Japanese authorities are on high alert after up to 16,000 plastic toy guns used as prizes in claw machines across the country were deemed able to fire live ammunition.

Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) recently issued a warning that thousands of illegal firearms were being offered as prizes in claw machines all around the Asian country, adding that authorities were scrambling to recall them. The ‘Real Gimmick Mini Revolver’ was imported into Japan from China as prizes in crane games, but although the brightly-colored plastic toy seemed harmless, its technical specifications suggested that ot was capable of being used as an actual firearm. The toy comes with eight plastic bullets that can be used to ping various objects or even prank people, but the NPA found that the gun could also potentially be used to fire live ammunition.

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A Taiwanese women’s football coach has come under fire for allegedly forcing students to donate blood hundreds of times in order to receive school credits mandatory for graduation.

Zhou Tai-ying, a prominent women’s football trainer, has been dubbed the “vampire” coach by Taiwanese media, because during her time at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), she allegedly forced students to give blood numerous times, on consecutive days, donations that she claimed were linked to 32 school credits necessary for graduation. Terrified of not being able to finish school unless they did the coach’s bidding, some students had their blood collected hundreds of times in a matter of days, with some claiming that harvesters could no longer find viable veins.

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A man in Rayong, Thailand, died surrounded by over a hundred empty beer bottles after shunning food and living on the alcoholic drink alone for over a month.

Last week, rescue workers from the Siam Rayong Foundation were called to a house in the Ban Chang district of Rayong to help a man who had reportedly suffered a seizure and later became unconscious. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived on the scene, the patient had already passed away. He was identified as 44-year 44-year-old Thaweesak Namwongsa, a divorced local man and father to a 16-year-old boy. According to the teenager, Namwongsa had been drinking only beer for over a month, and when he came home from school one day, he found him having a seizure in his bed, surrounded by empty beer bottles.

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A Chinese man recently incurred the wrath of animal lovers after showing off an unusual car hood ornament featuring live fish and crustaceans.

The owner of a Li Auto L9 luxury SUV from Liaoning, China, has been accused of animal cruelty after turning a transparent layer of plastic on the hood of his car into a mobile aquarium full of large fish and crabs. Watching the viral Douyin (TikTok) video of the man’s car for the first time, you’d be tempted to think it was AI-generated, but several Chinese news outlets have confirmed that it’s a real thing. The man who came up with the ingenious idea was even interviewed about his bizarre invention and said that he came up with it during a fishing trip when he forgot to bring a container for the fish. He noticed the transparent plastic layer on the hood of his SUV and thought to himself that he could keep the fish in there.

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A Chinese man was recently sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for repeatedly spiking a colleague’s drink with a ‘truth serum’ to steal their work plans.

Chinese media recently reported the strange case of a Shanghai man who ended up in prison for reportedly mixing a ‘truth serum’ in a workmate’s drink on multiple occasions so he could find out his work plans. The man, surnamed Li, allegedly came across the truth serum during a business trip and was intrigued by the vendor’s claims that only a few drops could untangle anyone’s tongue and reveal all their secrets. Li bought the miracle product and decided to use it on his colleague, Wang, whose secrets he wanted to learn.

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A 38-year-old Australian woman who has been living in a retirement home for a year claims moving there as a way to start over was the best decision she ever made.

After her long-term romantic relationship with her partner came to an end, the 38-year-old woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, decided it was time for a fresh start and moved out of their shared apartment in Melbourne. She spent two months living in an Airbnb, which proved costly, and when she started looking for an apartment she could actually afford, she found the places on offer weren’t very enticing. But when she visited her aunt at a retirement village and told her that she was looking for a place, the elderly woman asked her if she wanted to try an apartment that had just opened up in the village. Her relatively young age wouldn’t be a problem, the woman’s aunt said, so she decided to fill up the paperwork and give the retirement home a chance. It turned out to be the best decision she ever made.

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Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology used a 74-milligram insect brain controller to create the world’s first cyborg bee.

Worker bees can carry nectar sacks weighing about 80 per cent of their body mass for 5 km (3 miles) without resting, so they have no problem carrying a 74-milligram brain controller developed by Chinese researchers. The ultra-light device can be strapped to the bee’s back and connected to its brain via three tiny needles, allowing humans to control the movements of the insect. The controller uses low-intensity electric impulses to input the insect’s movements, making it turn left, turn right, advance, or turn back, depending on the situation. According to Professor Zhao Jieliang, in the tests performed by his team so far, the bees obeyed their commands 9 times out of 10.

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In Russia’s Rostov region, authorities are testing a controversial anti-corruption measure – police officers who refuse bribes are rewarded with the amounts they were offered.

In Russia, police corruption is a harsh reality that most people have to deal with on a daily basis, but in southern Russia’s Rostov region, people are even more worried than before, because of a new measure implemented by the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Advertised as a way to fight corruption among police, the new directive rewards police officers who refuse bribes and report people trying to offer them. It sounds a bit strange, as police are only doing their job by refusing bribes, but the head of the directorate has already confirmed the initiative, adding that some officers have already been rewarded with the amounts of money they had illicitly been offered while exercising their duties.

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Japanese internet celebrity @Jonouchich1 is known as the ‘YouTuber’ with the world’s longest chin’, because of his unusually long and pointy chin.

@Jonouchich1 is a very good example of how to turn a physical peculiarity that some would consider a defect into an advantage over the competition. The young Japanese YouTuber was ridiculed and compared to anime characters for his exceptionally long and pointy chin, but he never let the jokes get to him. If anything, he leaned into his unique look to attract more attention. Most of his YouTube and TikTok clips are centered around his chin, as it has become somewhat of a personal brand. People are fascinated and intrigued by it because it looks like the protruding, pointy chin of a manga character. In fact, his social media handle is inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh character Katasuya Jonouchi.

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A UK woman managed to prove that the father of her child had colluded with a DNA test lab employee to fake his paternity test and avoid paying over $125,000 in child support.

That her partner broke up with her just three days after giving birth to their son, in 2022, was bad enough, but what came next was an even lower blow for 31-year-old Chelsea Miller. Her ex, Sheldon B., started denying that he was Louie’s father and then asked for a paternity test. At the time of their breakup, Sheldon stood to save £94,000 ($125,800) if the DNA test came back negative, but his ex wasn’t worried, because she ‘always knew who the father of my child was’. Imagine the shock she got when the paternity test came back negative.

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The Viimsi Shopping Center in the Estonian town of Haabneeme is famous for having a giant boulder square in the middle of it.

There are many things one expects to find in a supermarket, but a giant rock is definitely not one of them. And yet, in one Estonian supermarket, a giant rock with a circumference of 22 meters and a height of roughly 6 meters (including the part buried in the ground) is one of the highlights of most people’s shopping trips. The rock has been there long before the owners of the shopping center drew up plans for their business venture – about 10,000 years, to be more precise – but they only discovered it when digging the foundation,  in September of 2014. Workers initially intended to blow it to smithereens, but the locals opposed the plans, and it was later discovered that the giant boulder was actually an “erratic boulder” eligible for conservation status.

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Ever wish you could talk to someone more experienced about your problems, or have them prepare you a delicious home-cooked meal? Well, that’s what Japan’s OK Grandma service is for!

Client Services is a Japanese company that specializes in a wide variety of convenience services, from cleaning and housing services to childcare and pet-sitting services. However, it’s their unique services that really get people talking about them. These guys can have someone attend events on your behalf, apologize on your behalf, and even quit your job so you don’t have to deal with the awkwardness of the situation. One of their most popular offerings is the OK Grandma service, which allows anyone to rent a female senior between the ages of 60 and 94 for a base fee of 3,300 yen per hour.

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A young inmate recently managed to escape a prison in Lyon, France, by taking advantage of a fellow inmate’s release, hiding in their luggage, and waiting to be carried out of the maximum security facility.

The escape of 20-year-old Elyazid A. from Lyon-Corbas prison last Friday made national headlines all weekend, bringing into question both the prison’s security system and its notorious overcrowding. But what really caught the public’s attention was the manner in which the young inmate, who was serving several prison sentences for crimes connected to organized crime, managed to effortlessly leave the maximum security prison. According to inside sources cited by French media, the daring escape was made possible by the release of a fellow inmate who simply carried Elyazid out the front gate of the facility to a car waiting for him. It took the guards 24 hours to realize he was missing.

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A 55-year-old grandfather of three stands accused of eloping with the 22-year-old fiancée of his teenage son and taking his family’s savings and gold jewelry with him.

They say the heart wants what it wants, and in the case of an Indian man, if this happens to be his son’s fiancée, then so be it! Shakeel, a 55-year-old father of six from Rampur, a village in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, recently shocked his family by running away with Ayesha (pseudonym), a 22-year-old woman from a neighboring village, who was initially supposed to marry his son. According to Shabbana, Shakeel’s wife, he had insisted on arranging the marriage of their son, Aman (pseudonym), to Ayesha, despite her protests concerning financial reasons and their child’s young age (17). Still, despite Shabbana and Aman’s opposition, he remained adamant about the marriage until one day when he called from Delhi to tell his family that he had married Ayesha himself.

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In order to keep dust and noise pollution to a minimum, Chinese authorities in the city of Jinan have installed the world’s largest inflatable dome over an area of 20,000 square meters.

Urban construction is a dirty business that affects large areas around the construction site, but a unique project in Jinan, China, is proof that large construction projects can be isolated to reduce noise and pollution, helping to protect nearby communities and the environment. All you need is a giant inflatable balloon! The first of its kind in China and reportedly the largest in the world, the inflatable dome of Jinan is 50 meters high and covers an area of 20,000 square meters. It uses negative pressure and advanced air filtration systems to prevent dust from escaping into nearby areas, but also to ensure that air remains breathable for the workers inside.

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