When my mother was 14, her own mother, suffering painfully from breast cancer , begged her to pass her a bottle of painkillers so that she could end her life. It was an appalling position for a young teenager to be in, as well as a mark of my grandmother’s desperation. I don’t doubt that care for breast cancer has been revolutionised in the decades since those days, but the experience had a profound effect on my Mum, who became a lifelong ardent supporter of the right of someone with a terminal or crippling illness to end their life at a time of their choosing. It was therefore a hideously cruel irony that 60 years later, my Mum herself developed a progressive degenerative disease and yet still, after so much time, nothing had been done to give people in that position the reassurance that they would have a degree of influence over when and how to end their suffering. Intelligent and modest, my Mum endured her disease with stoicism, but her final few months were …
Iran FM says more talks needed with rival Saudi Arabia
Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that more talks with regional archrival Saudi Arabia are needed for Tehran and Riyadh to improve ties but that negotiations so far have been heading in the right direction. The comments by Iran s top diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, came on the last day of his two-day visit to Lebanon. He had earlier said that talks so far with the kingdom had gone a “good distance.” He declined to offer details, saying only that the two sides have reached “specific results and understandings” that would be announced at the right time. “We are in the process of putting things on the right track,” Amir-Abdollahian told reporters at a press conference held at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut “We consider the ongoing dialogue constructive, and we hope that it serves both countries’ interests.” The first direct talks between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia took place in early April and were credited with reducing a highly hostile public …
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Christian Manley, Capitol rioter caught on video pepper spraying police, arrested
An Alabama man who allegedly used pepper spray on Capitol police officers on January 6 has been arrested, according to reports. Christian Matthew Manley, 26, originally from Alabama, was arrested in Alaska on Friday on charges related to the riots at the Capitol, the Anchorage Daily News reported. He now faces seven charges including assaulting police officers, disorderly conduct and engaging in violence in a restricted building, during the assault on the Capitol. A criminal complaint, shared by an FBI officer in Alabama on October 5, said in August officers interviewed a relative of Manley who said he had discussed going to the January 6 rally a month before it took place. FBI agents then reviewed Capitol CCTV footage as well as publicly shared videos that showed what happened during the riot. The complaint, seen by Newsweek , said Manley could be seen in the Lower West Terrace, approaching the archway entrance to the Capitol while holding what appeared to be a pepper …
Bratz slammed for recreating controversial Megan Fox movie scene
Doll brand Bratz has been criticized for recreating a controversial movie scene starring Megan Fox where she burns her tongue with a lighter. The toy range shared an animation in their style to Twitter , a pastiche of the 2009 horror flick Jennifer's Body . The film stars Fox as the titular character, Jennifer Check, alongside Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, played by Amanda Seyfried, who is also given a Bratz makeover in the Twitter clip. One iconic scene sees cheerleader Check on the phone to Lesnicki, as she scorches the tip of her tongue. "I am a god," she tells her baffled friend, as her flesh instantly heals. The 15-second clip uses audio from the film, as Bratz captioned it: "Killing boyz, brb." The film plot follows popular Check and her nervous sidekick, Needy, who have been friends for years, but now have little in common. The pair attend a local concert, where band members attempt to use Check as a virginal sacrifice in the woods. This backfires and she is instead …
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Optical illusion of dog in window is confusing the internet
"A picture is worth a thousand words," as the old adage goes, but sometimes it doesn't actually display the truth. That phenomenon is known as an optical illusion , which tricks the eye into seeing something different to what has actually been captured. And a recent photo of a small dog standing in a window is one such example. The image, shared to Reddit by user PhatWalda on October 15, depicts a pet, framed in a window sill. Due to the lighting and material screen it appears as thought the animal is actually the subject of a detailed oil painting. The social media user has captioned the image, which has gone viral with more than 93,300 upvotes, writing: "I snapped a photo of my dog through a window screen that looks like an old painting." Many people have rushed to the comments section to share their opinions on the head-scratching snap, which can be viewed here. One person, Carmex2121, wrote: "Hard to believe it is not a painting. The window screen really makes …
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Local weather report accidentally broadcasts porn instead
A local news station has apologized after pornography was accidentally broadcast during an evening newscast. KREM, a local news station in Spokane, Washington aired a pornographic clip during its Sunday broadcast at 6 p.m. at the weekend. Meteorologist Michelle Boss was giving a weather update on the BCS affiliated station when the clip was shown over her right shoulder. The explicit clip aired for around 13 seconds and appeared to show a woman's backside. Neither Boss nor her co-anchor on the report, Cody Proctor, reacted to the clip before the screen cut to more weather footage. Adweek reports that KREM apologized for the incident later that evening on its 11 p.m. broadcast. "Those of us here at KREM 2 want to apologize for something that happened in our 6 p.m. newscast tonight," the station said. "An inappropriate video aired in the first part of the show. We are diligently working to make sure something like this doesn't happen again." The Spokane Police …
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What Gal Gadot has said about filming Justice League with Joss Whedon
Justice League had a difficult production history, with rewrites and reshoots all required ahead of the movie's release. The original director, Zack Snyder, released his own director's cut in 2021 after being open about his dislike of the original version. Replacement Joss Whedon has since been criticized for his behavior while filming reshoots by the movie's stars. Actor Ray Fisher called out Whedon's "abusive" treatment of the cast and crew in a tweet from 2020. Fisher has since been backed up by other castmates, including Jason Momoa. Gal Gadot is the latest to join in these accusations, saying she was "shaking the trees" after feeling her career had been "threatened." What Gal Gadot Said About Joss Whedon On Israeli television channel N12 News, Gadot spoke of Whedon's actions on-set, and said he "kind of threatened my career and said if I did something, he would make my career miserable." She said in a recent interview with Elle that she took action straight away, …
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Golden retriever bites woman’s drink out of her mouth in hilarious viral video
A dog is a man's best friend, which is all well and good, but once you own one you'll rarely get a moment alone. This fact is clearly illustrated in a viral TikTok video that shows a golden retriever hilariously encroaching on his owner while she tries to drink from a water bottle. The clip has attracted more than 14.5 million views. The footage was shared to the app by a woman named Annie, known on the app as Theblondeanglophile, and begins with her taking a sip from a large bottle of still water while sat on a leather sofa. From her left-hand side her dog then leans in and grabs the bottle between his jaw and pulls it out of his owner's mouth. She then turns to the animal, clearly perplexed, as he jumps down off the sofa to walk away. Text overlaying the funny clip reads: "Life with a golden..." Annie has also captioned the video, explaining that it had previously been removed: "Since TikTok took it down at 20k :( #fyp #foryou #goldenretrieverlife #golden." Since …
Alec Baldwin defends Woody Allen against “unfair” backlash over alleged child abuse
As more actors cave under the pressure to denounce Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin is defending the embattled filmmaker amid renewed accusations of sexual abuse, accusations he has denied. "Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed," read a statement posted Tuesday to the Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation Twitter page, which Baldwin runs . "The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But it's unfair and sad to me. I worked w WA 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career." The language of the statement seems to imply it was written by the 59-year-old Baldwin. But the foundation had not responded to a request for confirmation before this story was published. Allen's adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, alleged in 1992—and then again in 2014—that Allen sexually abused her as a child. In his statement, Baldwin implied no probable cause was found to charge Allen, 82. But in a December op-ed for the Los …
Woody Allen says he hasn’t “suffered at all” professionally in new interview
In a new interview with The Guardian , filmmaker Woody Allen said that he hasn't "suffered at all" professionally as a result of sexual abuse allegations that have been made against him. Near the end of the lengthy piece, which was published on Friday, the interviewer notes that while Allen writes about the allegations with some anger in his recently released memoir, the 84-year-old does not seem angry when discussing the scandal that has tarnished his legacy. When the interviewer comments on Allen's even tone, the director says that he's suffered personally because of the allegations, mentioning that he's been estranged from two of his children, journalist Ronan Farrow and author Dylan Farrow, both of whom have stood by allegations that Allen molested Dylan when she was a child. But Allen also claims that his career hasn't been affected. "I'm angry that I was deprived of seeing my children grow up and I'm angry at what's been done to Dylan and Ronan," Allen told The Guardian. "I …