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Showing posts from June, 2025

80-nation coalition takes off to tax luxury flyers, fund global climate fight

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Cabin hostess Anna Orszulik stands in front of a VistaJet Global 7500 business jet at the Henderson Executive Airport during the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Henderson, Nevada, US, October 12, 2021. — Reuters Countries including France, Kenya, Barbados...

From Dubai to Jhelum: How lost AirPods led to cross-border recovery

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British social media influencer Miles Routledge, aka "Lord Miles," shakes hand with a Jhelum Police DPO in this undated image. — X/@real_lord_miles ISLAMABAD: Jhelum police have successfully recovered a pair of AirPods belonging to British social media influencer Miles Routledge,...

Sweet-smelling fungi at centre of Australian triple-murder trial

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Death cap mushrooms are saturated with deadly chemicals known as amatoxins (William WEST The triple-murder trial of Australian Erin Patterson revolves around an innocuous-looking mushroom with a "slightly sweet" smell and a sinister name. Patterson is accused of killing her...

Labubu you can eat: Moscow cafe turns Pop Art into Pop Tart

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Labubu doll shaped dessert. — Screengrab/Reuters/File With Labubu dolls conquering the world, one Moscow restaurant decided to ride the wave of their popularity by making a special dessert looking exactly like the Chinese plush toy. Covered with white chocolate and filled with...

Buffett stuns with biggest-ever $6bn Berkshire stock donation to charity

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Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, pauses while playing bridge as part of the company's annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, US. — Reuters/File The world's most generous billionaire Warren Buffett has surprised many by giving away a record $6 billion worth of Berkshire...

Warren Buffett stuns world with record $6bn donation

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Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, pauses while playing bridge as part of the company annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska US May 6, 2018. — Reuters The world's most generous billionaire Warren Buffett has surprised many by giving away a record $6 billion...

Dying breed: Tunisian dog lovers push to save age-old desert hound

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Veterenarian Olfa Abd poses for a picture with her Tunisian Sloughi hunting dogs on a field in Cap Angela, in the Bizerte region on May 22, 2025. — AFP Nemcha, Zina and Zouina, three North African Sloughi hounds, play on the beach in Tunisia where their ancestors have long...

Earth's oldest rocks discovered in Canada's Hudson Bay, scientists confirm

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An outcrop of meta gabbroic rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, that are 4.16 billion years old, in this photograph released on June 26, 2025. A knife is pictured for scale. —Reuters Two test methods put the rocks at 4.16 billion...

Bear roaming on runway halts flights at Japanese airport

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This representational image shows a bear. — Unsplash A bear roaming the runway forced a Japanese airport to cancel flights on Thursday and declare itself off-limits to passengers for the day. The black bear appeared at northern Japan's Yamagata Airport early morning,...

Windswept island brings a taste of Croatia to the world

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This photograph shows a stone inscription reading 'PAG' at a viewpoint overlooking the city of Pag, Croatia, on June 11, 2025. — AFP From Croatia’s mainland, most of Pag looks inhospitably grey and rocky, but the island’s lunar-like landscape is key to producing its...

Scientists retrace ancient sea route to show how early humans spread

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A dugout canoe with four men and one woman paddling is pictured during a crossing across a region of the East China Sea from near Ushibi, Taiwan to Yonaguni Island, traversing the Kuroshio current, in this handout image released on June 25, 2025. — Reuters In a groundbreaking...

Starry travelers: Moths use celestial navigation for epic journeys, scientists discover

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Bogong moth. — AFP/File A species of Australian moth travels up to a thousand kilometres every summer using the stars to navigate, scientists said, the first time this talent has been discovered in an invertebrate covering vast distances. When temperatures start rising every...

Monsters and memes: Labubu dolls ride China soft-power wave

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A woman poses with Labubu and Mokoko characters in an exhibition hall as they visit Pop Mart theme park Pop Land in Beijing, China on June 18, 2025. — AFP Small, fuzzy and baring sharp teeth, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart's Labubu monster dolls have taken over the world, drawing...

Monsters and memes: Labubu dolls ride China soft-power wave

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A woman poses with Labubu and Mokoko characters in an exhibition hall as they visit Pop Mart theme park Pop Land in Beijing, China on June 18, 2025. — AFP Small, fuzzy and baring sharp teeth, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart's Labubu monster dolls have taken over the world, drawing...

Texas startup sells plastic-eating fungi diapers to tackle landfill waste

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Hiro Technologies co-founder Miki Agrawal examines a diaper equipped with a pouch full of plastic-eating fungi at her company’s laboratory, in Austin, Texas, U.S, May 15, 2025. — Reuters Could baby poop and fungi work together to tackle landfill waste? That’s the idea...

UK appoints first woman head of MI6 spy service

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The image shows Blaise Metreweli. — The Guardian/File LONDON: The UK government has appointed the first-ever woman to head its MI6 spy service as the country faces "threats on an unprecedented scale", Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Sunday. The MI6...

Indian wildlife smuggler stopped at customs with 100 exotic animals

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This representational image shows a wild lizard. — Unsplash Indian customs officers made the latest "significant" seizure of endangered wildlife from a passenger arriving from Thailand, a government statement said, carrying nearly 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and...

Remarkable 2,800-year-old royal tomb discovered in Turkey

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The image shows entrance to the Midas Mound at Gordion in Turkey. — Turkish media/File Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism has unveiled an exciting archaeological discovery: a newly found tomb dating back to the eighth century BC in the ancient city of Gordion, renowned as the...

Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home

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Chen Tianming's 10-storey tower of faded plyboards and contorted beams in China's Guizhou province. — AFP Surrounded by the rubble of demolished homes, Chen Tianming's ramshackle tower of faded plyboards and contorted beams juts into the sky in southwestern China, a...

Man who let snakes bite him 200 times spurs new antivenom hope

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Tim Friede pictured with a snake on his hand. — AFP/File PARIS: Tim Friede was feeling particularly down on the day after the September 11 attacks, so he went to his basement and let two of the world's deadliest snakes bite him. Four days later, he woke up from a coma. "I know...

WATCH: Thai shopkeeper caught off guard as wild elephant visits store

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A 27-year-old male elephant, named Plai Biang Lek, enters a convenience store near the Khao Yai National Park, in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, on June 2, 2025. — X@PicturesFoIder A wild elephant with a sweet tooth recently made headlines in Thailand...

New rare wild orchid seen in UK for first time in 100 years

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The Lady's Slipper orchid, which was once thought to be extinct in the UK. —AFP New rare wild orchid seen in UK for first time in 100 years A new lady's-slipper orchid, once believed to be extinct in the UK, has been spotted in the wild for the first time in 100 years...

Italy's Mount Etna erupts, spewing ash, gas and rock

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Volcanic steam rises from Mount Etna, as seen from Milo, Italy, June 2, 2025. — Reuters A huge plume of ash, gas and rock spewed forth on Monday from Italy's Mount Etna as authorities warned people to steer clear of Europe's largest active volcano. Sicily's Mount Etna has been...

Snakes on a plane: Indian smuggler caught with venomous vipers

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A spider-tailed horned viper caught by Mumbai Customs police on June 1, 2025. — X/@mumbaicus3 MUMBAI: A passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers was stopped after flying into the financial capital Mumbai from Thailand, Indian customs officials said. The snakes,...