People around the world are sending love to a girl in Norwich

Maisie Lossau was diagnosed with a brain tumour (which she nicknamed Bob the Blob) at the start of last year and has spent the past eight months in hospital receiving radiotherapy to try and kill it off.

That hasn’t worked, however, and she’s now due to start up to 18 months of chemotherapy next week.

To help her battle through what can be a terrifying and isolating treatment, her family have set up a Team Awesome Facebook page, on which they’ve asked people to send Maisie messages and letters of support.

And their call to arms certainly hasn’t fallen on deaf ears.

Inspired by a similar campaign, they’ve asked Facebook to ‘make Maisie smile again’ and in under a week, Maisie has received over 130 messages.

There have been post-it notes

(Picture: Dawn Lossau)

Glass-fronted notices

(Picture: Dawn Lossau)

Letters

(Picture: Dawn Lossau)

Pegged bits of paper

(Picture: Dawn Lossau)

And notes of support from all around the world – from Japan to Scotland

(Picture: Dawn Lossau)

‘It is just phenomenal how the power of social media works,’ her mum tells the Eastern Daily Press.

‘Maisie is completely blown away. She said as far as she is concerned she is just a normal girl in a normal city. She is going through hell and people want to support her. She doesn’t understand why these strangers would want to do this for her.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/people-from-all-around-the-world-are-sending-love-to-an-11-year-old-in-norwich-6478914/

SpaceX to send two private citizens to the moon next year

The company confirmed it is planning the launch after the two private citizens had paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission.

In a statement on its website, it said it expects to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year.

It added that the mission is likely to the be the first of many as other flight teams have also expressed a strong interest.

‘Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration,’ it added.

SpaceX also took the opportunity to thank NASA, without whom it said the trip would not be possible.

The mission will take place in a crewed Dragon spacecraft, for which most of the funding had been provided by NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

It said the launch would also make use of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with internal SpaceX funding.

Later this year, the company will launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station without a crew.

A crewed mission is then expected to take place in the second quarter of 2018.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/spacex-to-send-two-people-on-manned-mission-around-the-moon-next-year-6477546/

Disney has just aired its first ever same-sex cartoon kisses

In a recent episode of Disney XD show Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil, a crowd scene at a concert showed two pairs of women kissing, and one pair of men doing the same.

It’s a significant step forward for LGBT visibility, particularly considering the audience for this show is children.

On top of that, it seems Disney is slowly moving away from its rigidly conservative depictions of love and sex, so those campaigns for a new gay Star Wars romance may just come true. Who knows?

Disney, which has never created an openly gay character for any of its films, has tried to feature minor gay characters in its TV shows before.

Star, the protagonist of the show, posing beneath a rainbow (Picture: Disney XD)

The company faced a furious backlash in 2014 when lesbian parents featured in their live-action sitcom Good Luck Charlie.

Conservative group One Million Moms complained about this depiction and the show ended shortly after.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/disney-has-just-aired-not-one-not-two-but-three-same-sex-cartoon-kisses-all-at-once-6478640/#mv-b

Immensely cute quokka doesn’t look camera shy

The rare Australian animal was caught in an hilarious set of posts on the app cuddling with someone in the middle of a road.

Quokkas are the size of cats and from the same family as kangaroos and wallabies but their population numbers are considered vulnerable.

Aussie Campbell Jones, 21, shot the adorable animal on his GoPro in Rottnest Island, Western Australia, this weekend.

Mistaken as rats by early settlers, the name of the island comes from Dutch for ‘Rats Nest’.

Being rare animals, officials in the area have been chasing up on a fugitive quokka asking for help locating it.

The trend of taking pictures with the cute animal is not new but with 20,000 Instagram likes this could be the best.

‘As I walked back to my bike, the quokka chased after me,’ Jones told Perth Now.

‘I put down the GoPro and it jumped at me as if to say come “come back”.’

Regarded as the ‘happiest’ animals in the world the happy animals have little fear of humans and the quokka selfie trend is a long running trend Down Under.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/rare-and-immensely-cute-quokka-doesnt-look-camera-shy-in-slightest-6477129/

Someone’s made a Trump troll doll with a tiny penis

Whether he’s digging out Meryl Streep or Mexicans, his Twitter game is laughably offensive.

So it’s fitting that he’s now been turned into an actual troll doll.

Former sculptor Chuck Williams has designed a tiny version of The Donald, complete with tiny d**k, and he announced his design for his vinyl creation on Kickstarter last week.

Trump Troll is about 5” tall, completely naked and has tiny fingers, with which he clutches onto a smartphone.

And Chuck now wants to manufacture more of them.

‘This figure is near and dear to me and thankfully it seems to have brought a smile to all sides of the political spectrum,’ he writes on his Kickstarter page.

‘The response has taken me a little by surprise! I am very grateful to have made so many people happy with this sculpture.’

So Chuck set about raising money to cover the costs of the production moulds and castings as well as shipping.

His original goal was £38,000 but as you can imagine, people saw these dolls and they WANTED these dolls.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/someones-made-a-trump-troll-doll-with-a-tiny-penis-and-you-can-help-them-make-more-6478267/

Donald Trump: The reason of Oscars fiasco

The President tried to claim that the reason La La Land was initially announced as Best Picture (when Moonlight was the real winner) was because everybody was too focused on… Donald Trump.

Referring to host Jimmy Kimmel’s series of jokes at his expense, Trump said: ‘I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end.

‘It didn’t feel like a very glamorous evening. I’ve been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad.’

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is pointing the finger of blame at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), who later took responsibility for mixing up the winners’ envelopes.

The accountancy firm is in charge of making sure the winners are kept secret right up until they’re announced – and this is done by keeping all of the cards, as well as backup cards, in identical briefcases.

When the evening’s final presenter Warren Beatty was making his way on stage, he was accidentally handed a backup envelope for Best Actress – which was won by Emma Stone for La La Land.

Given that Trump is Trump, though, he wasn’t too impressed by Kimmel’s humour.

During his opening monologue, Kimmel joked: ‘I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when they thought the Oscars were racist?’

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/donald-trump-says-oscars-fiasco-happened-because-everyone-was-thinking-about-him-6477889/

Mother left twins for only 6 minutes, drown in washing machine

The boys, who were found with their heads down in the tumbler, are believe to have drowned in what preliminary investigations suggest was an accident, the Times of India reports.

The children, who have been named as Laksh and Neeshu, were discovered at their home in New Delhi, by their mother who left for no more than six minutes while she went to buy washing powder from a nearby grocery store.

She claimed to have filled the washing machine with water and piled up clothes next to it before she left.

According to reports, when she discovered her children missing, Rakhi alerted her husband,  Ravinder, who came home to help her search for the children, discovering them lying head down in the water.

The children were taken to Jaipur Holden Hospital in Rohini where they were declared dead due to drowning.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/twins-3-drown-in-washing-machine-after-mother-left-them-for-six-minutes-6477336/

Trained Puppies strapped with suicide bomb vest

But instead, rebels can be seen discussing the dog, saying they managed to defuse the weapon.

One of them holds it by the head and strokes its ears as another gestures to the bottles and claims it was intended to kill them.

Clearly frightened, the dog stands motionless as the fighters speak to the camera.

The PMU fighters, from a militia backed by the Iraqi government, say they successfully deactivated the bomb and that the dog will be sent to Baghdad Zoo ‘for a nice break from the war zone and well away from Isis fighters trying to blow animals up for their sick war.

‘What was this animal’s crime? Even animals, ISIS booby traps them and send them out against us.’

As they are pushed back by forces including the Iraqi army, Kurds, Shia militias, America, the UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Syria (not all working together), Isis fighters have turned to new methods to retain the territory they control.

The rebels can be seen stroking it

The group is also using drones like those sold in shops, to drop bombs and grenades on forces trying to take back the Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as on civilians.

Some claimed the video cannot be trusted as it was released by rebel forces, but the sight of a dog caught up in the fighting and being used as a tool of war is a shocking sight in any case.

Isis fighters have previously posed with kittens in an attempt to soften their image and attract more foreign recruits.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/puppy-strapped-with-suicide-bomb-and-sent-to-frontline-6475318/

20 years since the Crazy Frog noise the planet was created

It was recorded by student Daniel Malmedahl in 1997 who was trying to make the sound of an internal combustion engine.

He uploaded it to his website, it was discovered by a Swedish TV channel and he was asked to perform it on air.

But it wasn’t for another six years that it really came to the front of people’s minds.

In 2003 the noise was used by another Swedish student, Erik Wernquist, who animated it using a little blue frog.

He called it The Annoying Thing and put it online.

Once the potential monetary value of the video and its now unmistakable sound became apparent, the name was changed to Crazy Frog and it was marketed throughout 2004.

It turned into two video games and was merchandised to death, including as the world’s most irritating ring tone.

Crazy Frog was later remixed by Axel F and became a huge hit becoming one of the most successful singles of 2005 staying at the top of the UK charts for four weeks.

It also reached number one in Sweden, Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/it-is-20-years-since-the-most-irritating-noise-on-the-planet-was-created-6475627/

Bikini model punches presenter he grabbed her bum

Rayssa Teixeiro Melo was hired to help demonstrate the correct way to apply suncream, and repeatedly said she wasn’t comfortable with him touching her below the waist.

She signalled several times that the presenter should only touch her stomach, arms and the tops of her legs.

At one point she grabbed hold of his wrist and told him: ‘No, that’s my bottom,’ adding sarcastically, ‘Do you know this part, the bum?’ as the show’s two other presenters looked on uncomfortably.

He did as requested, but then his hands strayed towards her bottom again.

At this point Rayssa hit him in the face and walked off air from the Brazilian TV show on Wednesday.

The clip has been watched thousands of times – and many people have praised her for her actions.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/26/bikini-model-punches-presenter-and-storms-off-set-after-he-grabbed-her-bum-6474054/

Brazilian gave up career as lawyer to be a prostitute

Claudia de Marchi, 34, says she not only earns more money in her new profession but has a higher job satisfaction.

The former attorney quit her job as an expert in constitutional law last year, instead moving to capital Brasilia, where she charges men £150 an hour for sexual services.

She says one of the major reasons behind her career swap, was the ‘masculine selfishness’ of her previous line of work.

Instead, she explains making money from her body is a form of liberation, and she has started a blog to help other women ‘demand the best for themselves, both in and out of bed’.

‘I believe that feminism is a liberation, not an obligation. It is being able to do, exclusively, what you desire. That’s what I did, I made a decision thinking in my pleasure and in my sustenance,’ she told the Mail Online.

‘In a extremely rational way, there is no contradiction between you offering sexual pleasure to a man, and being a feminist.

‘I want woman to unite and truly value themselves, instead of attacking each other, because when women spend their time fighting with each other, that is also a form of chauvinism.’

But the 34-year-old, who charges £650 a night, does not refer to herself as a prostitute, explaining she will not do ‘everything for money’.

She says she only has sex with educated men and turns down clients with bad grammar or who don’t agree with her political views. She also only accepts clients for a second time, if they pleased her previously.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/26/woman-gave-up-career-as-lawyer-to-become-a-prostitute-6474521/

Viola Davis first black actor for an Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards

The Fences actress has yet another statue to add to her gleaming collection after winning the Oscar for her exceptional performance as Rose Lee Maxson, alongside Denzel Washington.

This Academy Award makes the stellar performer just a Grammy away from EGOT status. (That’s an acronym for anyone with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony).

In yet another moving speech, the 51-year-old actress proved that she deserves every award going for Best Acceptance Speech too. Every. Damn. Time.

Paying tribute to the late August Wilson, who wrote the Fences play, she said: ‘Here’s to August Wilson who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people.’

Getting visibly emotional, she also thanked Fences director and actor Denzel, who missed out on the Best Actor gong to Casey Affleck. She said: ‘Oh captain, my captain Denzel Washington.’

Viola and Denzel previously starred in the Broadway version of the Fences play and both won the 2010 Tony award for leading actor and leading actress for their performances.

The mum-of-one also won an Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her exceptional performance as Annalise Keating in hit ABC TV series How To Get Away With Murder.

The leading actress took to her social media to thank all her fans with a sweet picture of her family. Captioning the pic, she said: ‘My family. Thank you everyone for your love and support!’

My family. Thank you everyone for your love and support!pic.twitter.com/5thsM7y3HT

— Viola Davis (@violadavis) February 27, 2017

Whoopi Goldberg and Viola are now the only two black actors with these three awards, and Whoopi is currently the only black actor to hold the EGOT status.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/viola-davis-becomes-the-first-black-actor-to-win-an-oscar-emmy-and-tony-for-an-acting-role-6476011/#mv-a

Viola Davis’ surprising Oscars speech

The 51-year-old actress, whose other big 2016 film Suicide Squad has also bagged a gong, did not go for a political message, opting instead for an impassioned reflection on the art of acting.

This is somewhat surprising as Davis also won the corresponding Bafta earlier this month, and mentioned the US Jim Crow laws during her speech there.

Her moving speech began: ‘Thank you to the Academy. There’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered, and that’s the graveyard. People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?

‘And I say exhume those bodies, exhume those stories, the stories of people who dreamed big who never saw those dreamed to tuition, who fell in love and lost.

‘I became an artist and thank god I did only because it’s the only profession celebrates what it means to live a life.’

She then paid tribute to August Wilson who wrote the play of Fences, which she also starred in before the movie happened.

‘Here’s to August Wilson who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people,’ she said, before extending her thanks to her parents, husband and daughter.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/27/viola-davis-surprising-oscars-speech-about-exhuming-the-dead-was-intense-af-6475019/#mv-b