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John Sweeney, a prominent British investigative journalist who has long covered Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote in his new book that he feels the leader looks "seriously ill" with puffy cheeks that make him resemble a hamster. In his forthcoming book (out July 21), Killer in the Kremlin, Sweeney described changes he has noticed in Putin's demeanor and physical appearance that he said scare him. He theorized the use of steroids for Putin's changes, noting the president could have started taking the medication years ago to treat a back injury sustained after falling off a horse. According to Sweeney, this...

Full Title: Millennial Writer Cries for Mother at Work, Puts Mother on Speakerphone after Editor Corrects Her Spelling How does a boss manage a worker who believes their feelings trump reality, right down to the way she "feels" about her misspelled words?Gently. And probably badly, even though that's no fault of the boss in question.Carol Blymire -- a "communications and public policy executive, branding consultant, professor, writer" -- took to Twitter on Friday to tell the story she overheard of a young writer, probably "in her late 20s," going over edits with her boss. They had been speaking in low...

A college student said she flushed her emotional support hamster down the toilet after Spirit Airlines refused to let her bring her furry pet on the plane. Belen Aldecosea, 21, of Miami Beach, Florida, told the Miami Herald that she contacted Spirit Airlines before her flight from Baltimore to South Florida on Nov. 21, 2017, regarding traveling with her dwarf hamster, Pebbles. Aldecosea claimed the airline told her it was not a problem to bring her hamster on the flight.

Is anyone else constantly getting the following errors when trying to load a forum, display a thread, or post a new thread on FR? I'm not getting a single one on any other website. This page can’t be displayed • Make sure the web address http://www.freerepublic.com is correct. • Look for the page with your search engine. • Refresh the page in a few minutes. The website cannot display the page HTTP 500 Most likely causes: • The website is under maintenance. • The website has a programming error. What you can try: Refresh the page. Go back to the...

The actor brings his campaign for social change to London and talks getting ready for a political battle It's two days since Super Tuesday, that milestone in the US presidential primary calendar and the point at which candidates truly emerge from the party fray. And everyone -- of course -- is talking about Donald Trump. "Here's a guy who's obviously Mussolini," says the actor and Hollywood A-lister Richard Gere, who's in London to raise awareness of homelessness with a new film called Time Out of Mind. He's been on the road for the past week -- to Dublin and Glasgow,...

Hasbro Inc. asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, who wants the company to pay her $5 million because it made an inch-tall plastic toy hamster named "Harris Faulkner." Faulkner — a six-time Emmy Award-winner who anchors "Fox News Weekend" for the news channel — sued Hasbro in August for adding the hamster to its line of "Pet Pawsabilities" toys. She claimed that the plastic rodent with a levitating butterfly hat "willfully and wrongfully appropriated Faulkner's unique and valuable name and distinctive persona" for Hasbro's financial gain.

A Fox News anchor says she’s no hamster—or choking hazard. In papers filed in New Jersey Federal Court, Harris Faulkner says she’s suffered “substantial commercial and emotional damage” from a plastic hamster doll that shares her name.

Given the Internet’s love affair with burritos, it is no surprise that people are eating up this viral video simply titled “Tiny Hamsters Eating Tiny Burritos.”

Newser) – Richard Gere is splitting with his wife of 11 years, sources tell Page Six. Gere, 64, and Carey Lowell, 52, are reportedly separated and planning to divorce; they haven't been photographed together since last year, and Page Six last fall reported that Gere had been spotted flirting with another woman. One source says the couple drifted apart because Gere, a Buddhist, likes "quiet" and "solitude" while Lowell enjoys "being ... in the limelight." Another says they've "been spending time apart for quite some time." They were together for seven years before marrying, and they have a son together...

Mr. Wiskers spins out, loses control and crashes...oh the humanity.... http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=166306

Dateline Beaverton, Oregon Local authorities placed a hamster into protective custody after its owner, an intoxicated driver, was arrested. Early Tuesday morning, three officers with the Beaverton Police pulled over 27-year-old Nicole Huey after suspecting her of driving while intoxicated, according to Oregon Live. During the 12:30 a.m. stop, officers reportedly observed the hamster – whose name is not known – placed in her lap. It was the only other occupant in the car, the website learned. When Huey stepped out of the car, she placed the hamster on the dashboard. At that point, officers allegedly attempted to take the...

NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn teenager is facing two-years in prison for killing her brother's pet hamster. Monique Smith, 19, is charged with one felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals for allegedly killing the 4-ounce hamster during a family dispute last June. Witnesses say the girl grabbed the hamster, choked it and threw it outside the house. Authorities say the teenager suspected her brother of killing her own hamster earlier in the day. "Sadly, very often, pets find themselves in the middle of these situations," said ASPCA Assist. Dir., Joe Pentangelo. "A family will have a disagreement and unfortunately...

Boston, Mass. - A cholesterol-lowering drug reduced the enlarged prostates of hamsters to the same extent as a drug commonly used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), report researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and their colleagues in the October issue of the Journal of Urology. Together, the drugs worked even better. "We don't know the mechanism, but the results suggest to us that lowering cholesterol has the potential to reduce BPH in men," says senior author Keith Solomon, PhD, a biochemist, and member of the departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Urology at Children's. "This brings up the possibility that other...

Can eating red onions lower your risk for heart attack and stroke? A new study suggests the answer to that question may be yes. At least if you're a hamster. Scientists in Hong Kong fed crushed onions to hamsters that had been on a high-cholesterol diet. After eight weeks, the little guys' levels of low-densitiy lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol fell by 20 percent, the Daily Mail reported. That's good news, because elevated LDL cholesterol levels are linked to cardiovascular disease. At the same time, there was no decline in the hamsters' levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol - the good...

Sprout McGee, Hamster Assassin Do you have enemies? Do your enemies have hamsters? Then you need Sprout McGee, Hamster Assassin! (Watch the video at the link provided)

Snake 'befriends' snack hamster Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. [Pic in URL] Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal. The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe. "I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated...

My bunny-hugging antagonist’s embarrassed silence on the BBC radio phone-in told me all I needed to know. Yes, it really is now a criminal offense in Britain to abuse an ant, a worm, a slug, cockroach, a scorpion, a stick insect or whatever creature you care to name. The moment you decide to keep it as a pet you are obliged by our Animal Welfare Act to take full account of its welfare needs -- or face a $30,000 fine or a twelve-month prison sentence. And if you think cockroach rights sound crazy, wait till you hear how the law...

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond will be "back to his old self" in about six months, according to the specialist looking after him. Hammond, who was today transferred to a private hospital in Bristol, was said to be "doing well" eight days after the 300mph dragster crash that left him with a brain injury.

May 19, 2006 Berkeley, California Well, this was one dramatic week. It all started late Monday night when Scooter, still in obvious distress over the death of his hamster "Jumpy," called to tell me goodbye forever. It seems he couldn't face a world "where little innocent hamsters die for no reason, and Republicans are on the verge of sending everybody they don't like to religious forced-labor camps that are controlled by Halliburton." I guess the fact that the little rat died after Scooter had forgotten to feed him for about a month hadn't influenced Scooter's fatalistic reasoning. I jumped into...

May 13, 2006 Berkeley, California Scooter's hamster, "Jumpy" died this week and Scoot's been taking it pretty hard. He came over drunk the other night and dragged me into a long, deep discussion on Heaven, Hell, and the meaning of life. He was obviously seeking assurance that Jumpy was in Heaven. I guess I shouldn't have told him Jumpy went to Hell because he pooped all over the coffee table, or made those sizzling noises and "hamster screams" like he was burning up, as Scooter got real hysterical and fell to his knees begging God to rescue Jumpy. I finally...