Arshia Goswami, a 9-year-old girl from India’s Haryana state, has been dubbed the female version of Hercules after deadlifting a whopping 165 pounds (75 kg).

Arshia first started attracting attention a couple of years ago when she set a national record as India’s youngest deadlifter, with a personal best of 45 kilograms. She has been training ever since, though, and she recently went viral once again by deadlifting 75 kilograms, more than two times her own body weight. The impressive feat was captured on video and shared on the young weightlifter’s Instagram page, where it went viral. But although most of the feedback was positive, with people praising her strength and form, some comments also expressed concern for her wellbeing, claiming that lifting such heavy weights at her age could have serious health consequences.

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Chinese runner He Jie’s victory at last week’s Beijing Half-Marathon has been overshadowed by a scandal involving three Kenyan runners who appear to let the Chinese competitor win the race.

Sunday’s Beijing Half-Marathon saw 25-year-old He Jie crossed the finish line first, in 1:03:44, under a second ahead of an African trio of runners who collectively claimed second place. It was an impressive achievement for the Chinese runner, especially since one of the runners-up was former 5km world record-holder Robert Keter of Kenya, but his win was quickly called into question on social media after suspicious videos recorded during the race made their way online. The fact that He seemed to be the only one sprinting as he approached the finish line was bizarre enough, but one clip shows Kenya’s Willy Mnangat signaling his countryman Keter and Ethiopian runner Dejene Hailu Bikila to hang back and waving He Jie to overtake them.

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A Nigerian woman is facing up to seven years in prison for allegedly breaking her country’s cyber crime laws by posting a negative online review for a can of tomato puree.

In September of last year, 39-year-old Chioma Okoli took to Facebook to voice her opinion about a can of tomato puree she had recently bought, claiming that it contained too much sugar and asking her friends and followers to express their opinions as well. Somehow, Okoli’s post went viral on Meta’s social network, generating over 3,000 comments, including one from a person claiming to be the sister of the founder of Erisco Foods Limited, the company that made the canned tomato puree. They asked Okoli to stop bashing the product and just try something else, but the woman doubled down on her claims, asking the person to ask their brother to”stop ki***ing people with his product”. That ended up costing her, as she was arrested just days later and she is now facing up to seven years in prison.

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Filipino online influencer Abby Domer Salle has come under fire for alleged animal cruelty after being spotted wearing a live chick in a small metal cage on her head on the streets of Manila.

Inspired by Japanese Kawaii culture, the so-called ‘duckling fashion’ has become very popular in Southeast Asia in the last few years. The exact origins of this fashion trend are unclear, but it has been linked to anime series or characters. There are multiple variations of this trend all over the world, but in its simplest form it involves wearing decorative plastic or plush ducklings on one’s head. However, one Filipino influencer recently took this already unusual fashion trend and took it to an all-new level of weirdness by caging a live chick and wearing it in public as a bizarre hat.

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Friends and family of Class 10 students taking an important exam at a school in Haryana, India were filmed climbing the back wall of the building to pass cheat sheets to their loved ones.

The Chandrawati School in Haryana’s Nuh district recently found itself at the center of a massive exam cheating scandal after viral videos of people scaling the wall of the school in order to pass cheat sheets to students found their way on social media. School officials insisted that no cheating occurred during the  Class 10 board exam on Wednesday and that people merely attempted to help their friends and relatives, but some sources claim that these real-life Spider Men only started climbing the school after being given the exact questions on the test and looking up the right answers to them.

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A 70-year-old retiree from Bahia, Brazil, claims that he has drunk a drop of water in the last 50 years, relying solely on Coca-Cola for hydration, despite suffering from diabetes and heart problems.

Roberto Pedreira, probably the world’s no. 1 Coca-Cola fan, recently went viral online for his love of the popular fizzy drink. While hospitalized with Covid-19, the Brazilian pensioner wrote in his care chart that he did not drink liquid medicine or water, only Coca-Cola Zero. A photo of the chart somehow made its way onto social networks like Facebook and X (Twitter) and eventually went viral. Initially, people thought it was a joke, but the man’s 27-year-old grandson confirmed that for as long as he could remember, Pereira had never drunk anything but Coke.

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A Quebec art teacher is being accused of selling his high school students’ artworks on his website without their consent for personal profit.

An art teacher at the Westwood Junior High School in Saint Lazare has landed in hot water with the parents of several of his students for allegedly selling their drawings and paintings online without their knowledge and permission. The discovery was made by accident when one of the students searched his name on Google only to discover one of his art class drawings listed for sale on his teacher’s website. Word spread around the school, and before long, other students reported their own artworks had been listed online by the teacher. Some of the kids told their parents about the bizarre practice, and they appealed to the high school board for clarification. Now, some parents are asking for moral and punitive damages from both the art teacher and the high school.

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A young tattoo artist from St. Petersburg, Russia, was recently detained for insulting religious believers with controversial tattoos featuring Jesus Christ, the cross and other Christian symbols.

Daria Krichker is facing up to one year in jail for her crimes. According to the Orthodox activist group that filed a complaint against her, she has committed “repeated gross blasphemous acts against Christ, the Mother of God, and the saints of the Church,” which “cannot be tolerated on Russian soil. It all started earlier this month when photos of a tattoo reportedly inked on Krichker’s own calf went viral on social media. It showed Jesus on the cross having an orgasm, which isn’t the kind of creative work that religious people would appreciate. It’s weird, many would describe it as disgusting, but in Russia, such a tattoo can literally land you behind bars.

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Diaper-wearing adults looking for a safe space to role-play as babies can now head to the new Diaper Spa in Atkinson, New Hampshire, that caters to the needs of all diaper lovers.

Set up by physician Dr. Colleen Murphy, the Diaper Spa seeks to serve all diaper-wearing individuals above the age of 21 looking for acceptance and care, or simply for a safe space to engage in ‘richly immersive experiences’ that involve adult diapers. Activities listed on the venue’s website include playtime, story time, nap time, cuddle time, changing time, coloring, nursery rhymes, and sing-a-longs. Prices start at $100 per hour and go all the way up to $1,500 for a 24-hour stay at its bed & breakfast. The recently opened Diaper Spa has sparked controversy in Atkinson because of its unusual services, but Dr. Murphy claims that her brainchild is not about weird fetishes, but about dealing with trauma.

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A 23-year-old Russian man recently revealed that he trained and used ChatGPT to filter through 5,239 girls’ dating profiles and then date the best matches until he found his soon-to-be wife.

Alexander Zhadan first made waves on RuNet – the online Russian-speaking community – a year ago, when he tweeted that he wrote an academic thesis using ChatGPT in just 23 hours. A few days ago, the young Russian IT professional once again made news headlines, this time for using the same AI tool to filter through thousands of online dating profiles and relying on its tips and advice to find the perfect partner and then make her his wife. Zhadan’s story, originally told through a series of posts on X/Twitter, has sparked a heated debate on the morality of using AI tools to find love online, and while the 23-year-old admits that his story could change how others see online dating, he did point out that ChatGPT has its limitations and that he needed to get involved personally to connect with his dates.

It all started with Alexander’s disappointing experience with popular dating apps like Tinder. He would swipe left, then right, then spark a conversation with a potential match and then that person would just disappear. It was a huge waste of time, but having become familiar with ChatGPT, he wondered if there was a way to use the AI tool to make his online dating experience more efficient.

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Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science recently fired the director of the prestigious Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences allegedly for controversial remarks that are incompatible with science.

Geneticist Alexander Kudryavtsev was named director of the General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in June of 2021 and was scheduled to carry out his mandate until 2027, but last month, Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science announced that Kudryavtsev had been relieved of his duties and replaced. His sacking was immediately linked to a series of controversial statements made in March of last year, during the 3rd International Scientific and Theological Conference “God – Man – World”. The Russian scientist claimed that before the biblical flood, humans used to live for up to 900 years, but that their lifespan has shortened since then due to “original, ancestral and personal sin.”

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A Chinese marathon runner famous for chain-smoking during official running competitions has been banned by the athletic federation for two years for his “uncivilized” behavior.

Chen Mouxian, aka ‘Uncle Chen’, first made international headlines in 2022, when photos of him running in the Xin’anjiang Marathon went viral on social media. What drew people’s attention to the then-50-year-old experienced runner was that he always had a lit cigarette in his mouth, and kept lighting up as soon as he finished a cigarette. Dubbed “Smoking Brother”, Chen sparked controversy on Chinese social media, with some users praising his athletic abilities, and others criticizing him for promoting an unhealthy habit and also exposing other runners to harmful tobacco smoke. This month, Uncle Chen was banned from participating in marathons for two years after once again smoking his way through the 2024 Xiamen Marathon in Fujian on January 7th.

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Moana Bikini, a swimwear company founded by Australian body-positivity influencer Karina Irby, has come under fire for having a male model pose in a women’s swimsuit.

Australian swimwear brand Moana Bikini sparked controversy after posting a video of male “Moana babe” Jake Young parading in a white women’s swimsuit on its Instagram page. The backlash was almost instantaneous, with thousands of people leaving critical comments and slamming the company for going too far with what they called a “marketing scheme”. The company and its founder have hit back at critics, claiming that Moana Bikini has been empowering “ALL bodies” for years, so a man in a women’s swimsuit shouldn’t really shock anyone.

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A 26-year-old model who was born in Ukraine and moved to Japan at the age of five was recently crowned Miss Japan, sparking a heated debate regarding national identity.

Carolina Shiino speaks and writes impeccable Japanese, she spent most of her life in Japan and identifies as Japanese. But she wasn’t born in Japan and, most importantly, she doesn’t look Japanese, and for many, as the newly-crowned Miss Japan, that’s a big problem. Ukrainian-born Carolina is the first naturalized Japanese citizen to win the national beauty pageant, and while some accepted her win as a “sign of the times,” for others it is a tough pill to swallow. Everyone acknowledges the young woman’s beauty, but the fact that a European woman was voted Miss Japan is simply unacceptable.

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A Chicago man is suing 27 women for $75 million after they posted negative comments about him on a Facebook dating group, calling him “very clingy” and a ghoster.

32-year-old Nikko D’Ambrosio claims that his reputation was tarnished after several women who claim to have dated him posted their negative experiences on a private Facebook group called ‘Are We Dating the Same Guy’. The popular group originated in New York, but has since branched out to other major cities and is mainly used by women to share their experiences with men and ask for advice about various red flags. In D’Ambrosio’s case, dozens of women wrote derogatory comments, labeling him as clingy or accusing him of ghosting them after getting what he wanted. Now, the Chicago man is suing several of these women, as well as moderators of the Facebook group and parts of the social network’s parent company for $75 million.

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