Free Republic

A disagreement between Chinese tourists and a hostel in Stockholm over check-in time has turned into a diplomatic spat between China and Sweden, after Beijing criticised Sweden for violating the human rights of Chinese citizens. [snip] Bizarre video footage posted online shows police carrying the group outside, while the son yells in English: “This is killing. This is killing.” Another clip shows the three lying on the ground crying loudly while the mother wails in Chinese: “Save me.” [snip] “I broke down and lost my mind,” Zeng said. “I was not able to think whether it was appropriate or not....

If you get caught allegedly shoplifting in a store, it's probably not a good idea to go back there. Two Pennsylvania women were caught on video trashing a 7-Eleven after employees locked them inside and called police after they allegedly were in the store a day earlier shoplifting. The two women also got into a fight with 7-Eleven employees and responding police officers, according to Philly.com. The two women - 20-year-old Lashae Whitaker and 28-year-old Tiera Brown - entered the 7-Eleven on Oct. 1 when they were locked inside as employees called the police. In the video, Whitaker is shown...

<p>Singer, The Voice judge, and rabid Obama supporter CeeLo Green recently pled no contest to giving a woman ecstasy in 2012 without her knowledge. Green contends that the two had consensual sex, but the woman said she woke up next to Green and had no recollection of what happened. Green was not charged with rape of an intoxicated person due to insufficient evidence.</p>

Happy Rosh Hashanah. Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner got into a heated exchange with a Jewish voter during a campaign stop in Brooklyn on Wednesday. Weiner was seen on video walking out of a Borough Park deli when he stopped, turned around and yelled to the man, “Yeah, it takes one to know one, jackass.” The two got into a two-minute long shouting match after the voter called Weiner “disgusting” and told him to “stay out of the public eye.” “You don’t get to judge me because you have shown no sign that you are superior to me and you...

Keeping the mind occupied with tasks - no matter how meaningless - staves off negative emotions, the study found. -snip- Prof Hsee concluded keeping busy helped keep people happy. He said the findings, reported in the journal Psychological Science, had policy implications. "Governments may increase the happiness of idle citizens by having them build bridges that are actually useless", he proposed.