From toolbox beauty tips to a poor taste tribute CD… your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.
A real chiselled jaw
Always wanted higher cheekbones and a manly jawline? Then take a hammer to your face.
That’s the viral advice of a “manosphere” TikTok influencer who is part of the “looksmaxxing” online trend to boost men’s sexual appeal.
Looksmaxxing influencers are promoting a host of quick and often painful DIY methods for chin extensions, pouty lips and almond-shaped “hunter eyes” to impressionable young men.
They also urge them to take steroids, undergo plastic surgery or even have “leg-lengthening” procedures to make them more attractive to women.
“Babe, what’s taking you so long in the bathroom?” reads the caption flashing across a viral TikTok video of a “skincare routine” that involves a man hitting his cheeks with the sharp edge of a hammer.
Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that “bone smashing” is dangerous while others hailed it as a quick way to an angular jawline.
Bish! Bash! Busted!
The officers dressed as Batman and Robin in a bid to fool the men running illegal gambling games on Westminster Bridge next to the Houses of Parliament.
“I knew if we were going to catch them we would have to think outside the box,” one of the officers told AFP.
“And then I remembered that I had Batman and Robin costumes to hand.”
Two men who were running the “shell game” on the bridge were nabbed and were later fined.
No cards here
As the sun sets on cash elsewhere, the remote Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu has finally got its first ATM.
Siose Teo of the National Bank of Tuvalu called the cash machine “transformative”, as chocolate cake was handed out to celebrate, with Prime Minister Feleti Teo hailing the “significant milestone” for the microstate of 12 000 people threatened by rising sea levels.
Naked greed
In quite possibly the worst posthumous “tribute” ever, a Japanese record company has been slammed for wanting to release a CD by a dead singer with private nude photos of her taken 50 years ago.
Yashiro, the “queen of enka” music, died in 2023 aged 73, and was mourned by her army of fans.
The two intimate pictures of her taken by a former partner are included as a “bonus feature” on the CD due out on Monday.
“If this is not revenge porn, what is?” wrote Takashi Kimura, the governor of Kumamoto in southern Japan in a blog post, branding the decision as “unforgivable”. Fans are also appalled, calling “this unpleasant event… absolutely unacceptable”.
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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
