Orangutan best friends with dog

David Gergen has been a White House adviser to four presidents of both parties and is a senior political analyst at CNN. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-founded its Center for Public Leadership. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author. View more opinion at CNN. (CNN) Some years ago, on PBS News Hour, I interviewed the historian David Herbert Donald about his new biography of Abraham Lincoln. "What is the most important asset a president needs?" I asked. Without hesitation, he replied: "A friend." David Gergen He was right. The presidency, as he pointed out, can be a lonely place where its occupant isn't quite sure whom he (or someday she) can trust to give him unvarnished truth. His advisers may be afraid to level with him, especially when delivering bad news, or they may have unspoken agendas of their own. That's precisely why a president needs a … [Read more...] about Vernon Jordan — Clinton’s best friend and my personal mentor

LOS ANGELES: An American teenager has been charged with conspiring to murder her "best friend" after a man she met online offered her US$9 million to commit the crime. According to investigators, Denali Brehmer, an 18-year-old from Alaska, was recruited to kill her friend by a man a few years her elder, 21-year-old Darin Schilmiller of Indiana. The pair had previously hooked up online, with Schilmiller assuming a fake identity and posing as a millionaire named "Tyler". Court documents say that during the course of their online relationship, they discussed a plan to rape and murder someone in Alaska. Schilmiller promised Brehmer US$9 million or more to send him videos or photographs of the macabre attack. Brehmer then proceeded to recruit four friends and the group settled on Cynthia Hoffman - described as one of Brehmer's best friends - as their victim. On Jun 2, authorities say 19-year-old Hoffman was lured to a hiking trail northeast of Anchorage where she was bound … [Read more...] about Promised US$9 million online, US teen killed ‘best friend’: Police

You might know Jacob Batalon as the loveably geeky Ned, also known as Peter Parker’s BFF and sidekick, in Spider-Man movies. But in real life, he’s a spiffy dresser with his own personal sense of style. Yes, the 22-year-old Filipino-Hawaiian is very much interested in fashion – and in accessories, in particular. When we caught up with him in Singapore, he was wearing gold chains, aviator-style glasses and a bracelet that had been given to him while he was in Seoul, appearing as a guest on the variety show The Return Of Superman. “I feel like I’m so far off from Ned,” he mused, over a tall glass of iced lychee tea (“I love lychee!” he exclaimed). “I’m a geek, but I don’t let my mum dress me up, is what I’m trying to say! I’m like into Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and anime and cartoons and stuff – I just don’t dress like a geek, I guess.  I’m trying to wear different stuff all the time. Especially because whenever I’m doing stuff with (co-stars) Zendaya or Tom (Holland), I just … [Read more...] about What was Spider-Man’s best friend doing far from home in Singapore?

WASHINGTON: Ever wondered how dogs learned to use their "puppy eyes" to bend us to their will? It turns out our pet pooches have evolved human-like eyebrow muscles, which let them make the sad faces that melt our hearts, according to a new study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It involved dissecting the cadavers of domestic dogs and comparing them to those of wild wolves, our best friends' ancestors, whom they branched off from around 33,000 years ago (don't worry, no animals were killed for the research). A separate part of the study saw scientists videotaping two-minute interactions between dogs and a human stranger, then repeating the experiment with wolves, to closely track how much they used a specific muscle around the eye that produced an inner eyebrow raise. The researchers found two muscles around the eye were routinely present and well formed in the domestic dogs, but not the wolves, and only dogs produced … [Read more...] about Masters of manipulation: The evolution of ‘puppy dog eyes’

Some best friend this pooch is. An Alabama man was caught by police after fleeing his home during a drug search on Wednesday. The suspect, Edward Melvin Henderson, was found by police thanks to a tip from his own dog Bo, who led authorities right to him after some encouragement. See also: 25 Dogs That Are Totally Stoned Out of Their Minds Right Now Henderson escaped into a wooded area behind his house, as they searched his home, according to the Prattville Police Department. Bo, a pit bull and husky mix, followed Henderson after police gave the dog-friendly order to "go get him." Man's best friend? Bo, a dog in Alabama, got his owner busted for alleged drug offenses #news3 http://t.co/gzDzfGpSzl pic.twitter.com/fLNnH5xxNh — WISCTV News 3 (@WISCTV_News3) November 1, 2014 Bo's exposed wagging tail later revealed Henderson's hiding spot: a patch of tall grass. "Henderson was taken into custody without further incident, thanks to his dog Bo," police said in a … [Read more...] about Alabama dog helps police bust owner on drug charges