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Funny old world: The week's offbeat news

From some flighty pigeon paranoia to the fugitive who cheated justice to the end... your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- Off their perch -

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Panda Diplomacy: Departure of DC's beloved pandas signals wider Chinese pullback

Wearing an "I Love Pandas" T-shirt and clutching a panda-covered diary, Kelsey Lambert bubbled with excitement as she glimpsed the real thing. She and her mother, Alison, had made a special trip from San Antonio just to watch the National Zoo's furry rock stars casually munching bamboo and rolling around on the grass.

"It felt completely amazing," Kelsey, age 10, said Friday. "My mom has always promised she would take me one day. So we had to do it now that they're going away."

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Israeli tank found in junkyard after being stolen from military zone

Israeli authorities are trying to figure out how a heavily armored, but unarmed, tank was stolen from a military training zone after finding it discarded in a junkyard.

The Israeli Merkava 2 tank disappeared from a training zone in northern Israel near the coastal city of Haifa, the Israeli army said Wednesday. The training zone is closed to the public when in use, but is otherwise accessible to passersby.

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American researcher doing well after rescue from deep Turkish cave, calls it 'crazy adventure'

An American researcher was "doing well" at a Turkish hospital, officials said Tuesday, after rescuers pulled him out of a cave where he fell seriously ill and became trapped 1,000 meters (more than 3,000 feet) below its entrance for over a week.

Rescuers from Turkey and across Europe cheered and clapped as Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old experienced caver, emerged from Morca cave in southern Turkey's Taurus Mountains strapped to a stretcher at 12:37 a.m. local time Tuesday. He was whisked to the hospital in the nearby city of Mersin in a helicopter.

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Musk says cage fight with Zuckerberg will be in Italy

Elon Musk has said that his much-hyped cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg would take place in Italy, as authorities there confirmed talks about hosting a "great charity event."

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Musk may need surgery before proposed 'cage match' with Zuckerberg

Elon Musk says he may need to get surgery before a proposed "cage match" with Mark Zuckerberg.

The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to an in-person face-off in late June. It's unclear if a physical fight will actually end up happening, but Musk and Zuckerberg have continued to fuel interest in the potential match through online jabs at one another — most recently on Sunday, when Musk said the fight would be live-streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

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In workaholic Japan, 'job leaving agents' help people escape awkwardness of quitting

In Japan, a nation reputed for loyalty to companies and lifetime employment, people who job-hop are often viewed as quitters. And that's considered shameful.

Enter "taishoku daiko," or "job-leaving agents." Dozens of such services have sprung up in the last several years to help people who simply want out.

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I got sandbagged: Biden trips and falls onstage at Air Force graduation

President Joe Biden quipped that he got "sandbagged" Thursday after he tripped and fell — but was uninjured — while onstage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation.

Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail.

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Passenger opens exit door during plane flight in South Korea; 12 people injured

A passenger opened an emergency exit door during a plane flight in South Korea on Friday, causing air to blast inside the cabin and slightly injure 12 people, officials said. The plane landed safely.

Some people aboard the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 aircraft tried to stop the person, who was able to partially open the door, the Transport Ministry said.

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Funny old world: The week's offbeat news

From a royal grump to bumping off your husband.... Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- 'This is boring' -

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