate elephant mother by late 2028.

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South Korea

Double lottery win reignites South Korea’s conspiracy fever

Two jackpot-winning tickets from the same unremarkable shop have set Koreans’ tongues wagging about the integrity of the lottery system.

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A man marks numbers on a lottery ticket in Seoul. Photo: AFP
South Korea

Eye on the prize: paralysed Korean student blinks his way to academic success

Jang Ik-sun, 37, earned a master’s degree in South Korea by typing tens of thousands of words – one blink at a time.

Education

She lived through World War II. Now 87-year-old is off to university

Kim Gap-nyeo began primary school in the 1940s but her studies were cut short. After a life of hard work she’ll soon enter higher education.

Art

Christie’s courts controversy with first all-AI art auction

Artists oppose the Christie’s auction, called Augmented Intelligence, which features some 20 works created by artificial intelligence.

A visitor to an exhibition of AI-created art Christie’s is selling views Embedding Study 1 & 2, created by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. Photo: AFP
Tourism

True-crime podcast fans will kill to go on this murder-themed cruise

Hosts of true-crime podcasts including John Walsh, Chris Stewart and Carl Miller to feature on cruise billed as immersive mystery experience.

The Norwegian Joy operated by Norwegian Cruise Line will host a four-night cruise from the US to the Bahamas in 2026 featuring true-crime podcasts hosts and billed as an immersive mystery experience. Photo: Shutterstock
Crime

Thieves used his card to buy lottery ticket – now he wants to split the prize

The US$523,000 prize, which has yet to be claimed, has put the thieves among France’s most famous fugitives.

Fashion

A knitting night at the cinema? It sells out every month in Vienna, Austria

In Vienna, a cinema hosts a crowd of crafty enthusiasts who knit, crochet and chat away while a film plays on the big screen.

Asia travel

Hailing a taxi in Kolkata means a hulking yellow one. Not for much longer

A bustling city is losing its beloved yellow taxis, and it’s not New York. Why the days are numbered for Kolkata’s Hindustan Ambassador cabs.

A woman rides a rickshaw past a Hindustan Ambassador yellow taxi, parked on a roadside in Kolkata. The one-time Indian capital is mourning the slow death of its stately yellow cabs. Photo: AFP
Asia travel

Travelling between Tokyo and Osaka? You could ride the Elsa express

Japanese bullet train with livery featuring Disney characters from films such as Frozen and Tangled to ply Tokyo-Osaka route from this week.

The “Wonderful Dreams Shinkansen,” inspired by Tokyo DisneySea’s “Fantasy Springs” area. Photo: Central Japan Railway/Disney
Asia housing and property

From ‘Ghost Tower’ to ‘Hotel of Doom’: Asia’s abandoned skyscrapers

These towering structures, once symbols of ambition, now stand as haunting reminders of economic turmoil and halted dreams.

Art

US cradle of low-rider cars looks to promote its custom wheels

New Mexico lawmakers declare February 11 Lowrider Day and introduce bill to make the custom vehicles a state symbol alongside roadrunner.

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