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Funny old world: the week's offbeat news

Funny old world: the week's offbeat news

From the world's first drive and dump car seat to the secret sauce that makes salmon leap. Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world. - Salmon's a bit high - Salmon can swim almost twice as far if there is cocaine in the water, scientists

Mideast war drives up condom, rubber glove prices: manufacturers

Mideast war drives up condom, rubber glove prices: manufacturers

Prices of rubber products have shot up due to supply chain disruptions stemming from the Middle East war, the world's largest condom maker and a leading glove manufacturer, both based in Malaysia, said on Friday. Karex, which supplies condoms for brands like Trojan and Durex, said it had

Five things to know about Chinese AI startup DeepSeek

Five things to know about Chinese AI startup DeepSeek

As DeepSeek releases its first major new artificial intelligence model in over a year -- DeepSeek-V4 -- here are five things to know about the Chinese startup: - 'Sputnik moment' - Founded by Liang Wenfeng in the eastern Chinese tech hub Hangzhou, DeepSeek started life in 2023 as a side project

Glacier block delays route-setting on Everest

Glacier block delays route-setting on Everest

A large ice chunk is blocking the climbing route to Everest's summit, officials said Friday, risking delays in the summit season at the world's highest peak. A team of highly skilled mountaineers, known in Nepal as "icefall doctors", began fixing ropes and ladders on

Hot pants: Tokyo government workers swap suits for shorts

Hot pants: Tokyo government workers swap suits for shorts

Tokyo's metropolitan government is encouraging staff to wear shorts to work to cut reliance on air conditioning, an official said Friday, as concerns grow over high energy costs linked to the Middle East War. The loosened dress code is part of an upgraded version of "Cool Biz&

Hawks fend off Knicks, Raptors pull away from Cavs to cut deficit

Hawks fend off Knicks, Raptors pull away from Cavs to cut deficit

CJ McCollum hit the game-winner with 12.5 seconds remaining as the Atlanta Hawks pulled off another nail-biting victory over New York to take a 2-1 lead in their NBA first-round playoff series on Thursday. The Hawks beat the Knicks 109-108 in Atlanta, their second

Soviet architecture vanishes as Central Asia drifts from Moscow

Soviet architecture vanishes as Central Asia drifts from Moscow

On the facade of an apartment block in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, a giant mosaic depicting cosmonauts and engineers celebrates the scientific triumphs of the Soviet Union. Like so many other relics of the Soviet past in Central Asia, it is doomed to vanish amid a distancing from Russia