7 Tuesday news bites (September 6)

1. When did ‘black eye’ become sexy?

So Glee star Heather Morris (who plays the dance-tastic but not very bright cheerleader Brittany on the show) has featured in a photo shoot from Tyler Shields sporting a massive black eye and being throttled by the cord from an iron. Because domestic violence is so chic, geddit? The photographer introduced the photo shoot by saying ‘even Barbie bruises’. Defending the shoot, Tyler said: “In no way were we promoting domestic violence. We wanted to do a bruised-up Barbie shoot and that’s exactly what we did!” Sure buddy. Late yesterday the photographer said he would auction off one of the prints for a minimum of $100,000 and donate the proceeds to a domestic violence charity because he did not mean for it to be ‘taken that way’. Hmmm. Remember the hairdresser ad from the week in pics last week? Yeah, turns out black eyes are totally in fashion. Bet that makes all the real victims of domestic abuse feel very sexy…

Check out the gallery below.

2. Europe and Australia to consider linking carbon price schemes

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to discuss possibly linking the two carbon price schemes. Europe pioneered a collective carbon price mechanism six years ago and Ms Gillard said it would be ‘appropriate’ to put together a Europe-Australia taskforce of senior officials who could look at ways of linking the schemes. This would help offset potential price slugs on Aussie companies operating in Europe, like Qantas, and therefore cost increases to travellers.

3. Disability Support Pensions to be cut for thousands

After signalling the disability reforms recently, the Federal Government has now begun working on ‘impairment tables’ that would dictate a cut off for those deemed well enough to work ‘in some capacity’. But the National Council on Intellectual Disability says the cut-offs, which would force every person with an IQ between 70 and 79 off the pension, are arbitrary. There are currently 815,000 people who receive the pension. A spokeswoman for the Government said: “The government believes we can do better than a lifetime spent on income support for Australians who have some capacity to work.”

4. Retailers ‘bully’ eBay stores to stop selling certain items

The war between ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers and those who choose to sell online just gets nastier. A Senate inquiry into the state of retail in Australia has heard that some of the big stores who sell through shop fronts put the hard word on wholesalers and distributors not to compete with them by selling through online channels like eBay. eBay wouldn’t reveal which big stores it was talking about.

5. Drugs body considering placing ‘untested’ warnings on alternative medicines

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is ‘actively considering’ placing untested warnings on bottles of alternative medicines and herbal remedies because some people think they are viable options for treatment of illnesses. While most of the products are safe, failing to seek conventional medical treatment often was not. There have been four deaths in the past two years because of this and some reactions to some alternative drugs.

6. Amazing photos of animals in the womb

Just because they’re cool. National Geographic’s breathtaking documentary called ‘Extraordinary Animals in the Womb’ features stunning photos taken of animals while they’re still fetuses in the womb. The show’s producer, Peter Chinn, used a combination of three-dimensional ultrasound scans, computer graphics and tiny cameras to capture the process from conception to birth.

*News brought to you by Rick.