Chelsea Bonner On The Size of Beauty: Why Are Models So Skinny?

Chelsea Bonner is on a mission. She wants the fashion industry to change the way beauty, size and body image are represented.

While Australian women have gained weight over the past few decades, the female ideal has largely stayed the same: tall, skinny — and usually young.

In the last five years alone, the waist measurement of the average Australian women has stretched by two centimetres. That puts the average Australian woman at a size 14 or 16.

But while Australia's women have expanded, the average size of our models has remained at a 6 to 10.

This means there is a large and growing gap between the average woman and the woman depicted in the pages of fashion magazines...... Read More

Experts Explain Why It's Better Not To Sleep In Your Underwear

Apparently, sleeping in your underwear is quite a divisive issue. Or so we were led to believe, based on the arguments that broke out in our office over the hot topic.

So, what's the deal? Is it better to go to bed in panties or fall asleep commando?

"I often tell my patients to sleep without underwear," Dr. Alyssa Dweck, co-author of V is for Vagina, told Shape. "If [the area] is constantly covered -- especially by a fabric that’s not moisture-wicking or absorbent -- moisture collects, [creating the] perfect breeding ground for bacteria or yeast,” she continued........ Read More

Thousands Told Not To Use Any Water After High Levels of Chlorine Found in Supply

Thousands of people in Derbyshire have been warned not to use water for anything after high levels of chlorine were found in the supply.

Severn Trent water has said it is investigating an issue at Castle Doningron reservoir in the county.

Residents who live in DE11, DE65 and DE73 have been told not use water for anything, including drinking and bathing.

It is thought around 3,560 properties could be affected.......Read More

UN adopts resolution to repatriate peacekeepers facing sexual abuse allegations

The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution that calls for the repatriation of peacekeeping units whose soldiers face allegations of sexual abuse.

The US-drafted resolution — the first by the Security Council to confront the rise in sex abuse claims against peacekeepers — was adopted by a vote of 14 in favour, with Egypt abstaining.

The UN has been badly shaken by a wave of allegations that its peacekeepers in the Central African Republic raped girls and exploited women.

A UN report released last week showed a hike in the number of allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in 10 missions, from 52 in 2014 to 69 last year..... Read More

Disability benefit change to affect half a million

More than half a million disabled people could lose out as a result of further changes over the next four years to welfare payments.

The formula the government uses to calculate the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for disabled people will change in January.

The government said 640,000 people could be affected by this by 2020.

It said it would save £1.2bn and ensure PIP was fairer, but disability charities criticised the move.

Recipients of PIP are assessed using a points system to determine what level of help they receive. Claimants can get between £21.80 and £139.75 per week..... Read More

Six Women On Fen's Night Attacked By Man At Hungry Jack's In Sydney

Police are searching for a man who attacked a group of six women, knocking two unconscious, on a hen's night in Sydney's CBD.

The group were confronted by the man at Hungry Jack's near the entrance of Wynyard Train Station on George Street about 12:20am, police said.

A witness said staff attempted a citizen's arrest, but the man managed to escape.

Two women were taken to hospital and four others were treated at the scene.

One has been discharged so far, but the other remains in St Vincent's Hospital, police said....... Read More

'Good' cholesterol not always good, study suggests

Some people with high levels of supposedly "good" cholesterol are at much greater risk of heart disease, a study suggests.

A bloodstream tussle takes place between "bad" cholesterol dumping fatty material in the arteries and good cholesterol taking it away.

But a Cambridge University study in the journal Science showed more good cholesterol was not always better......Read More

Colorado hospital sued over exposure to disease from ex-surgical tech

DENVER – A Colorado hospital has been sued by three former surgery patients who say they were among nearly 3,000 people possibly exposed to a blood-borne disease carried by a drug-addicted former medical technician, court records showed on Tuesday.

The Swedish Medical Center in suburban Denver is accused of negligence in its hiring and supervision of a surgical technologist who was caught trying to switch a syringe containing the powerful opiate fentanyl citrate with another substance during a patient's surgery in January......Read More

Dancing may reduce risk of dying from heart disease

Moderate intensity dancing, like moderate intensity walking, is tied to a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

"It is not surprising that moderate-intensity physical activity is protective against cardiovascular disease mortality," said lead author Dafna Merom of the University of Western Sydney in Australia...... Read More

Stopping Zika: Attacking mosquitoes from within

(CNN) - Remember the movie "Alien," where the creature grows in the crewman's belly until it finally rips through his stomach to the outside world? Now imagine a kinder, gentler creature living inside the cells of up to 60% of the insects around us. This creature, a strain of bacteria called Wolbachia, manages to live off its hosts and transform them, but doesn't have to kill them to survive......Read More