Melbourne, Dec 2 : The world might be cribbing about scarcity of jobs, courtesy the financial crunch, but chefs and hairdressers in Australia remain two of the top 10 skilled occupations where there still remains a shortage, says a new quarterly survey.

The Clarius Skills Index revealed that skill shortages in 13 of the 19 occupation categories monitored were at their highest levels since 2001.

This implied that the worsening economic conditions don''t really mean an end to the skills crisis.

The new index for the September quarter was 103.5, a slight increase on the 103.3 recorded in the previous quarter and higher than the 102.4 registered a year earlier.

Melbourne, December 2 : Nicole Kidman seems to be a popular topic of discussion on Facebook – because of users’ hatred towards the actress.

And their hatred has sky-rocketed so much that they are forming anti-Kidman campaigns.

The Academy Award-winner is said to be the target of groups such as "Am I Taking Crazy Pills or is Nicole Kidman the Worst Actress in the World?" "Nicole Kidman is Satan", or simply "I hate Nicole Kidman" - by people never likely to have met the star or known her personally.

Melbourne, Dec 1 : In a rather bold move, an Australian community has banned public servants from entering its island (Palm Island) till the time it''s convinced the state government is paying heed to its concerns.

According to Palm Island mayor Alf Lacey, his council had voted that it’d only allow essential workers such as nurses and police onto the island, off Townsville.

He said that the ban would be in force until further notice.

The ban was apparently put in place after the Queensland Government had ignored the island''s basic needs.

Lacey claimed that Premier Anna Bligh did not respond to the council''s request for a meeting.

Melbourne, Dec 1 : Australia has beaten Britain to get an international award for best beer.

Barons Black Wattle Original Ale came out topper as the most popular beer out of 50 nominations at the JD Wetherspoon international beer festival in Britain last month.

And the very next day, the Wallabies savaged England 28-14 at Twickenham.

Melbourne, Dec 1 : If you are among those who update their status message on social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, regularly, then people can easily know what kind of a person are you, according to a new study.

The study has claimed that the short statement, which can be seen by hundreds of online friends, reveals much more about you than you think.

According to psychologist and author Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, people who use it to brag could be suffering from insecurity.

Melbourne, December 1 : An Aussie man has been sentenced to a four-month suspended jail term after he tried to trick Medicare with gynaecology and obstetric bills that he claimed were for him.

Benjamin Peter Anderson confessed that he created bogus rebates relating to gynaecology and obstetric – both sciences dealing with women only.

The investigators had caught the 32-year-old after he attempted to claim more than 2700 dollars for obstetric and gynaecological services rendered to him.

"Medicare Australia''s suspicions were confirmed when the Gold Coast man stated the obstetrics and gynaecology claims were for services provided to him,'''' the Daily Telegraph quoted a Medicare spokeswoman as saying.