London: A teenaged girl has been reunited with her parents and 15 brothers and sisters, thanks to popular social networking website Facebook.
Sophie Featherstone was devastated after the demise of her beloved grandmother Pat, who raised her.
"I occasionally asked about my parents and Nan would tell me what happened with my mum, but she didn't know who my dad was," the Mirror quoted Sophie as saying.
The 19-year-old went into depression after losing her granny to cancer, and destiny struck when she checked her Facebook account while visiting a friend in Liverpool.
She had received a message from unknown woman, called Sarah Prescott, which said: "Your dad would love to get in touch with you."
Sophie began chatting with Sarah, who revealed her partner, Paul, always suspected that the teen was his daughter and when the two met there were no grounds for doubt.
She also met her half-brother, Jessee, 19 months, and Sarah's children Kerry-Ann, 16, and Scott, 12, from a previous relationship.
Sophie also found that she had five half-brothers and half-sisters from Paul's previous relationships.
Sophie's mum Debbie Featherstone, mum of Jamie, 16, Katie, 15, Ffion, 12, Jack, 10, Bailey, four, Madison, two and Declan, one, and eight months pregnant with her ninth child, soon heard the news about the reunion and her daughter initiated a contact using Facebook again.
Sophie said: "I was at my dad's and saw the message from Katie saying 'Mum would love to see you'.I was so happy I almost cried. I thought my mum and I would never meet again because too much time had passed to ever be a family again."
Sophie added: "It was like history repeating itself, we arranged a meeting and I moved in with her and her family for a couple of weeks. It has been incredibly easy to bond with everyone here, I already feel part of the family." (ANI)
Dog Thinks He is a Cat
London: In a bizarre case of identity crisis, a dog who shared his home with 40 cats, and has a feline for his best friend, has been offered for adoption.
Chippy was tagged as an "honorary" feline by the Cats Protection League, after he failed to learn how to be a dog.
The charity in Stroud, Gloucestershire, revealed that the Jack Russell, estimated to be between 13 and 15 years old, even used the litter tray and rarely barked after spending his life around cats.
"He came to us as part of a rescue from a multi-cat household in Cirencester," the Telegraph quoted Liz Dart, who is fostering Chippy in Nailsworth, as saying.
"We couldn't leave Chippy behind because he had lived with cats all his life. I suppose, having always lived among them he just doesn't know any different. He never learned how to be a dog.
"He goes to bed with Annie, one of the other cats, as they are very close and ideally we would home them together. She's very protective of him.
"He didn't really bark and still uses a litter tray now. He has chewed up a toy mouse - whether he was responding to cat nip on it, I don't know. He eats dog food now - goodness knows what he ate before," Liz added.
Referring to Chippy, the Stroud Cats Protection League website, read: "During the last 19 years I have lost count of the number of cats that I have shared my home with. I use a litter tray but have never got the hang of purring! When my owner and 40 felines were evicted the nice people at CP just couldn't leave me behind."
Man Marries 14 times in 30 months
Mumbai (India): An employee of Air India has been arrested in Mumbai after it emerged he had 14 wives.
Tushar Waghmare, alias Tushar Bapat, 40, used an internet marriage site to tie the knot repeatedly during the last two and a half years.
His online profile read: Divorced in 2006, looking out for working Brahmin women. Divorcees or widows no bar.
MSN India reports that Waghare used to spend at least three consecutive days with each of his wives. He would then move out, on the pretext of travelling abroad for work purposes.
Waghare was finally caught when two of his wives ran into another in the same flat.
According to the Sun, five of his other halves have filed official complaints of bigamy to Mumbai police, while the other nine have chosen to remain anonymous due to their embarrassment.
R M Vhatkar, deputy police commissioner in Mumbai, said: "None of the women or their parents ever thought of doing a background check on him as they were impressed by his job title."
Waghare apparently told police that the pressure of having to provide for each of his wives was leaving him penniless.
He has since been sacked by his employers.
Sophie Featherstone was devastated after the demise of her beloved grandmother Pat, who raised her.
"I occasionally asked about my parents and Nan would tell me what happened with my mum, but she didn't know who my dad was," the Mirror quoted Sophie as saying.
The 19-year-old went into depression after losing her granny to cancer, and destiny struck when she checked her Facebook account while visiting a friend in Liverpool.
She had received a message from unknown woman, called Sarah Prescott, which said: "Your dad would love to get in touch with you."
Sophie began chatting with Sarah, who revealed her partner, Paul, always suspected that the teen was his daughter and when the two met there were no grounds for doubt.
She also met her half-brother, Jessee, 19 months, and Sarah's children Kerry-Ann, 16, and Scott, 12, from a previous relationship.
Sophie also found that she had five half-brothers and half-sisters from Paul's previous relationships.
Sophie's mum Debbie Featherstone, mum of Jamie, 16, Katie, 15, Ffion, 12, Jack, 10, Bailey, four, Madison, two and Declan, one, and eight months pregnant with her ninth child, soon heard the news about the reunion and her daughter initiated a contact using Facebook again.
Sophie said: "I was at my dad's and saw the message from Katie saying 'Mum would love to see you'.I was so happy I almost cried. I thought my mum and I would never meet again because too much time had passed to ever be a family again."
Sophie added: "It was like history repeating itself, we arranged a meeting and I moved in with her and her family for a couple of weeks. It has been incredibly easy to bond with everyone here, I already feel part of the family." (ANI)
Dog Thinks He is a Cat
London: In a bizarre case of identity crisis, a dog who shared his home with 40 cats, and has a feline for his best friend, has been offered for adoption.
Chippy was tagged as an "honorary" feline by the Cats Protection League, after he failed to learn how to be a dog.
The charity in Stroud, Gloucestershire, revealed that the Jack Russell, estimated to be between 13 and 15 years old, even used the litter tray and rarely barked after spending his life around cats.
"He came to us as part of a rescue from a multi-cat household in Cirencester," the Telegraph quoted Liz Dart, who is fostering Chippy in Nailsworth, as saying.
"We couldn't leave Chippy behind because he had lived with cats all his life. I suppose, having always lived among them he just doesn't know any different. He never learned how to be a dog.
"He goes to bed with Annie, one of the other cats, as they are very close and ideally we would home them together. She's very protective of him.
"He didn't really bark and still uses a litter tray now. He has chewed up a toy mouse - whether he was responding to cat nip on it, I don't know. He eats dog food now - goodness knows what he ate before," Liz added.
Referring to Chippy, the Stroud Cats Protection League website, read: "During the last 19 years I have lost count of the number of cats that I have shared my home with. I use a litter tray but have never got the hang of purring! When my owner and 40 felines were evicted the nice people at CP just couldn't leave me behind."
Man Marries 14 times in 30 months
Mumbai (India): An employee of Air India has been arrested in Mumbai after it emerged he had 14 wives.
Tushar Waghmare, alias Tushar Bapat, 40, used an internet marriage site to tie the knot repeatedly during the last two and a half years.
His online profile read: Divorced in 2006, looking out for working Brahmin women. Divorcees or widows no bar.
MSN India reports that Waghare used to spend at least three consecutive days with each of his wives. He would then move out, on the pretext of travelling abroad for work purposes.
Waghare was finally caught when two of his wives ran into another in the same flat.
According to the Sun, five of his other halves have filed official complaints of bigamy to Mumbai police, while the other nine have chosen to remain anonymous due to their embarrassment.
R M Vhatkar, deputy police commissioner in Mumbai, said: "None of the women or their parents ever thought of doing a background check on him as they were impressed by his job title."
Waghare apparently told police that the pressure of having to provide for each of his wives was leaving him penniless.
He has since been sacked by his employers.
