Honesty is the best policy in New York's Times Square.
Beef with vegetarians' website
A dating website for vegetarians has been reprimanded by watchdogs for being misleading - after bolstering member numbers with meat-eaters. Veggiedates.co.uk invited users "to meet single vegetarian men and women looking for love". But, despite its name, the majority of the singles were omnivores. Vegetarians who signed up did not realise the site was linked with others which shared a database. Veggiedates acknowledged that the site shared a common database and that non-vegetarians represented the majority of members. But it argued that it never said it was "only" for vegetarians. A member could indicate they were vegetarian by ticking a box in their profile. Members could then browse other members by looking at their profiles to see if they were vegetarian. But the argument was dismissed by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority: "It was clearly marketed at vegetarians and vegans by references to vegetarians throughout, such as 'Find your veggie dates' and 'Meet single vegetarian men and women'. Because claims on the home page gave the impression that the website was for vegetarians, they were misleading." (Source: Dailymail.co.uk)
Heidi closes eyes forever
Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum who became an internet sensation, has died. The animal, aged 3 , had been treated for health problems for weeks and Leipzig Zoo officials decided to put her down "to spare her further suffering". Heidi's Facebook page is "liked" by 332,963 people, compared to around 107,139 for Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. The opossum is the latest in a long line of animal stars to capture German hearts. A polar bear called Knut in Berlin became a global media star in 2007, before plunging the country into shock with his sudden death this year. Then, during the last soccer World Cup in South Africa, an octopus named Paul at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen shot to global stardom by correctly "predicting" the results of eight out of eight matches.
