Free Republic

Sri Lankan maid in custodyA housemaid who is accused of harassing her old Emirati employer has been arrested. The 70-year-old woman, named Aisha, lives alone in Sharjah. Her son, Omar, had arranged for the maid, who hails from Sri Lanka, through an agency last month, since his mother refused to live with him. In the beginning she was extremely helpful, kind and looked after the old lady as if she was her own mother. “She was almost like a sweet angel,” said Aisha. “ I was so happy with her that I gave her one of my mobile phones. Later,...

An owner of two Dobermans thought it would be amusing to take the dogs to a playground and see what happens when he put them on a slide there. Somewhere in the end, a lesson was learned. Maybe. Don’t worry, no one was hurt — neither human nor canine — in making this video, which is going viral today. But it does show that a Doberman can exercise basic common sense. Well, sort of. “It was my stepson 23 yrs old that went up the steps & had the dogs follow him up and PERSUADED THEM TO SLIDE,” wrote Sherry...

Engineers in the United States have developed an innovative new system of camouflage based on the color-changing abilities of cephalopods, namely octopus, cuttlefish, and squid. The mechanism used by the animals was emulated to a high degree by the researchers, who even utilized a similar layering pattern in their work... In cephalopods, the colors surrounding it are sensed, and then the animal uses its muscles to change color, using cells containing pigment, known as chromatophores to change color. In their work, which is published in the journal PNAS, the engineers used photosensors to detect light levels, and then deliver this...

Presley Smith is a baseball player, but he's also, like, an actual player. During last night's Little League World Series game, Smith did what any enterprising adolescent boy might do: He used a national television broadcast to let all the ladies out there know he's down. When the chyron flashed on the screen displaying Smith's hobby, it wasn't comic books or video games or volunteering at the soup kitchen. It was "talking to girls." Unfortunately for Smith, though he hit the ball, he was out at first base.

<p>As GWAR's annual GWAR B-Q carried on over the weekend, it was with a somber note of remembrance to band leader Oderus Urungus who died of a heroin overdose in March.</p> <p>Though friends and family of David Brockie (the man behind the gnarly thrash metal monster mask) laid him to rest on April 1 at a private April Fool's Day service, as Consequence of Sound reports, his alter ego had not yet received a send off. So, in a tribute true to form for the outlandish band and its fervent fans, the Oderus costume was laid out and lit aflame Friday on a small viking ship floating amid Hadads Lake at the Richmond, Va. event.</p>

German national put on flight back to TurkeyAuthorities at Dubai International Airport put a German national, named as Rolf Buchholz, back on a flight to where he had come from, preventing him from entering the country. According to a report in Emarat Al Youm, Rolf was sent back to Turkey. Sources quoted in the report said the man was covered in piercings, holes in his faces and also had two ‘horns’ protruding from his forehead. People at Dubai International Airport were horrified by his appearance, the report stated. The man was reportedly coming to Dubai to make an appearance at...

YouTube has known its fair share of dangerous, destructive and ill-advised trends, but even by those standards, the “fire challenge” hits new lows. The so-called challenge consists of pouring rubbing alcohol on oneself, lighting it on fire, and putting the resulting blaze out before you sustain third-degree burns and/or burn your house down. Needless to say, not everyone succeeds — a 15-year-old in Kentucky sustained second-degree burns this week. Why, precisely, would you do such a thing? In the words of one enraged YouTube vlogger, whose rant against the trend has earned almost 10,000 views: “Are you dumb? No, seriously...

A red 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta, which was once involved in a fatal accident, has set the world record for a car sold at auction, going for $38.1 million at a sale in California, auction house Bonhams said. The price offered on Thursday by a bidder whose identity was not disclosed surpassed the $30 million (all figures U.S.) paid last year for a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196 race car, also sold by Bonhams, the auctioneers said in a press release. “We’ve always maintained that we would exceed the current world record and that the car would bring between $30-$40-million...

This video footage captures a boy swimming with a huge crocodile chasing him. The incident is believed to have happened in Mexico.

"We just want to tell everyone that individuals can make effort to make the world a better place to live for everyone and we shouldn't judge each other according to the cover," said Sarvebaz.YezdanY and SarvebaZ HeraneR are making commuting in Tehran more enjoyable by providing a mobile bookstore in their taxi. There are 40 titles on display in the cab, all in Farsi. One of the favorites, Sarvebaz said, is George Orwell's Animal Farm. "We just want to tell everyone that individuals can make effort to make the world a better place to live for everyone and we shouldn't...

Severe draught may have forced the pack to enter the village looking for foodA pack of wolves landed in a small farming community in China to find food following severe draught and left six people with horrific injuries. This was the worst attack in decades, when some of them lost their ears and others suffered facial injuries, according to a report in mirror.co.uk Residents managed to flee, but not before being attacked by the pack. Some received cuts on their chest and limbs, as well. After the people left, the wolves killed several animals.

Money moved from accounts of 3 passengers into 4th passenger's accounts Five months after the Malaysia Airlines flight went missing, mysterious withdrawals totaling 111,000 RM (£20,916) have been recorded, reports claim. A bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, reported the apparent discrepancies in their accounts on July 18, before lodging a police complaint, Assistant Commissioner to the crime investigation department Izany Abdul Ghany revealed. According to reports, the transactions were made on July 18 when money from the accounts of three passengers was transferred to the account of a fourth passenger before it was removed. 'We are investigating the case as...

Officers got into a standoff with an enraged cat early Tuesday morning after it allegedly trapped its owners in the bedroom of their Chula Vista home. According to Chula Vista police, a woman and her adult daughter called 911 at about 4 a.m. to report that they had barricaded themselves inside a bedroom in the 4000 block of Neptune Court because their cat would not let them out. They told emergency dispatchers that when they tried to exit the room, the cat became furious. Officers responded and tried coaxing the cat, named "Cuppy," by softly calling it, until it eventually...

She published a newspaper advertisementA Gulf Arab businesswoman, describing herself as pretty widow, broke social barriers and published a newspaper advertisement for a husband. The woman, who identified herself as Umm Mohammed, stipulated the groom must be a Kuwaiti aged 33-40 years, has a university degree, enjoys good conduct and is ‘religious’. The advertisement, published in the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Al Rai, said those interested should contact her through WhatsApp service.

She claims her sister was in a relationship with her husbandAn elderly woman in Mpumalanga is homeless and single after her sister ‘stole’ her husband and then sold her home, too, to a loan shark, When 77-year-old Evelyn Gumede discovered that her sister was in a relationship with her husband, she asked her to keep him, but little did she know what her sister planned, according to a report by newsbite website, quoting Dailysun as its source. ‘Not only did she steal my husband, she also sold my house,’ Gumede was quoted as saying in the report. She had been...

He was rushed to hospital with breathing difficultySaudi doctors saved a mentally retarded local man after he swallowed an unpeeled orange which settled inside his oesophagus. The man, in his 20s, was rushed to hospital having breathing difficulty after swallowing the orange at his home in the southern Saudi town of Baha. “Doctors managed to extract the orange out of his throat and saved his life without an operation,” Sabq Arabic language daily said.

A 9-year-old girl saved her father from a burning home near a Hayward high school Thursday morning, a fire captain said. The blaze was reported at 7:01 a.m. at a two-story home in the 2000 block of Park Arroyo Place, located near Mt. Eden High School, Hayward fire spokesman Capt. Don Nichelson said. Smoke alarms alerted the girl to the fire and she helped her father escape through a second-floor window, Nichelson said. and helped them out by putting a ladder up to the second floor. Firefighters arrived and found heavy smoke and flames coming from both floors of the...

Posting selfies is quickly becoming a universal way for people to identify themselves as aligned to a particular idea or movement, and the newest selfie trend hopes to eliminate body-shaming. In doing so, women of all shapes are reshaping body-acceptance and the retail market. The hashtag, #Fatkini, has been on the rise the past few months as more and more women on social media have gained the confidence they need to sport the revealing swimwear. Most popularly used on both Instagram and Tumblr, the hashtag has already produced thousands of selfies of plus-size women, and a following fiercely devoted toward...

Her family now fears for her sistersA Saudi man immediately divorced his wife after seeing her pictures on social networks leaked by a thief believed to have stolen the mobile phone of the wife’s brother. The brother was dining at a rest house in the Gulf kingdom when he lost his mobile phone, the Arabic language daily Sada said. “A few days later, a thief believed to have stolen that mobile published the pictures of the wife he found in her brother’s mobile on social networks,” the paper said. “After seeing those pictures, the woman’s husband immediately divorced her…the woman’s...

She learnt about the embarrassing mistake in the last minute A Yemeni bride was taken in a motorcade to the wrong groom before she was told about the embarrassing mistake in the last minute. Town residents near the capital Sanaa lined up the roads to greet the bride who sat in a luxury car surrounded by many other vehicles unleashing their honks in celebration. When the motorcade reached the presumed groom’s house, another motorcade with another bride stopped near the same house. “The honking and the music suddenly stopped and the people started laughing…only then, the groom’s relatives rushed out...