A quarter of the way into this Premier League season, Chelsea have unwillingly advanced the concept of the "bad patch". From their lofty perch of the last decade, they have witnessed plenty of minor wobbles and stumbles. It became more than a mere "blip" -- universally understood to be an anomaly of form that last no longer than three or four games -- when Crystal Palace snatched three points from Stamford Bridge at the end of August. After the blip comes the indeterminate period of the "crisis" -- a term that has long lost its significance in the Premier League era -- but crises are rarely terminal, and a corner is usually turned. So how can we describe Chelsea's dismal 2015/16? From the platform of a comprehensive (if not hugely memorable) title-winning year, they have delivered the capitulation to end all capitulations. Having redefined the art of winning in his first spell as manager, Jose Mourinho has now overseen a painful exhibition in h...
When it comes to typical volunteer activities, you probably think of walking shelter dogs or helping out at a soup kitchen. But in Taiwan, there’s an NGO called Hand Angel , which promotes the sexual rights of people with physical disabilities by providing free hand jobs to those who are unable to pleasure themselves. Hand Angel screens recipients to make sure that they are recognized by the government as being physically — but not mentally — incapacitated. Once approved, each person is entitled to a maximum of three hand jobs. The volunteers (there are 10, from a range of backgrounds) can caress the applicants and kiss them on the face, but penetration (finger, oral, intercourse) is off-limits. Unsurprisingly, the service has come under fire, according to Vice , with Internet users posting comments like, “Do they also offer Mouth Angels?” and a Taipei official stating, “I don’t think we need to bring up disabled people’s sexuality as an independent issue. There ...
The man thought to have been the ringleader of the Paris terror attacks returned to the Bataclan concert hall while police were still there, the city's prosecutor has said. Francois Molins said phone records showed that Abdelhamid Abaaoud went back to the theatre, where 89 people were shot dead on 13 November, as an operation to free hostages was ongoing. Attacks also took place at the Stade de France and a series of bars, restaurants and cafes across the French capital as part of the co-ordinated massacre. Mr Molins said Abaaoud, the Belgian suspected of being behind the attacks, had been traced to the metro after the attack at the Bataclan but had returned to the area shortly afterwards. He added: "The geolocalisation of Abdelhamid Abaaoud's alleged phone between 22.28pm and 12.28am confirms a presence in the 12th, 11th, and 10th districts, and notably near the Bataclan concert hall. This allows us to think that Abaaoud returns to the crime scenes following t...
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