Grammy award winning musician - Melissa Etheridge is also a gay-rights activist and committed environmentalist.  But, ever since California voters nixed gay marriages as unconstitutional,  she has donned the new role of tax protester.

London, Nov 8 : A dog on the verge of dying got a new lease of life after having Viagra!

Springer spaniel Bentley was unable to walk after a nasty case of lungworm caused heart failure.

The seven-year-old pet’s heart arteries hardened after being afflicted with the parasites.

However, vet Ben Harris found its saviour in the anti-impotence pills Viagra, which finally restored Bentley’s blood flow to normal.

The dog, owned by David Roach, was taken to Ben after it grew increasingly breathless.

After conducting scans, it was found that Bentley was infected with potentially lethal lungworms, which had spread to its pulmonary artery, which carries blood from the heart to the lungs.

New York, Nov 8: Hollywood actress Christina Applegate, who has recently undergone double mastectomy, as she is battling with breast cancer, would be undergoing reconstructive operation around her 37th birthday.

The ‘Samantha Who?’ actress is bravely fighting the disease, and does not want to be termed a victim, and is pretty excited about getting the reconstructive operation done.

"I still have quite a process until this is done," The New York Daily quoted Christina, as saying.

"Yes, it''s hard. It sucks. But I''m not a victim,” she added.

New York, Nov 8 : English supermodel Naomi Campbell was booed by people waiting in a U. S. Customs queue at Kennedy Airport on November 4 when she cut ahead of the line.

Campbell was escorted to a passport-screening officer ahead of 200 or so waiting people, a witness revealed.

“An older lady was about to have her passport checked, but she was told to wait so Naomi could go first,” the New York Daily News quoted a source, who travelled in first class with Campbell aboard an American Airlines flight from London, as saying.

“It p- off a lot of people,” the source said.

With current FDA commissioner - Andrew von Eschenbach, who was appointed by President George Bush, planning to tender his resignation before Obama takes office, American drugmakers are lobbying President-elect Barack Obama to nominate Janet Woodcock, 60, a 22-year insider at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as either the agency’s acting or permanent chief.  Andrew von Eschenbach and the agency, have both gained the ire of and been severely criticized by lawmakers for approving unsafe medications and not doing enough to block tainted food imports, including drugs.

London, Nov 8 : Model giant Hornby is banking on James Bond and Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton to provide it with a pre-Christmas trading boost.

Despite increasingly tough trading conditions in many of its markets, Hornby said sales of Scalextric were expected to benefit from demand for McLaren cars and James Bond ''Quantum of Solace'' licensed products.

It is also planning the launch of an Airfix kit featuring McLaren and its star driver Lewis Hamilton, who became Formula One world champion last weekend.