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)

Superstitious Collingwood feels good omens are favouring him

London, May 16 (ANI): Superstitious England captain Paul Collingwood believes that he has been blessed in the Caribbean over the past fortnight and is hoping that his good luck holds on during the World Cup Twenty20 final against Australia.

“There have been a couple of good omens for me out here, the other day in the semi-final I walked out on to the pitch for the anthems with the young girl mascot I had to hold hands with,” Collingwood said.

“I said: ‘Hi my darling, what’s your name then?’ and she turned and said: ‘My name’s Lucky.’ So as soon as she said it I had a big smile on my face and thought what a great sign that is.

“I love those sort of things that happen along the way and it put a really good feel factor into my mind as soon as I heard that,” The Telegraph quoted Collingwood, as saying.

“I’m a little bit superstitious about things so I was supposed to get my hair cut out here, and I know it looks atrocious, but once we got on a roll I thought I can’t get it cut until we’ve got home and hopefully that will be with the trophy.

“I don’t want to lose my strength!” Collingwood added. (ANI)

Peaches Geldof denies ”sex romp while on heroin” claims

London, Mar 27 (ANI): Claim of Irish singer Bob Geldof”s daughter Peaches indulging in a heroin fuelled sex romp has emerged.

Biker Ben Mills, 23, who claims he met up with Peaches, 21, while sharing a house in Los Angeles, posted an explicit set of nude snaps of her to back up his lurid boasts on an Internet message board.

Mills, originally from New Jersey, wrote his account on website Reddit.com which asks readers to reveal their most incredible one-night stands.

Using the name thatcoolguyben, he claimed that he and Peaches were both staying at a mutual girl pal”s place while she recorded her debut album and he waited to fly to Chile.

He said he got talking to Peaches when she arrived home at 2.30am on America”s Thanksgiving Day, November 26.

“She sits next to me and we begin talking about tattoos, which both of us have a good amount of. She had a cute English accent and wasn”t bad looking at all,” the Daily Star quoted him as writing.

“The tattoo discussion leads to us deciding we should get each other”s names tattooed on each other.

“At 3am I grab my friend”s car keys and head out. We drive all over Hollywood looking for a tattoo parlour with no luck.

“While driving around we get on the topic of drugs. At this point in my life I was very into all drugs, as was she.

“She told me she had a bit of heroin she brought with her from the UK and asked me if I was game,” he said.

He went on to claim that he and Peaches, 21, bought needles and other ingredients needed to be able to inject the Class A drug.

“At about 5am I was high as a kite and we started to watch a movie. Things get hot and heavy and before I know it we”re naked,” he revealed.

He said they tried to have sex but he had taken too many drugs so decided to pop a pill to help him perform.

“She laughs as we continue to have a naked dance party on her bed,” he said.

“I finally feel the blood rush and the action begins. We did it every way possible and for a young girl she sure knew how to work it,” he added.

He said they continued to take drugs until 8am at which point she told him someone would come to collect them.

He claimed he woke at 1pm dressed in Speedos and was sitting in a sauna at the Scientology Center in Hollywood where he said they had been taken to detox.

“I”m standing in the room groggy and confused as hell,” he recalled.

“This girl ended up being a hardcore Scientologist and a D-List celebrity, and we were doing a process called Purif.

“I showered, got my clothes on, got her, and drove back to my friends, nodding out and puking the whole way,” he stated.

Later on Thanksgiving Day he flew to Chile, where he now lives.

To summarise his boasts, Mills wrote: “Did heroin, f***ed a minor celebrity, woke up in a Scientology Center, ruined Thanksgiving, left the country.”

When challenged by website users to prove his tale, Mills posted five pictures that he claimed showed the pair of them that night.

In them Peaches reclines on a bed, topless in some shots and completely naked in others.

The claim is said to have left Peaches furious, with her 58-year-old dad, said by pals to be “frantic” and “desperately trying to find out the truth”.

Her lawyers furiously denied his claims, insisting she had not touched anything stronger than booze. In a statement, they said the pictures had been taken for private purposes but refused to deny the fling took place.

“The allegations that our client was carrying and injecting heroin are also denied, our client having consumed alcohol with the other individual leading to the ”highs” described and portrayed in the photographs,” their statement read.

And they added Mills” account was “evidently unreliable”, claiming he would not have been allowed inside the Scientology Center.

But Peaches has previously admitted to following the religion. She was only 11 when her mum Paula Yates accidentally overdosed in 2000, at the age of 41. (ANI)

Brit girl finds porn on her repaired mobile

London, Mar 24 (ANI): A British student is said to have been left horrified after the mobile she sent for repair came back full of porn.

Lauren Kennedy, 18, found her Nokia packed with sleazy homemade videos of couples and groups having sex and women pleasuring themselves.

The phone contained 13 pictures of young women in lingerie and 10 videos between five and 10 minutes long featuring a variety of X-rated scenes.

Kennedy, from Coventry, says she was “deeply traumatised” by the images she discovered on the handset after she sent it for repair to Carphone Warehouse because it kept cutting out mid-call.

“I was disgusted. I wouldn’t have rubbish like that on my mobile. I’m a young girl, I don’t want naked pictures on my phone,” the Mirror quoted her as saying.

“I think it’s revolting that somebody has had their filthy paws on my mobile phone. They have recorded ­themselves doing everything.

“You can only see the women and not the person recording it, but you can hear him egging them on,” she added.

The company has offered Lauren a new Blackberry Curve as compensation.

A spokesman apologised and said the firm has launched an “urgent investigation”. (ANI)

Oz man pleads guilty to prostituting girl, 12, sharing proceeds with her mum

Melbourne, Mar 23 (ANI): A Tasmanian man has admitted pimping out a 12-year-old girl to make money to buy drugs and sharing the proceeds with her mother.

According to The Mercury, the 51-year-old man acted as the girl”s pimp last year while she had sex with more than 100 men at Glenorchy.

The crimes have left the young girl with genital warts and chlamydia.

The man pleaded guilty yesterday, reports News.com.au.

The girl”s mother took most of the money, the man took a smaller cut and the girl used her own share to buy drugs for herself, her mother and the man, the Supreme Court in Hobart heard.

According to Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates, the prostitution business started last July after the girl”s mother complained to the man, a close friend, of having no money.

The man drew up a newspaper advertisement, which described an 18-year-old “Angela” who was “new in town”.

The girl is in foster care while her mother has been charged and is in custody. (ANI)

Oz man pleads guilty to prostituting girl, 12, sharing proceeds with her mum

Melbourne, Mar 23 (ANI): A Tasmanian man has admitted pimping out a 12-year-old girl to make money to buy drugs and sharing the proceeds with her mother.

According to The Mercury, the 51-year-old man acted as the girl”s pimp last year while she had sex with more than 100 men at Glenorchy.

The crimes have left the young girl with genital warts and chlamydia.

The man pleaded guilty yesterday, reports News.com.au.

The girl”s mother took most of the money, the man took a smaller cut and the girl used her own share to buy drugs for herself, her mother and the man, the Supreme Court in Hobart heard.

According to Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates, the prostitution business started last July after the girl”s mother complained to the man, a close friend, of having no money.

The man drew up a newspaper advertisement, which described an 18-year-old “Angela” who was “new in town”.

The girl is in foster care while her mother has been charged and is in custody. (ANI)

Oz man pleads guilty to prostituting girl, 12, sharing proceeds with her mum

Melbourne, Mar 23 (ANI): A Tasmanian man has admitted pimping out a 12-year-old girl to make money to buy drugs and sharing the proceeds with her mother.

According to The Mercury, the 51-year-old man acted as the girl’s pimp last year while she had sex with more than 100 men at Glenorchy.

The crimes have left the young girl with genital warts and chlamydia.

The man pleaded guilty yesterday, reports News.com.au.

The girl’s mother took most of the money, the man took a smaller cut and the girl used her own share to buy drugs for herself, her mother and the man, the Supreme Court in Hobart heard.

According to Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates, the prostitution business started last July after the girl’s mother complained to the man, a close friend, of having no money.

The man drew up a newspaper advertisement, which described an 18-year-old “Angela” who was “new in town”.

The girl is in foster care while her mother has been charged and is in custody. (ANI)

Tougher penalties for toying with crocs

The Northern Territory Government is planning to introduce tougher penalties for people who act dangerously around crocodiles.

An inquest is being held in Darwin to investigate the death of a young girl who was taken by a crocodile outside Darwin last year.

The Minister for Parks and Wildlife, Karl Hampton, says he will not comment on the active coronial investigation.

But he says the Government is now making additional efforts and contributing extra resources to crocodile management and research.

“I think the majority of people in the Top End who share the environment with crocodiles certainly do take it seriously because we know and they know well and truly what the risks are,” he said.

“I’m certainly as the minister looking at bringing in tougher laws and increasing those penalties through legislation this year.”

The inquest into the the death of a Darwin girl in a crocodile attack last year has heard crocodile numbers were not managed in the area at the time.

Briony Goodsell, 11, was killed in March last year while swimming with friends at Black Jungle Swamp in Darwin’s rural area.

The inquest has heard a boy swimming with the girl heard her yell for help before she was pulled down and the children saw a crocodile’s tail.

The head of the Government’s crocodile management team, Tommy Nichols, told the coroner the crocodile was between three and three and a half metres long.

The mother of children swimming with the girl, Monica Lang, said she knew the creek connected to the Adelaide River flood plain but did not know there were crocodiles there.

The Northern Territory ranger responsible for the creek has told the inquest he would have warned people if he knew they were swimming in the area.

Barry Scott said he had not heard that people were swimming in the creek.

He said signs now made it clear crocodiles were in the area.

‘The message has to get out’

The coroner, Greg Cavanagh, has told the inquest the message has to get out that the animals are not just dangerous but deadly man-eaters.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Helen Roberts, said the inquest will highlight the issue of crocodile safety and how it was dealt with at the time of the death.

Ms Roberts said public safety formed only a very small part of the previous crocodile management plan.

Convicted criminals lose asset battle

A convicted murderer and child sex offender have lost their legal fight to stop WA’S Director of Public Prosecutions seizing some of their assets.

Gary White is serving a life jail term for murdering Anthony Tapley at a Maddington property in 2001, while Aaron Bowers was convicted sexually abusing a young girl.

The men’s crimes were not committed at properties they own but under the state’s criminal confiscation laws, the DPP wanted to take more than $100,000 from White and a house part owned by Bowers.

Last year, a judge dismissed the DPP’s application but that decision was overturned today by the Court of Appeal.

Bowers’ lawyer says he will take the matter to the High Court.

New Zealander auctions bottled ‘ghosts’

A New Zealand woman has successfully sold two vials that she said contained the ghosts of an old man and a young girl.

The vials fetched almost $NZ2,000 ($1,540) in a fiercely contested online auction, local media reported.

Avie Woodbury from Christchurch told TVNZ she captured the spirits after an exorcism session, which cost her about $100, at her house.

Ms Woodbury then put the ghosts into holy water and stored them in separate vials before deciding to auction them.

The web page for the sale attracted more than 200,000 views before the week-long auction ended on Monday.

Ms Woodbury said all proceeds from the auction, minus the exorcist’s fee, would be donated to an animal charity.

“I would get things like the jug boiling itself, touching on the back of my neck, voices from other rooms, and items going missing then turning up in weird places,” she said.

“I just want to get rid of them as they scare me. But someone might like these to play with.”

Ms Woodbury said she felt a better vibe in her house after the exorcism.

“Whether it is psychological or not but I definitely felt a new vibe in the house,” she told TVNZ.

The winning bidder was an electronic cigarette company, which local newspapers said was now asking for ideas on what to do with the vials.

- Reuters

Rocket attack kills three in Kabul

Kabul, Sep 7 (ANI): Three civilians were reportedly killed in a rocket attack on the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday.

The rocket hit a house in the western part of the city, killing three members of a family, including a young girl, a BBC report quoted the Kabul police official.

Two other children of the same family were reportedly wounded, BBC said.

Neither the alliance forces nor the Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the month of August Kabul witnessed a series of rocket fire from the suspected Taliban militants.

The Kabul police suspect that the rocket might have been fired from out side the district.

The area where the rocket was hit is neither a military or a government area, its purely the civilian lane, says the report. (ANI)

Did US Fritzl kill kidnapped victim’s male kids?

London, Sept 4 (ANI): Phillip Garrido, the “American Fritzl”, who held a girl captive for 18 years and fathered two children with her, may have had other children with Jaycee Lee Dugard – and killed them if they were boys, cops have said.

A senior detective probing her kidnap, rape and imprisonment in California said: “It doesn’t make sense that a healthy young girl not on birth control only conceived twice in that time.

“She was raped continually and you would think there would be more babies.”

He added: “Garrido is a self-confessed paedophile and experts have told us he would only want daughters with her – and he would see any sons as a potential threat.

“Seeing little girls grow up would give him a continual sexual thrill, but Garrido has never had sexual feelings towards males.

“As they grew up and got stronger, he’d get older and weaker. To Garrido, any boys on the scene may be construed as a future threat.

“It is of course only a line of inquiry but we have to ask Jaycee if she did have any other babies with Garrido and if she did, then what happened to those babies.”

The detective added that investigators wanted to find out whether Garrido, 58, sexually assaulted his victim’s daughters Starlite, 15, and 11-year-old Angel, reports The Sun.

Garrido and wife Nancy, 55, have been charged with 29 offences, including rape and kidnapping. (ANI)

Kristen Stewart strips for James Gandolfini’s ‘Welcome to The Rileys’

Washington, Aug 21 (ANI): Actress Kristen Stewart will appear nude in her new film Welcome to The Rileys.

The Twilight star plays a young lap dancer plus prostitute, and walks around naked in many scenes in James Gandolfini’s new flick.

Apparently, the teenage star was a little nervous to film the scenes, and so she asked her Twilight co-star Nikki Reed to join her on the set of the film in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“I’m going with Kristen to New Orleans… while she’s shooting and I’m a good support system… I have to go to be with Kristen,” Contactmusic quoted Reed as telling About.com.

But Stewart is excited about the film and feels that her nude shots will lure her fans to theatres.

She said: “It’s an independent movie that nobody would normally see and now it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s go see Bella (Twilight character) in this stripper movie; it’ll be crazy!’”

Also, Kristen is delighted to work with the Sopranos star and considers the role in the film to be the hardest she has ever done.

She added: “Working with James Gandolfini and (co-star) Melissa Leo, who is just incredible, was the most fruitful life-changing experience on a movie that I’ve ever had.

“It was just the hardest subject matter I’ve ever had to deal with – I play a very broken young girl who is a runaway. She’s a street kid. She’s working in a strip club and James Gandolfini’s character is just as dead inside as she is – and they wake each other up.” (ANI)

Amy Adams says finding love helped her become a woman

New Delhi, July 11 (ANI): American actress Amy Adams has revealed that now that she has found the love of her life, she will be able to concentrate on becoming a woman.

Adams, 34, who is engaged to actor Darren LeGallo, had spent years searching for her ideal man, and when he came along, she was happy that he accepted her for who she was, reports the China Daily.

“I spent most of my 20s looking to find a man – what a waste of energy! Now I actually have a man and I’m able to focus on becoming a woman,” she said.

“He accepted me from day one as I was, which allowed me to discover who I was meant to be. I’m very appreciative of that,” she stated.

The ‘Doubt’ star had gotten engaged on the set of new movie ‘Julie and Julia’, and she even believes the act of betrothal improved her acting.

“I got engaged on this film – the day before I finished shooting.

Maybe this is a very, I don’t know, young girl statement, but when you’re not seeking to gain the approval of your man, it’s amazing what you can accomplish,” she added. (ANI)

‘Secret Flirts’ game branded ‘toxic’ by critics

Melbourne, June 23 (ANI): A game called ‘Secret Flirts’, for Nintendo DS, has come under fire because it teaches young girls how to flirt.

Family groups have condemned the game that claims to show girls how to “make everyone fall for you,” and have described it as a dangerous sexualisation of youth culture.

A promotional video that gives a preview of Secret Flirts begins a groovy young girl giving a sly wink and a Cupid’s arrow piercing a pink heart.

In its first “lessons”, the game teaches girls to do their make-up and choose clothes and accessories.

The next lesson is to “improve your attraction” by going to a hairdresser, a beauty centre and a gym.

Then players are ready to listen to advice from the “Love Coach”.

According to News.com.au, Secret Flirt promises: “Become more irresistible day after day – then win the heart of the boy of your dreams.”

Secret Flirt will be available online from June 30, but an Australian retail date has not been announced.

Developed by Smack Down Productions for French company Nobilis Group, the game has been marked suitable for players aged “three plus.”

Angela Conway, director of Pro-Family Perspectives, criticised the “toxic emphasis” of marketing sexualised themes to a young age group.

“Playing Secret Flirt means playing with the hang-ups and preoccupations of the sexualised culture. Secret Flirt is not likely to help young people develop their unique, well-rounded character… for genuine long-term wellbeing and relationships,” said Conway.

She added: “Instead, with its toxic emphasis on reconstructing one’s appearance and personality for the sole purpose of successful flirtation, it risks contributing to sexualisation and increased prevalence of body image problems, depression and anxiety in young people.” (ANI)

Mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world

Melbourne, May 25 (ANI): The mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world, and can affect everything from health and self-esteem to all other relationships, say experts.

A Pennsylvania State University had found that despite conflicts and complicated emotions, 80 to 90 per cent of women at midlife reported a good relationship with their mother.

According to Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of the book ‘Mother-Daughter Wisdom’, the bond between mother and daughter sets the stage for all other relationships.

“The mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world, for better or for worse. It sets the stage for all other relationships,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.

She said that no other childhood experience could be as compelling as a young girl’s relationship with her mother.

“Each of us takes in at a cellular level how our mother feels about being female, what she believes about her body, how she takes care of her health, and what she believes is possible in life,” she added.

Jennie Hannan, executive general manager of services at counselling provider Anglicare WA, agreed with Northrup.

“How a woman sees herself, how she is in her adult relationships with partners, and how she mothers her own children, is profoundly influenced by her relationship with her own mother,” she said.

She, however, insists that the world’s strongest bond hits a roadblock when the daughter reaches adolescence.

“The time you are going to start having major problems with your daughter will be around adolescence,” said Hannan.

“Adolescence is a very difficult, tumultuous time for children and their parents, and it tends to happen in girls earlier than in boys.

“If the mother and daughter can hang in there during adolescence, your relationship moves to a different level and becomes more of a respectful friendship,” she added.

But Hannan still stresses that having a less-than-perfect relationship with mother doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t have a good relationship with your own daughter.

“It gives you a head start if you had a good relationship with your mother, but lots of women who have had bad relationships with their mothers have had really positive relationships with other women in their lives,” she said.

“The idea that you can have a perfect relationship with anybody is flawed. Mothers do get blamed an awful lot if something’s wrong with their kids.

“But being aware of things that were good and not good in your relationship with your mum is really important in not repeating any mistakes,” she added.

“The relationship between mothers and their adult daughters is one in which the participants handle being upset with one another better than in any other relationship,” said researcher Karen Fingerman, author of Aging Mothers And Their Adult Daughters: A Study In Mixed Emotions (Springer).

“There is value in the mother-daughter tie because the two parties care for one another and share a strong investment in the family as a whole,” she added. (ANI)

Katie Holmes to fly to Melbourne for forthcoming flick

Melbourne, May 9 (ANI): Hollywood actress Katie Holmes will be flying to Melbourne very soon to film her forthcoming flick ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’.
Holmes will spend her entire summer in Australia working on the multi-million dollar production.

The flick will revolve around a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend, but eventually discovers that they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.

The CEO of Film Victoria Sandra Sdraulig has revealed that Melbourne was a natural choice for Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark because of the city’s gothic locations.

Holmes will play the lead role in the flick, which is set for a 2011 release. (ANI)

Katie Holmes to star in Miramax Films’ ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’

Washington, May 7 (ANI): American actress Katie Holmes is all set to star in Miramax Films’ “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”, whose script has been written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins.

Mark Johnson and del Toro will be producing it, and Troy Nixey will direct the movie, which will start shooting this summer in Melbourne as a “Guillermo del Toro Presentation”, reports Variety magazine.

The film is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend, and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.

Nixey, a comic book artist, will be making his feature-directing debut. (ANI)

15yr-old-pregnant Malay girl claims her father and his friend raped her for 3 yrs

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Kuala Lumpur, Apr 27 (ANI): A 15-year-old girl, who is seven months’ pregnant, has claimed that her father and his friend have raped her for three years./pp
The secondary school student, who lives with her parents, confessed to her aunt about it and she in turn took the young girl to the Skudai police station to lodge a report./pp
The teen’s 45-year-old lorry driver father and his 52-year-old plumber friend were up from their homes in Kempas on April 25, and they have been remanded until May 2 to assist in nvestigations/pp
Johor Baru (North) OCPD Asst Comm Ruslan Hassan said the girl was believed to have been raped repeatedly by both men since she was 12 years old./pp
She told police that the father had repeatedly raped her at their house in Taman Sinaran while his friend had raped her at other locations, the Star Online quoted her as saying. /pp
She also claimed that the last time her father raped her was early this month, he added./pp
The girl has been sent to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital for a medical check-up. (ANI)/p

50-year-old landlord ‘weds’ six-yr-old by force in Nepal

Kathmandu, April 15 (IANS) A 50-year-old rich and influential Nepali villager forced a poor family to give their six-year-old daughter in wedding to him, allegedly with the intention of eventually selling her off, the girl’s brother told police.

The `wedding’ took place in March in Sudama village in Sarlahi district in Nepal’s Terai plains where women are confined to their homes and dowry deaths are on the rise despite the ruling Maoist government’s recent ban on it.

However, the matter came to light only recently after the young girl’s elder brother, who lives in capital city Kathmandu, came to know about it and filed a complaint with police, Nepal’s official media said.

Police said they have begun a manhunt for Shyam Singh, the rich landlord, as well as Uday Singh, the father of the young girl.

Both were said to have fled to India across the open border as soon as the news of the wedding came to be known and public outrage grew.

Villagers told the state-run Gorkhapatra daily that Shyam Singh had taken advantage of the family’s poverty and forced them to give her to him in marriage with the intention of selling her.

However, his alleged plan was foiled by the girl’s elder brother Dinesh Singh who complained to police.

Though in 1971 the government fixed the legal age of marriage for girls at 16 years, it is often flouted, especially in the Terai, where child marriages are extremely common.

Often, the `grooms’ use the `weddings’ as a facade for trafficking, selling the girls to brothels in India.