How to get over a break-up

Melbourne, June 11 (ANI): With hotels offering packages that can help one beat the blues of a break-up, a psychologist has offered some tips on how one can get over the pain without spending a penny.

John Aiken, psychologist and author of Accidentally Single, has given ten tips on how one can get over a break-up, reports News.com.au.

The first tip is to avoid all contact with one’s ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.

The second is to begin a healthy lifestyle, by keeping fit, dieting and getting a good sleep.

The third step is to understand what went wrong in the relationship, and to analyse problems of both sides.

The fourth would be to identify what one would like in their next partner.

The fifth is to be aware of any problem patterns, such as communication, style, intimacy, or work hours, one had in the relationship and to change them.

The sixth point is to move on positively and not keep bring up the past.

The seventh tip is to avoid contact with social networks and places that one used to hang out with one’s partner.

The eighth suggestion is to spend more time with friends and family.

The ninth is to pursue independent interests previously put on hold like yoga, travel, and cooking.

And tenth, one needs to get some counselling if break-up problems/issues carry on for more than three months. (ANI)

Former Miss Universe hopeful taking up career in boxing

Melbourne, June 4 (ANI): Former Miss Universe hopeful and Water Ski world champion Lauryn Eagle has revealed that she would like to take up professional boxing.

Eagle, 22, a beauty pageant regular, also revealed that her mother has no idea about her plans, and that if she did, she would definitely be disowned.

“She is going to be in shock. She doesn’t know a thing,” News.com.au quoted the model/athlete as telling the Daily Telegraph during a break in training at her gym in Sydney’s Sutherland shire.

“I would like to have a fight and I am sussing it out now.

“I know some might be critical because I am a girl but I can’t really let what other people think get to me. It’s something I want to do. I just love it,” she said.

Eagle hasn’t given up on another crack at Miss Universe either, a competition she withdrew from this year after a run-in with the law.

“The Miss Universe thing was just bad timing. But it is something I can do later on,” she said.

“Right now I am focused on my boxing training and my skiing,” she stated.

Her trainer Losh Matthews said: “You bet.”

“She is a young girl who has been through a lot but I have never seen anyone more committed or dedicated in my life,” he added. (ANI)

Toad-killing safaris could boost tourism Down Under, says mayor

Melbourne, June 4 (ANI): Darwin’s lord mayor has stated that he believes the idea of helping terminate cane toads could lure tourists to the Northern Territory.

Graeme Sawyer said there would be plenty of whack-happy visitors keen to take part in the game, even though past proposals by tour operators to include toad busts in their overnight camps had been knocked back.

“It’s crazy … we’ve had tour operators who want to do it and been denied by park rangers,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

Frogwatch figures estimate there are about 92 million cane toads infesting the NT, which it says are having a huge impact in their competition for food with native animals.

Sawyer said the Territory could replicate the successes of the Great Toad Muster, held near the WA/NT border, which attracts volunteering tourists.

“It’s a pretty amazing experience out there … seeing these places at night, crocs in the water, there’s a sense of adventure and adds to people’s sense of achievement,” he said.

Sawyer said allowing organised tourist toad busts in places like Kakadu could be “very beneficial”.

“I think it could make a massive difference to places like Gunlom (Falls),” he revealed.

“What I hear is there are stacks and stacks and stacks of toads that come for refuge at the water,” he added. (ANI)

Heidi Klum, Seal to become relationship counsellors

Melbourne, June 4 (ANI): Supermodel Heidi Klum and her singer husband Seal are set to become relationship counsellors.

Klum, 37, and Seal, 47, who have been married for five years and raise four children together, have signed up for a new reality TV show and will travel around the US giving advice to couples.

“Heidi and Seal have one of the strongest relationships in showbiz so it only seems right they can use their experiences to help others,” News.com.au quoted a source as saying.

The show is tentatively titled ‘Love’s Divine’ and is a spin-off of Klum’s ‘Project Runway’.

Last month, Klum and Seal marked their fifth anniversary by renewing their vows with an intimate sunset ceremony on a beach in Costa Careyes, Mexico. (ANI)

Bret Michaels was watching porn during haemorrhage

Melbourne, May 21 (ANI): Poison frontman Bret Michaels has revealed that he was channel surfing between ‘Busty Cops 3’ and sports when he suffered a brain haemorrhage in April.

Michaels, 47, suffered what doctors call a warning stroke and has been diagnosed with patent forum ovale, or hole in the heart.

“I was going back and forth from SportsCenter to Busty Cops 3,” News.com.au quoted him as telling Rolling Stone magazine.

He had to spend two weeks recovering in an Arizona hospital after his brush with death. (ANI)

Nicole Kidman concentrating on family life

Melbourne, May 21 (ANI): Actress Nicole Kidman has revealed that she in now concentrating more on family than on her career.

Kidman, 42, who appeared at a charity event in Hong Kong, said that she and her husband country singer Keith Urban try to never spend more than three days apart in an effort to maintain a loving marriage.

“I think I’ve reached a point in my life where I’ve slowed down a lot, so it’s not difficult,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.

“My priority is very much keeping my family together and not being away from them,” she added.

Kidman also has two teenage children, Isabella and Connor, whom she and ex-husband Tom Cruise adopted together. (ANI)

Pak Taliban `plot” places US on alert

New York, May 21 (ANI): New information gathered this week indicates that the Pakistani Taliban is actively planning to strike the US.

According to a news.com.au report, Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta and Obama”s National Security Advisor James Jones reportedly knew of the threat before they visited Pakistan this week.

The pair told Islamabad of the new threat, which did not specify cities that may be targeted. (ANI)

Jennifer Aniston wanted to be ‘retouched’ in new movie ‘The Switch’

Melbourne, May 21 (ANI): Jennifer Aniston was reportedly so concerned about looking her age in the new movie ”The Switch” she asked for parts of her body to be ‘retouched’.

The 41-year-old actress asked for changes in her looks during the editing process of the Josh Gordon-directed comedy.

“She thought she looked rough – especially in the daytime scenes,” News.com.au quoted a source as telling UsMagazine.com.

“She wanted them retouched further, but the studio had already spent its post-production budget. The studio discussed making her foot the bill for any enhancements,” the source added,

A rep for Aniston said: “All films go through print adjustments, and this is no different from the rest.” (ANI)

eBay removes Anna Nicole Smith’s used lingerie from auction

Melbourne, May 20 (ANI): The sale of late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith’ used lingerie has been removed by the online auction site eBay.

According to a report on TMZ, Jackie Hatten the sister of Smith””s ex-boyfriend Mark Hatten, put up several lingerie items, including “worn” garters, belts and panties on sale.

But eBay later pulled them back under hygiene rules.

“eBay policy strictly prohibits listing used underwear, Used clothing may be listed on eBay as long as it has been cleaned and the listing clearly states that the clothing is used,” News.com.au quoted a spokesperson as saying.

Smith died in 2007 aged 39 following an accidental prescription drug overdose in Florida. (ANI)

Oz Sex Party livid over move to declare pornography to Customs

Melbourne, May 20 (ANI): A new question on immigration forms in Australia regarding declaration of pornography to Customs has come under the scanner as being an invasion of privacy.

The Australian Sex Party, a political party, has questioned whether it is feasible for Customs to go through personal belongings, and that if they did so, it would be a major attack on privacy.

“Is it fair that Customs officers rummage through luggage and pull out a legal men’s magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law,” News.com.au quoted the party’s president Fiona Patten as saying.

The issue has echoes of the 1956 detention of famed British conductor and composer Sir Eugene Goossens who had his bag searched upon return from Europe.

He was carrying material that was considered, at the time, pornographic and his reputation was subsequently ruined forcing him to flee the country.

“The term pornography is not referred to at all in the federal Classification Act which Customs rely on to classify their material,” Patten added.

Comment on the matter was being sought from Customs. (ANI)

Dads enjoy less with kids than mums

Melbourne, May 20 (ANI): Dads not only spend less time with their kids, they don’t even enjoy that time as much as mums do, revealed new research.

Twice as many fathers say they “sometimes or less often” enjoy spending time with their children as do mothers, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

AIFS research fellow and the author of ‘The Best Start: Supporting Happy, Healthy Childhoods’, Jennifer Baxter said that when fathers were asked whether they enjoyed spending time with their children, 28 per cent said they “always or almost always” did, compared with 40 per cent of mothers.

In addition, 21 per cent of dads said they “sometimes or less often” enjoyed time spent with their kids, compared with 11 per cent for mums.

“Dads often have that added pressure of long work hours,” News.com.au quoted her as telling The Australian.

“They”re there in the mornings when time is so rushed and at dinner when there”s so much going on, so that stress of combining work with the hard parts of the family day may be spilling over into their level of enjoyment,” added Baxter.

Baxter said that part of the answer to why dads are less satisfied could be that they are more honest about it than mothers.

“There”s a very strong ethos that mothers must love and care and nurture their children. . . while fathers might be more inclined to admit when things aren”t going well,” she said. (ANI)

Gen Y are shopaholics and Gen X looks for quality stuff: Oz study

Melbourne, May 20 (ANI): Generation Y are shopaholics and the rather older Generation X have a taste for quality goods, according to new research on Australian shoppers.

The analysis, conducted by research consultancy Directional Insights, split consumers into seven categories shopaholics, shopaphobes, shopping tolerators, quality seekers, price sensitive, traditionalists and online geeks, reported Australian commuter newspaper mX.

And it was found that nearly one third of shopaholics were Generation Y, those born between 1982 and 2000.

They were classified as people who admitted being addicted to buying and often bought on impulse, reports News.com.au.

While Gen Yers like to shop often, they are also bargain hunters, with one in four classified as price sensitive.

A third of Generation X consumers – those born between 1961 and 1981 – valued quality over price, while 20 percent fell into the bargain-hunter category.

Generation X are traditional shoppers with 39 percent less likely to have credit and store cards and less likely to shop online.

The report, based on interviews with more than 20,000 shoppers, found that women spent 66 minutes buying goods each visit, while men took 51 minutes.

Women made up 78 percent of shopaholics, while shopaphobes (61 percent) and tolerators were mostly men (65 percent).

DI managing director Helen Bakewell said Generation Y were the most passionate shoppers, but didn”t have the money to spend.

Younger shoppers were also attracted to big regional shopping centres, said Bakewell.

Mugabe”s ”Noah”s Ark” gift to North Korea

London, May 19 (ANI): Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has given a “Noah”s Ark” gift to his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-Il.

In a bizarre experiment involving pairs of African animals, including elephants, zebras, giraffes and antelopes, Mugabe has secretly flown them to North Korea.

He described the gift of animals as “football payback,” news.com.au and The Times reported.

Last month, it was announced the North Korean soccer team would hold a training camp in Zimbabwe ahead of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force chairman Johny Rodrigues told the BBC that the animals were being secretly caught in pairs over the past two months in the Hwange National Park, western Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe”s director general for national parks Vitalis Chadenga last week confirmed a plan to send animals to North Korea, but said Mr Mugabe was not behind it.
“I can confirm that we received an application from the Democratic Republic of North Korea and we are still processing the application” he told The Standard, a Zimbabwean newspaper.

As a first gesture, a giraffe has been the first animal to be sent to North Korea. (ANI)

Bob Geldof slams Australia’s treatment of Aborigines

Melbourne, May 19 (ANI): Irish singer Sir Bob Geldof has slammed Australia for its treatment of Aborigines, saying that it was “economically stupid” and “absurd”.

Geldof, 58, was speaking at a breakfast for West Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest’s nation-touring GenerationOne movement, which aims to halt indigenous disparity.

He said Australia has “exiled” indigenous Australians from the nation.

“They were forced to be exiled from themselves and that must stop,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

“You need to pull them back into themselves because you’ve acknowledged them as being.

“The spiritual core of yourselves will only be filled when this is done,” he stated.

He urged the “rich bastards” in attendance at the breakfast to contribute wholeheartedly to Forrest’s fight to end indigenous disparity, and likened indigenous affairs in Australia to situations he’d witnessed in third-world Africa.

“I said on the radio back in 1984 that to die of want in a world of surplus is not only intellectually absurd, it is morally repulsive. Well let’s add economically illiterate to that,” he said.

“You’ve removed from your society of ‘having a go’ 500 thousand of your own. That is absurd. It’s economically stupid.

“Just like those 44 million African children (given access to education from the Live Aid campaign) will be a massive driving force in the world economy, so your own Aboriginal people require to be allowed in. The access point is education,” he added. (ANI)

Brisbane man ‘fired for being too fat’

Melbourne, May 19 (ANI): A Brisbane man has claimed that he was sacked from his factory job for being morbidly obese and has lashed back at his former employers.

According to News.com.au, Lance Pedersen, 57, was fired from his job at Golden Circle”s Northgate factory on Monday after he was deemed unfit to perform duties which he says were not part of his initial job description, The Courier-Mail reports.

“It pretty well shattered me; it”s turned my life upside down. My partner and I have got a mortgage . . . it”s hard to survive on just one wage,” News.com.au quoted Pedersen as saying.

Pedersen, a forklift worker, who says he has lost 8kg in recent times, was told he would be moved to work on the beverage line to pack and monitor drinks when workers took their lunch breaks.

But after undergoing the company’s medical test, he has been declared unfit, reasons being obesity and severe osteoarthritis of the knees.

Mr Pedersen, who spent 14 years with the company, has filed for unfair dismissal with Fair Work Australia, claiming his employer gave him no warnings about his health, which had never been a problem before.

“He”s more than capable of doing the job he was originally employed to do, in fact he could do it tonight.

“He”s got a report from his own GP, who says he is well aware of his condition and he is more than capable of doing the job he”s been employed to do,” said Duncan Pegg, The National Union of Workers organiser.

A spokesman for Heinz Australia, which owns Golden Circle, explained that the company had to look after their employees’ health and so couldn’t let Pederson work at the plant anymore.

Pederson on the other hand has argued that if he’s let off the hook on medical grounds, no other company would be ready to employ him in the first place.

“If I went to another place to seek employment I”d have to disclose that Golden Circle put me off on medical grounds. As soon as you say that, the other place will just say: sorry, we don”t need you.” (ANI)

The 10 most viewed YouTube videos

Melbourne, May 19 (ANI): Video sharing website YouTube has released the list of its 10 most viewed videos.

The site marked its fifth birthday by announcing that viewers now watch more than two billion videos a day from the video-sharing site.

“That’s nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major US television networks combined,” News.com.au quoted a YouTube team member as saying in a blog.

As of May 18, 2010, the 10 most viewed videos were:

1. Charlie bit my finger – again (169 million views)

2. Evolution of Dance (139 million views)

3. Miley Cyrus 7 Things music video (112 million views)

4. Laughing baby Hahaha (110 million views)

5. Achmed the dead terrorist (108 million views)

6. Pitbull – I know you want me (108 million views)

7. Lo que tu queiras oir (100 million views)

8. Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA (97 million views)

9. Susan Boyle (89 million views)

John Travolta, wife Kelly Preston expecting new baby

Melbourne, May 19 (ANI): Hollywood actor Johan Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston are expecting a baby.

The couple announced the news on their official websites, reports News.com.au.

Travolta wrote: “It”s impossible to keep a secret… especially one as wonderful as this. We want to be the first to share this great news that we are expecting a new addition to our family. Love, John, Kelly and Ella.”

Travolta and Preston”s 16-year-old son, Jett, died after suffering a seizure while vacationing with the family in the Bahamas in January 2009.

The couple also has a daughter Ella, who is 10. (ANI)

Justin Bieber gets bird tattoo on his hip

Melbourne, May 18 (ANI): Canadian pop/R ‘n’ B singer Justin Bieber has reportedly got a tattoo of a bird in flight inked on his left hip.

According to bestweekever.tv, Bieber, 16, got the coin-sized tattoo done as part of a family tradition, reports News.com.au.

The pop culture website has posted a photo of the star on the artist’s table at a tattoo parlour in Toronto. (ANI)

Lara Bingle’s ex manager may now sign up Oz topless fire-fighting heroine

Melbourne, May 18 (ANI): After being dumped by Aussie model Lara Bingle, celebrity agent Max Markson is set to sign up Northern Territory’s topless fire-fighting heroine Tash Bennett.

The high-profile agent is known for helping reality TV stars cash in on their fifteen minutes of fame.

He was also recently hired – and fired – but Australian cricketer Michael Clarke”s ex-fiancee Lara Bingle.

Bennett, who put the safety of her neighbours ahead of her own modesty last week after she battled a blaze at a neighbours house – topless, said she has not decided whether she would sign up with Markson and was having someone look over the contract.

The 27-year-old fitness instructor said Markson”s offer could be a big opportunity for her.

“I would love to do something else. In Darwin, I was working in the gym as a casual and I did personal training on the side, but it wasn”t long term for me. If there is more opportunity for me, I will sign,” News.com.au quoted her as saying. (ANI)

Kids as young as 3 questioned about kissing, flirting by Oz researcher

Melbourne, May 18 (ANI): A Melbourne university researcher grilled children as young as three about kissing and flirting as part of a project.

Dr Mindy Blaise from Monash University spent five days at the unnamed centre undertaking research into gender, sexuality and homosexuality.

As part of the research, boys and girls as young as three were asked questions such as “Are you a flirt? and “Have you ever kissed a boy?”

Psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said the research was inappropriate and he was surprised it had got past the university”s ethics committee.

Australian Family Association spokeswoman Terri Kelleher said pre-school children should not be questioned about sexuality.

“We”re surprised such research would be carried out drawing the attention of pre-school children to such matters. Children of that age would not be thinking of sexual or gender issues,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.

Dr Blaise trains childcare, kinder and early primary school teachers at Monash University.

She concluded that pre-school children have an understanding of sexuality.

She told the Herald Sun: “These discussions happen when they are outside playing, playing Lego and at the sand table. when it does happen, what are you (teachers) going to do?”

Her experiment has been described in a paper published in the latest Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. (ANI)