Funny old world: the week's offbeat news

From a rather realistic cuddly toy to Donald Trump at his most tactful... Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- Hello possum -

Shoppers browsing in an airport gift shop in Australia came across a wild possum snuggled up among the cuddly toys in an adorable case of hide and squeak. 

Staff at Hobart Airport in Tasmania said the disoriented marsupial had blended in seamlessly with the toy kangaroos and bears.

"We always knew our plushie toy collection was life-like, but it seems we finally got the ultimate seal of approval," said store manager Liam Bloomfield.

- Roll with the Punch -

Cute as the possum was, it still has a long way to go to compete with the kawaii of Punch, the world's saddest monkey.

You may remember how the baby macaque melted hearts and the internet when it was pictured clutching a monkey toy after it was abandoned by its mother and cold-shouldered by other simians.

He has since become a sensation at Ichikawa City Zoo outside Tokyo, with 10 times as many visitors as usual flocking there to see him. 

But his peers still seem reluctant to monkey around with him. In the hierarchical world of Japanese macaques, it is not uncommon to "scold" newcomers, said official Takashi Yasunaga.

#HangInTherePunch, as the hashtag he inspired says...

- Tora! Tora! Trump -

Another lesson in the art of diplomacy from Donald Trump, who welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to the White House by comparing his surprise attack on Iran to Pearl Harbour.

Asked by a Japanese reporter why he didn't tell his allies before the strikes, he replied, "Who knows better about surprise than Japan?" 

As Takaichi's eyes widened, he went one further, "Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbour?"  

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Historical footnote: the Japanese attack on the US fleet in Hawaii brought America into World War II and led to the defeat and collapse of Imperial Japan.

- Too hot to handle -

A California family are suing a ski resort claiming their hot chocolate was too hot.

The Burns family say their five-year-old daughter was scalded when she spilt the "excessively and unnecessarily hot" drink at the swanky Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Their lawyer, Roger Dreyer, said while people who go skiing assume a level of risk, they don't expect the danger to come from their treats.

Last year, Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer $50 million over damage done by a cup of tea.

- How real men do politics -

Donald Trump has been talking up the ultimate fighting card at the White House for his birthday in June. But the bout everyone in Washington wanted to see this week was between Markwayne Mullin -- the former wrestler Trump named as his new ICE and Homeland Security chief -- and Rand Paul, the combative Republican chairman of the Senate committee that had to approve him.

The two have history. 

The burly mixed martial arts fighter once called Paul a "freaking snake" and said he "understood" why the senator's neighbour hit him in 2017.

"Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it," was Paul's opening shot.

"And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE," he added.

Mullin kept his cool. Unlike at a Senate committee hearing three years ago when he jumped out of his seat and challenged a union leader to a fight, growling: "Stand your butt up!"

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