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The latest news, analysis and opinion on Offbeat. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
A file about British double agent Anthony Blunt to feature in the MI5: Official Secrets exhibition. Photo: Reuters
History

UK security service MI5 to reveal some of its secrets in exhibition

A World War II-era guide to tailing a target, and files on notorious double agents such as Kim Philby, feature in MI5: Official Secrets show.

Trending in China

Video | Cleaners in China go through tonnes of trash to retrieve man’s lost cash

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Art

New interest in viral Donald Trump as Buddha figures by Chinese sculptor

Malaysia

Malaysia investigates viral video of cats being stuffed into sacks

One of the group of men caught on camera in the video denied allegations of animal abuse.

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A still from the viral video shows men throwing cat-filled sacks into a waiting vehicle. Photo: X / StarOnline
Indonesia

Crocodile attack kills 5-year-old girl in Indonesia

The girl was last seen bathing in an abandoned tin-ore mining pond, rescuers say. Her body was found hours later.

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Australia

Court nullifies marriage after Australian bride thought it was Instagram ‘prank’

The woman said ‘we had to act to make it look real’ to help the groom monetise his social media page.

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Australia

Feeling the heat: bungling Australia arsonist sets trousers on fire

CCTV video shows a person in Melbourne engulfed in flames, who removes their burning clothes before running off.

Australian police have released CCTV video of a bungling arsonist who set their own trousers alight and had to hot-foot it from the scene without them. Photo: Victoria Police
Video gaming

‘Blandify’, ‘stroopwafel’ among new Oxford English Dictionary words

Other additions in the dictionary’s quarterly update include ‘non-player character’, ‘cheat code’, ‘snark’ and ‘three-dimensional chess’.

Asian cinema: Japanese films

Star face of low-alcohol beer fired over ‘unacceptable’ drunken escapade

Ryo Yoshizawa, who broke into his neighbour’s home while drunk on December 30, has had his contract with Asahi Breweries terminated.

Christmas

Don’t eat your Christmas tree, Belgians warned, after city posts food tips

The Ghent website had suggestions on how to recycle the conifers at the dinner table, such as by making flavoured butter with the needles.

An elephant eats a non-sold, untreated, leftover Christmas tree at a zoo in Berlin, Germany. Photo: EPA-EFE
Beauty

What’s on show at CES 2025? AI-powered beauty mirrors, robot dogs and more

A beauty mirror to tell you your skin woes? A lifelike robot puppy for those allergic to the real thing? The pick of the tech in Las Vegas.

Tombot, a robotic dog for people who cannot have a real pet, is on show at CES 2025, the consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas, in the United States. Photo: AP
Art

Artist’s vibrant viral Instagram works lift up crumbling district

Adel Yazdi has turned his neighbourhood in Shiraz, Iran into a vivid visual tapestry that many tourists are discovering through social media.

Australia

‘Everyone owns the beach,’ says Australian PM as cabana debate heats up

Portable cabanas used to reserve spots on Australian beaches are ‘un-Australian’, says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

France

Charlie Hebdo marks 10 years since Paris attack with defiant special edition

The French newspaper’s special edition featured a caricature contest mocking God, celebrating satire and freedom of expression.

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo shows the front-page of its special edition to mark ten years since an attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen that decimated its staff. Photo: Handout/Charlie Hebdo/AFP
Social media

Language Matters | Word of the Year 2024 choices around the world focus on the negative

From Merriam-Webster’s ‘polarization’ and Oxford University Press’ ‘brain rot’ to Lianhe Zaobao’s ‘disaster’, prevailing moods are revealed.

“Brain rot” – word of the year at Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary – refers to the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material, particularly online content, considered trivial or unchallenging. Photo: Shutterstock
Architecture and design

‘Gelatinous eggs wearing armour’? Welcome to Kosovo’s National Library

Balkan state’s National Library, built by Andrija Mutnjakovic, has been called both the ‘cherry on the cake of Pristina’ and an abomination.

Art

He built a life-size tram out of Lego. And that’s not all

Hungarian ‘Lego certified professional’ Balazs Doczy enlisted 90 helpers to make the life-size replica tram now on display in Budapest.

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Asia travel

Drunk surfing – yes, it’s a thing – to be outlawed in Korea in 2025

Under the coming Korean law, offenders can be fined up to US$676 for using water craft while drunk or refusing a blood-alcohol test.

Drunk surfing and kayaking will be a criminal offence in South Korea from June 2025. Photo: Shutterstock
United States

‘This was shocking’: the secret, brutal world of carnivorous squirrels

Research reveals these California squirrels are ruthless predators, beating and devouring tiny prey in a display of nature’s hidden savagery.

New Zealand

Aggressive Japanese shrimp that packs a punch shocks New Zealand

The discovery of Japanese mantis shrimp – nicknamed ‘thumb splitters’ – in the Bay of Plenty ‘is not something to celebrate’, officials say.

Japan

Too cheeky? Japan tavern chain ends its slap-you-sober service after complaint

For just 500 yen, Yotteba izakaya customers could request a post-meal slap around the face from a waitress. Then someone was injured.

A Yotteba customer receives a slap to the face at one of its izakaya outlets in Japan. Photo: TikTok/Salty_Gourmets
Sustainability

Why engineer’s 120 days living under sea is about more than world record

German Rudiger Koch’s 120 days in a pod at sea aims show the ocean as a new frontier of human living. He shares what he misses about dry land.

Rudiger Koch in his underwater pod, where he aims to live for 120 days. Photo: AFP
Donald Trump

Trump and Macron can’t let go of their handshake duel

The US president-elect and the French leader have a history of white-knuckled greetings dating back to Trump’s first term.

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Thailand

Swiss Air crew investigated for filming passengers’ ‘intimate acts’ on flight

A flight crew member recorded a video of the incident involving two passengers from a screen in the cockpit.

Food and Drinks

Hong Kong ‘haunted house’ hosts US$700-a-head Dangerous Dinner

Yu Yuen sat abandoned until designer Sacha Yasumoto chose it to hold an exclusive dinner. If it’s haunted the ghosts are harmless, she says.

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Yu Yuen after its clean-up and facelift. Photo: Sasha Yasumoto
Wrestling

Sumo makes historic return to London’s Royal Albert Hall after 34 years

The five-day event, or ‘basho’, has been held only once before outside Japan – back in 1991 and also at the venerable concert hall.

Sumo wrestler Daisuke Kitanowaka makes a stand outside London’s Royal Albert Hall, which will host a “basho” for the second time next year. Photo: AP
Mental health

Puppy love as Czech prison inmates train assistance dogs

The training is part of a project to help inmates at the Jirice prison northeast of Prague be better prepared for life outside jail.

Consumer protection in Hong Kong

Cathay says sorry, removes Family Guy episode with Tiananmen ‘Tank Man’ scene

Carrier apologises after internet user complains over content potentially breaching national security law.

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