A U.S. Snickers candy bar commercial that was first shown during the recent Super Bowl XLI broadcast was pulled off after the company the made the ads received complains that the ad was "anti-gay".

In the ad, two mechanics were shown repairing a car under the hood. One of them opens a pack of Snickers bar and starts munching away. The second mechanic starts to eat from the other end and at the end of the bar, both the men were shown "accidentally" kissing each other. Both the men become horrified and in an attempt to do something "manly", start to tear their chest hair.

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese came down hard on the ad saying that such type of ads are hard on the gay community. "This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country", he added.

The ad predictably has not gone down well with gay groups who have bombarded Masterfoods USA, the company which makes Snicker bars, with demands to stop the ad. Confirming that they will be stopping the ads, Masterfoods spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said, "We know that humor is highly subjective and understand that some people may have found the ad offensive. Clearly that was not our intent. Consequently, we do not plan to continue to air the ad on television or on our Snickers Web site."

Australian pop sensation, Kylie Minogue has separated from her French boyfriend, Oliver Martinez after four years, according to a report published by Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.

It has been speculated that the reason for the separation was due to persistent rumors that Martinez had cheated on Kylie when she was battling against breast cancer.

Making the separation public, the couple issued a statement saying, "Olivier Martinez and Kylie Minogue have officially confirmed that they are no longer a couple. They have made it clear that the decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable. The media's false accusations of disloyalty have saddened them both. The two remain very close friends. No further comments will be made."

Martinez, whom Kylie said to be "most honorable man I have ever met", has been seen with Israeli model Sarai Givati at LA hotel Chateau Marmont. The incident took place when Kylie was shooting for her new album in London. Rumors of Martinez cheating on Kylie started when he was photographed with ex-lover Michelle Rodriguez eating dinner. It has also been reported that Rodriguez stayed overnight in Martinez's hotel room.

The seventh and the last book in the hugely successful Harry Potter series will be released 21 July, the book's author JK Rowling revealed on her website.

Titled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the book promises to break all the literary records across the world as fans of the series are eagerly waiting to snap up their copies of the book. The Potter series have become a classic, selling over 325 million copies worldwide and translated in 64 languages.

JK Rowling has admitted that she had known how to end the series even before she started writing the first book. Speculation is rife about how the book will end, with Rowling saying that two of the main characters will die. There are also fears that Rowling may kill of the boy wizard to prevent other writers picking up from where she ended the series.

Molly Ivins, the liberal political columnist, whose fierce criticism of President Bush marked the latter part of her career, has died of breast cancer. She was 62.

Ms Ivins was renowned for her witty political critiques and toward the latter part of her career focused exclusively on Bush and his perceived failures. Her editor said that even when she knew her time was up; she still dictated her last two columns.

In them she urged her readers to stand up against the proposal to deploy fresh troops in Iraq. "We are the people who run this country,'' Ivins wrote in her Jan. 11 column. "We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.''

Ivins was born in California, but moved to Houston as a child. She completed her masters in journalism from Columbia University in New York.

Her experience with newspapers began with The Houston Chronicle and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She was also the Denver bureau chief of The New York Times. As editor of the Texas Observer during the 1970s, Ivins became vocal against what she though were antics of the legislators in Texas.