Australian wildfire death toll rises to 84

As of this writing, AP reports that the wildfire that has been burning the southeastern Australia has now claimed 84 lives, making it the country's deadliest fire disaster.

A bushfire burned through a forest on the outskirts of Labertouche, east of Melbourne. The police said they expected the death toll to rise. (Photo: Mick Tsikas/Reuters)


A member of the Country Fire Authority monitored a giant fire raging in Bunyip State Park. Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush have created prime conditions for the fires to take hold. (Photo: William West/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images)

To read the whole article click here:
Death Toll in Australian Fires Rises to 84

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Could Reese be pregnant????

Reese Witherspoon was seen sporting a conspicuous tummy bulge while out and about with boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal in Venice Beach, California yesterday.


(Photo c/o Just Jared)

Is that a baby bump, Reese????

To see more of these photos, click here:
Reese Witherspoon: Baby Bump Watch?

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A-Rod said to test positive for steroids in 2003!

After Michael Phelps, yet another famous athlete is dragged into drug controversy.

Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid baseball player of the NY Yankees, tested positive for steroids in 2003, according to a report by Sports Illustrated published yesterday, February 7.

A-Rod is said to be positive in 2003 for the use of testosterone and an anabolic steroid with a brand known as Primobolan, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers. According to a search of FDA records, Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States, nor was it in 2003.

A-Rod declined to discuss the 2003 drug test when approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, saying: "You'll have to talk to the union." When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."

To read more about this controversial SI report, click here:
Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003

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David Beckham strips off again for Armani underwear

David Beckham strips off again for yet another jaw-dropping ad for Emporio Armani underwear, and I'm loving it :P

Beckham is seen sporting a long black tattoo in his left torso, in Chinese, that reads: "Death and life have determined appointments, riches and honors depends upon heaven."










This isn't the first time Beckham showed off his bulges; his first ad for the Italian underwear giant was unveiled in late 2007.


Beckham's 2007 ad

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Intimate wedding pics of Fergie and Josh here!

Fergie and Josh, who tied the knot at the Church Estates Vineyards in Malibu on January 10, shared their exclusive wedding pics to Usmagazine. The couple's intimate black and white pics in Elle's March issue can also be seen here.


Fergie and Josh exchanged H.Stern rings, with each band engraved with special personal messages by the bride and groom. Her engagement ring had a round, 4-carat brilliant cut diamond set amid other diamonds, with colors ranging from white to cognac. A narrow, colored diamond wedding band was designed to match. Duhamel's ring was made of 18K white gold with a brush finish.

Click below to see other pics of the posh nuptials:
Fergie & Josh's Wedding Album

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Phelps suspended for 3 months

Michael Phelps has been suspended by US Swimming from competion for three months, and Kellogg's has dropped him after a photo of him smoking marijuana from a glass pipe surfaced at a British tabloid last week.

Sorry Michael but you deserve this punishment :( When you are a sporting icon, youth role model and product endorser, you ought to have a squeaky clean image in and out of the pool.


Kellogg said it would drop its endorsement deal with Michael Phelps after a photograph surfaced in a British newspaper showing him inhaling from a marijuana pipe

While Phelps's other sponsors like Speedo and Omega have accepted his apology, some including Visa and Subway have not had a stance yet.

Click here to read more:
Phelps Disciplined Over Marijuana Pipe Incident

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Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire is Best Director at Directors Guild Awards

Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award-nominated English film director and producer Danny Boyle won as Best Director at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards last January 31.

Danny Boyle, winner of Best Director at DGA Awards

Boyle won for Slumdog Millionaire, a film about a young uneducated man from the slums of Mumbai who went on to win the top prize at game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.


Boyle has earlier won as Best Director at the Golden Globes on January 11 and Critics' Choice Awards on January 8.

Slumdog Millionaire, Best Picture winner at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, reaped 10 nominations at the Oscars this year, behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with 13.


A scene from the movie Slumdog Millionaire

An Oscar win forebodes well for the 52-year old Boyle as the DGA Award for Feature Film has traditionally been a near perfect barometer for the Best Director Academy Award. Since the inception of DGA Awards in 1948, only six times has the DGA Award winner not won the Academy Award, as follows:

* 1968 - Carol Reed for Oliver!
* 1972 - Bob Fosse for Cabaret
* 1985 - Sydney Pollack Out of Africa;
* 1995 - Mel Gibson for Braveheart;
* 2000 - Steven Soderbergh Traffic; and
* 2002 - Roman Polanski won the Oscar for directing The Pianist

Boyle has earlier won as Best Director at the Golden Globes on January 11 and Critics' Choice Awards on January 8.

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Material girl Madonna has a new boy toy!

Move over Alex Rodriguez, the Material Girl has a new boy toy: 22 year-old Brazilian model Jesus Luz!





The pair was photographed leaving a downtown restaurant in New York City after a romantic dinner yesterday.

Madonna, old enough to be the grandmother of the Brazilian hottie, reportedly first met during a photo shoot for W Magazine in Rio de Janeiro. She got so interested in him that she asked him to join her on the South American leg of her Sticky & Sweet concert tour.







According to a Brazilian web site, "Everyone knows they are ficando - which is a Portuguese expression that means they are kissing and doing other things but without any obligation of being faithful or getting into a relationship afterwards."

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Michael Phelps photographed smoking marijuana

Swimming icon Michael Phelps was photographed smoking marijuana thru a glass pipe!

News of the World, a British tabloid published the photo yesterday clearly showing 23-year-old Phelps drawing bongs. The photos were taken in November last year at a University of South Carolina house party, 3 months after he set records by winning 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

If you are a 14-time Olympic gold medalist, considered as the world's greatest swimmer and a role model for the youth, would you smoke marijuana?

Glass pipes are generally used to smoke cannabis. Marijuana or hashish is classified under the name 'cannabinoids' in the list of prohibited drugs under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, and athletes caught using drugs could face a two-year ban from the Olympics. Phelps also risks his endorsement deals, estimated to be worth $100 million over the course of his lifetime.

Phelps later issued a statement calling his behavior regrettable.

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry," he said.



Click here if you want to read the full article with a photo showing Phelps smoking cannabis:
14-times Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with cannabis pipe

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Nadal beat Federer to claim his first OZ Open title!

I watched at a friend's macbook c/o another friend's season subscription the 2009 Australian Finals yesterday where world no. 1 Rafael Nadal beat world no. 2 Roger Federer in five-set thriller 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2.

What Rafael Nadal has achieved after defeating Roger Federer in the Australian Open finals:

• Rafa became the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open;

• He became the 4th player to win Grand Slam in three different surfaces (grass, clay and hard court), joining Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi. By winning on this surface, a win in the U.S. Open would give Rafa a Career Grand Slam, something which tennis greats Pete Sampras and Federer failed to do as both haven’t won at the Roland Garros yet;

• Rafa collected his sixth Grand Slam (4 French Open, 1 Wimbledon and 1 Australian Open);

• Every time Nadal plays Federer since last year, Nadal wins all the matches. Rafa beat Federer 5 consecutive times (3 times at a Grand Slam, with the other 2 coming from last year’s French Open and Wimbledon finals). Roger’s other 2 losses last year to Nadal were at Monte Carlo and Hamburg Masters. Nadal now has the winningest record against Federer at 13-6.

Caveat:

Rafa is still young and at his prime at 22 years old; Roger is 27. Rafa won his first Grand Slam when he was 19 years old (2005 French Open). On the other hand, Roger captured his maiden slam when he was 22 (2003 Wimbledon). Say let’s give 5 more years to Rafa (assuming he stays healthy throughout) when he will have turned same age of Federer now, 27, and if he collects:

• Maximum of 3 slams a year: that is a total of 15 plus his 6 now equals 21 slams.

• 2 slams a year: that is a total of 10 plus his 6 now equals 16 slams.

• Conservative estimate of 1 slam a year which is Roland Garros: that is a total of 5 plus 6 slams equals 11.

But the above does not include this year’s remaining Slams: (French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. If Rafa wins 2 more slams this year, he’d amass 23 (if he wins maximum of 3 slams per year for a 5-yr period), 18 (if he wins 2 slams per year for a 5-yr period), and 13 (by winning 1 slam per year for a 5-yr period).

Thus, expect Nadal to amass a total of 13 to 23 slams in a 5-yr period plus this year!

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2009 Australian Open women's finals: Serena or Dinara?

After a few minutes while typing this blog entry will unfold the 2009 Australian Open women's singles finals between Serena Williams and Dinara Safina.

Who's your bet?

Let's have a look at the records of the 2 players in the table below:

	Serena Williams	Dinara Safina
Head-to-head wins	5	1
Year turned Pro	1995	2001
Age	27	22
Career Titles	32	9
Singles Grand Slam Wins	9	0
2008 grand slam finals	Winner: US Open; Finalist: Wimbledon	Finalist: French Open

Being a huge fan of the Williams sisters, I have no doubt Serena would lift the title to make her total Grand Slam singles haul to 10; currently, she has a total of 19: including 8 in doubles and 2 in mixed.

If her Grand slam experience and records are anything to go by, Williams would easily win against Marat's younger sister. My prediction: straight sets!

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Filipino junior netter Francis Casey Alcantara wins junior's doubles tilt in 2009 Australian Open

Filipinos, especially the sports aficionados, have a new sporting icon to look up to other than Manny Pacquiao. He is 16-year-old Filipino tennis prodigy Francis Casey Alcantara.

Alcantara, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, a city in Northern Mindanao, teamed up with Cheng Peng Hsei of Chinese-Taipei to win the Junior Boy's Doubles finals today at the 2009 Australian Open in Melbourne --- the feat making him the first-ever Filipino to lift a title at a Grand Slam. The 7th-seeded Filipino-Taiwanese tandem crushed the pair of Mikhal Biryukov from Russia and Yasutaka Uchiyama from Japan in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Before reaching the finals, Alcantara and his partner dispatched the Austrian teens Maximilian Neuchrist & Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 7-6(4), 6-4 in a semifinal match held yesterday.


Francis Casey Alcantara: Champion in 2009 Australian Open Junior Boy's Doubles

Alcantara, currently ranked No. 26 in world juniors, is also entered at the Junior Boy's Singles as the seed no. 10 but succumbed easily to an unranked player Daniel Berta of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. He recently took the grade-four Phinma International Junior Tennis Championship last month and won various doubles competitions in Thailand and Morocco.

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What happened to the once oh-so-yummy bod of Ian Thorpe?

Ian Thorpe was photographed having a flabby physique, far cry from his glorious swimming days, while enjoying a day with friends at a beach in Fernando de Noronha in Brazil last week.

(Pics c/o of Just Jared)


What happened to Thorpedo's bod????







Rumors about Thorpe's sexuality began to swirl around tabloids when he was photographed swimming and playing in the surf with friends, one of whom is a male Brazilian housemate named Danny Mendes.

Twenty-six-year-old Thorpe is a swimming icon and an Australian hero, having won 5 Olympic gold medals and 11 World championship gold medals. He has retired from the sport since November 2006 is now studying psychology and linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney.

Thorpe is not only a multiple Olympic medalist, but also a famous product endorser, philanthropist and owner of a swimwear brand under his name.

Have a peek at Thorpe's droolicious body in his heydays:











Watch Thorpe challenging a seal in ADIDAS commercial with the full-bodysuit here:



Click here to read an article invetigating Thorpe's relationship with his Brazilian housemate:
Thorpe's relationship with his Brazilian housemate

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Move over Gisele Bundchen, Jennifer Aniston has the most sought-after body!

Jennifer Aniston dislodged Gisele Bundchen as having the most desired female figure, according to a list compiled by Beverly Hills plastic surgeons and co-directors of The Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery. Gisele Bundchen was relegated to No. 2, followed by Jessica Biel.

Jen in her GQ 2008 cover




Gisele Bundchen

Jessica Biel

For males, People Magazine's 2008 Sexiest Man Alive Hugh Jackman has the most sought-after bod, followed by "McSteamy" Eric Dane and Matthew McConaughey.


Hugh Jackman


Matthew McConaughey


Eric Dane

The list also included the most desired lips, eyes, nose, skin, hair, jawline, cheeks and hair.

To find out which stars are the most envied by plastic surgery seekers, then click here:
Most Sought-after Hollywood Body and Facial Features

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Alvaro Quiros becomes first Spanish winner of Qatar Masters

Twenty-six year-old Spaniard Alvaro Quiros won his third European tour title by lifting the trophy at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, January 25 at the Doha Golf Club.

Quiros carded a three-under-par 69 in the final round for a tournament total of 19-under-par 269 to deny Stenson a second victory in Qatar and become the first Spaniard to win in 12 editions of the prestigious tournament. He received a cheque of US$ 416,660 and a Mother of Pearl trophy.



Part of Quiros' bio in Wikipedia:

Quirós was born in La Línea de la Concepción, Province of Cádiz. He played on the Challenge Tour in 2006, winning one tournament, and earned his European Tour card for the 2007 season by finishing in the top 35 at the qualifying school. He won the first European Tour tournament he entered as a European Tour card-holder; the Alfred Dunhill Championship which is played in South Africa. His second European Tour win came at the 2008 Portugal Masters, where he finished with birdies at both 17 and 18 on Sunday, to win by three strokes over Paul Lawrie.

To read more about Quiros' win, click here:
Spaniard Quiros proves master in Qatar

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Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, Slumdog Millionaire grab major wins in SAG Awards

Meryl Streep won as Best Actress, Sean Penn as Best Actor and Slumdog Millionaire as the Outstanding Performance by a Cast for a Motion Picture, tantamount to Best Picture from the guild, at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards held January 25 at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles.

Streep, who played as a fierce nun for the movie Doubt, beat Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Melisa Leo and Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), while Penn, who played as a gay rights activist for the movie Milk beat Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Mickey Rourke and Brad Pitt.

Heath Ledger won again as Best Supporting Actor for the movie The Dark Knight, while Kate Winslet was declared the Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. Winslet also won Best Supporting Actress for the same film at the Golden Globes earlier but she is nominated as Best Actress for this film at the upcoming Oscars.

To find out who the other winners are, please click here:

SAG article from L.A. Times

What do you think of the stars' gowns?

Angelina Jolie in Max Azria

Kate Winslet in Narciso Rodriguez

Anne Hathaway in Azzaro

Katie Holmes in Jil Sander

Penelope Cruz in Azzedine Alaia

Freida Pinto in a pewter silk chiffon Marchesa gown

Teri Hatcher in Monique Lhuillier

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