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Wellington - A record 1 million visitors from neighbouring Australia helped offset a slump in foreign tourist numbers to New Zealand as fears of swine flu compounded the effects of the global economic slowdown in the last year, according to official figures released Monday.

Visitor arrivals for the year ending May 31 totalled 2.4 million, 3 per cent down on the previous year, Statistics New Zealand reported.

Melbourne, June 22 : Think you''ve found ''the one'' after making eye contact with that random guy on the train or the girl you saw at the coffee shop? Well, forget them, suggests a psychiatrist and relationship expert who insists the myth of love at first sight is not only untrue but is to blame for many unhappy relationships and failed marriage.

Gordon Livingston says it''s ''mindless'' to think that sometimes the first encounter is enough to fall in love with someone.

Kuala Lumpur - The sudden death of Malaysian Mohan Singh, 41, came as a shock to his family. But worse was the nightmare that followed: the country's religious authority confiscated the body, saying the man converted to Islam in 1992 and had to be buried according to Muslim rites.

"He was a practising Sikh until the end," his family protested, but without much success. The family is still fighting for Singh's remains in court.

London, June 22 : Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered how obesity makes a person more prone to diabetes, and why thin people can become insulin-resistant.

Led by Dr. Marc Montminy, a professor in the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, the study has shown how a condition known as ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress triggers abnormal glucose production in the liver, an important step on the path to insulin resistance.

ER stress is induced by a high fat diet, and is overly activated in obese people.

Tokyo - Japan plans to complain to the World Trade Organization this week over South Korea's plan to regulate the manufacturing and sale of lithium-ion batteries, a government official said Monday.

South Korea was expected to start applying new rules requiring foreign firms obtain approval from Seoul to produce and sell products with lithium-ion batteries in South Korea as of July 1.

Japan expressed concerns that South Korea's new system would interfere with Japan's battery exports.

Washington, June 22 : A team of twelve experts have released a consensus statement with recommendations for drivers with Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).

ICD patients have an ongoing risk of sudden incapacitation that may cause harm to others while driving a car, and thus driving restrictions are imposed making these recommendations an important guideline for such patients.