woman who applied for a hostess position with Indonesia’s Garuda airlines is coming forward with allegations that she and dozens of other applicants were checked for breast implants and tattoos during the job interview process.

The woman — who remained anonymous because she’d still like a stab at that job — says applicants at the airline’s South Korean branch were made to remove their tops and bras so that interviewers could examine their breasts. An airline official actually confirmed the allegations and said the check was carried out due to concern for the women’s health and safety, as breast implants can react to changes in air pressure. Moreover, members of the cabin crew are barred from having tattoos… Even, we guess, the sort passengers will (probably) never see.

While most of us would probably have reacted by screaming, praying and/or making a mess in our airplane seat, Reuters photographer Beawiharta- who in the past has beautifully captured everything from brilliantly erupting volcanoes to the plight of Indonesian mental patients – elected to document his harrowing flight from Singapore to Jakarta once things began to go wrong.

A coalition of peculiar media forces apparently led by Donald Trump appear to be working to make President Barack Obama‘s birth certificate a major 2012 campaign issue, and all signs point to Sean Hannity hopping on the bandwagon. After dedicating a significant amount of time on his radio show earlier this week to the matter, he brought it up once again on TV in the context of Trump’s potential 2012 bid, calling the entire ordeal ‘odd.’

Two years into the Obama presidency, the issue of where he was born and what religion he follows somehow continues to be an issue for many on the far right, and now House Speaker John Boehner is coming under fire for telling NBC’s David Gregory that it’s “not my job” to dispel those rumors. Bill O’Reilly dedicated his regular panel with Juan Williams and Mary Katharine Ham tonight to the matter, railing passionately about why giving the matter airtime was destructive.

In a controversy that is shaking the Twitterverse, Indonesian information minister Tifatul Sembiring claims that he was forced into shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama. Responding to taunts on Twitter (Twaunts?) that he violated his code of avoiding contact with women to whom he is not related, Sembiring told his followers “”I tried to prevent (being touched) with my hands but Mrs. Michelle held her hands too far toward me (so) we touched.”

Luckily, the Associated Press caught the First Lady’s salutory siege on video. Did Sembiring try to fend off the greeting, or is this just so much hand jive? (h/t Alan Colmes)

Ardi Rizal is the two-year old Indonesian boy who became world famous due to the sadly hilarious (or hilariously sad?) video of him chain smoking that went viral. Well the coda to this weird and wonderful story is, in fact, a happy ending. With the help from the government of Indonesia, and an intensive intervention program, the toddler has given up smoking! And the world healed just a little bit.

When you first see the video of Ardi Rizal, a two-year old Indonesian boy taped chain smoking, some may find it almost comical. He looks like a miniature old man or the baby from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. However, a few seconds later, the reality of it begins to sink in; this is really a video of a two-year old toddler smoking cigarrettes. The viral video, which is burning up the internet this morning after initially appearing in March, is truly disturbing. The Daily Mail article with the story behind it is even worse.

Perhaps you have already read the article in the New York Times World section today about the enormous amount of violence in the Philippines that seems to be caused by karaoke renditions of Frank Sinatra‘s “My Way.” Things have apparently gotten so bad that the Filipino media records the crimes under the subcategory of “My Way Killings.” But the reporter on this story, Norimitsu Onishi, is notable himself, consistently getting American audiences interested in Asian news.