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New host for ABC News Breakfast revealed

<p>Six weeks after Lisa Millar announced she would be <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/tv/abc-host-quits-live-on-air" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leaving</a> her role on <em>ABC News Breakfast</em>, her replacement has finally been announced. </p> <p>Millar, after hosting the show since 2018, announced in July the she would be leaving the hosting role with the public broadcaster, telling viewers that her final day on the air would be August 23rd. </p> <p>Now, just one week out from her departure, the ABC announced that Bridget Brennan would be taking over the coveted gig. </p> <p>"I'm really honoured and excited to be taking up this spot on the couch, alongside our amazing team," Bridget said.</p> <p>"I'm so grateful to Lisa and Michael for showing me the ropes and being wonderful mentors while I've adjusted to early starts and all the twists and turns that live television throws at you!"</p> <p>A Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta woman, Brennan joined the ABC in 2010 as a cadet journalist, with previous roles included working as the ABC's Indigenous Affairs Editor, Europe correspondent and National Indigenous Affairs correspondent.</p> <div data-component="EmphasisedText"> <p>"I didn't grow up watching Aboriginal women on the news, so it's really an important moment for my mob as well," she said.</p> </div> <p><em>ABC News Breakfast</em> co-host Michael Rowland is thrilled to welcome Brennan to the program, saying, "Bridget has been such a breath of fresh air since joining the show and I am delighted she'll now be my main co-presenter."</p> <p>"Bridget brings to the job enormous news heft, but also a love of music, film, food and bad jokes (mine, mostly). All the things that make News Breakfast tick!"</p> <p>Millar also commented on her successor's role, wishing her all the best for her time on the show. </p> <p>"Bridget is such a delightful friend and workmate – smart, intuitive and kind," Millar said.</p> <p>"I can't wait to see the impact she'll have in this role, especially with our audience, who have already enthusiastically embraced her as a familiar part of their morning."</p> <p><em>Image credits: ABC</em></p>

TV

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Woman found in wheelie bin identified as English teacher

<p>The body of a woman found in a wheelie bin at a waste management facility has been identified as a 67-year-old teacher. </p> <p>Staff at Repurpose It in the north Melbourne suburb of  Epping found the body of Annette Brennan while moving green waste last Wednesday. </p> <p>Police believe that the 67-year-old was inside a bin picked up outside a home in Coolaroo on Tuesday July 2nd, which was then taken to the facility in Epping. </p> <p>Brennan spent most of her life teaching English to students, many of whom were international, and has been described as “gentle and kind”. </p> <p>Police have arrested a 45-year-old man in connection to Brennan's death, who has since been charged with murder and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.</p> <p>Homicide detectives believe the pair were known to each other. </p> <p>On Monday night, Repurpose It CEO George Hatzimanolis said staff were “deeply saddened” by the incident.</p> <p>“Our staff members who made this tragic discovery are understandably shaken, and we are ensuring they receive the support and counselling they need,” he said.</p> <p>“We ask for privacy and understanding for our employees as we navigate through this challenging situation. We are fully co-operating with the police as they conduct their investigations.”</p> <p>Police are still combing through CCTV in the Coolaroo area and have urged anyone who may have video from between June 23rd and July 2nd to contact them.</p> <p>Detectives are also keen to speak to anyone who noticed any suspicious behaviour in the area. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Sunrise </em></p>

Caring

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First Christmas without them

<p><span>The grieving parents who lost their children after a drunk driver ran into a group of kids walking to get ice cream in Sydney’s west, have opened up about how they will deal with their first family Christmas without them.</span><br /><br /><span>Danny and Leila Abdallah spoke at an event to raise money for charity,<em> Feel the Magic,</em> which aims to help children who are grieving the loss of someone special.</span><br /><br /><span>Their son Antony, 13 and daughters Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, were struck on a footpath in Oatlands alongside their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11 in February this year after a drunk and drug-affected driver, Samuel Davidson, crashed into them.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839065/abdullah-family-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2e75a3fd82214fd99c8793d68336d1e0" /><br /><br /><span>A fifth child was left in a critical condition and spent 80 days in hospital but survived, while two other children were also injured.</span><br /><br /><span>Mrs Abdallah said holidays have been difficult to cope with since the tragedy occurred and this Christmas Eve would have been Angelina’s 13th birthday.</span><br /><br /><span>“That’s why we named her Angelina, which means ‘little angel’,” she told the event on Thursday night.</span><br /><br /><span>“Christmas is a very hard moment for us … We’re just trying to be ourselves and focus on our healing of mind, body and soul.”</span><br /><br /><span>Mr Abdallah said that while this holiday season will be difficult, he was determined to bring “joy” to his three other children.</span><br /><br /><span>“We’re trying to have our Christmas as it was last year so they can at least feel that joy,” the father-of-six said.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839068/abdullah-family-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/cc94774156c9474188e4ad4dbd45ddc0" /><br /><br /><span>“Even if we don’t feel that joy because we miss them (Antony, Angelina and Sienna), we’re trying to do it for our kids.”</span><br /><br /><span>He said his kids were in the “best possible place” after losing their siblings.</span><br /><br /><span>“My heart is broken. I have no motivation,” Mr Abdallah said.</span><br /><br /><span>“It's painful but I can’t let them (my wife and other children) down … They’ve given me that purpose to wake up every morning.</span><br /><br /><span>“You need to build a trusted team around you to get through grief because it’s something you can’t do on your own.”</span><br /><br /><span>Mrs Abdallah told the audience she had began attending church daily, exercised six days a week and surrounded herself with positive people to help her cope with the loss.</span><br /><br /><span>Veronique’s mother Bridget Sakr — who also attended the event — said her faith, hope and having a purpose to live and look after her son got her out of bed each day.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839066/abdullah-family-4.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/0d9c154762b84b518240ef6ee10c8b4b" /><br /><br /><span>“Knowing our children are in heaven. They’re alive. We just can’t physically see them but they’re with us all the time,” she said.</span><br /><br /><span>“I have a family to support and be a role model for and there is hope for all of us to see our children flourish.”</span></p>

Caring

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105-year-old Aucklander shares her secret to long life

<p>Joan Brennan is 105 and credits her long life to home grown herbs – she discovered natural therapies in her 50s – and friendships.</p> <p>Brennan celebrated her latest birthday on Saturday at a party with friends and family at Point Chevalier's Selwyn Village.</p> <p>She said looking after her health had always been important to her.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="497" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/35801/2_497x280.jpg" alt="2 (169)"/></p> <p>She said she tried to stay away from taking conventional pills and tablets whenever possible.</p> <p>Some of the plants she had grown included milk thistle and arum lily - which she put on septic sores.</p> <p>Friendship had always been very important to her as well, she said.</p> <p>Her son, Barry Brennan said he believed she had lived so long because she had good genes, developed excellent survival skills from living through the 1920's and 1930's and had lived healthy by eating wisely and exercising every day.</p> <p>Brennan continued to volunteer every Tuesday at an opportunity shop.</p> <p>Selwyn Village senior administrator Lisa Hulton said Brennan regularly caught three buses from the village to buy organic vegetables on Richmond Rd.</p> <p>She's also the grand master of the 500 club at the village. Its members said she ran the weekly club, baked something different for it every week, did the dishes afterwards and still played a good game.</p> <p>Brennan was born in England in 1912 and moved to Australia in 1922 with her mother and sister, after her father was killed in WWI. She moved to New Zealand and trained as a nurse before returning overseas to the Isle of Man.</p> <p>Brennan met her husband Tom while in England and they relocated to New Zealand after getting married in 1935. For seven years they were lighthouse keepers on Portland Island in Hawkes Bay, looking for submarines and reporting on the weather.</p> <p>"These were very happy times - we did a lot of fishing together," she said. The couple relocated to Auckland, first to St Mary's Bay and then to Campbells Bay.</p> <p>In 1990 the Brennans shifted into Selwyn Village and Tom died in 1998.</p> <p><em>Written by Mary Fitzgerald. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz.</span></strong></a></em></p>

Retirement Life

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All the details about the new Bridget Jones movie

<p>Fans of the Bridget Jones series rejoice: the movie franchise is coming back with yet another Bridget Jones movie, and this time, Renee Zellweger will be taking on motherhood on the big screen.</p> <p>The movie, titled aptly as <em>Bridget Jones’s Baby</em>, is set to begin filming October 2, 2015 in the UK. Original director of <em>Bridget Jones’s Diary</em>, Sharon Maguire, is also slated to return to her director’s role, as confirmed by Universal Pictures.</p> <p>We know you’re all wondering: who will play the male lead? Well, it’s none other than Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey, taking on his first role post <em>Grey’s Anatomy</em>. The third film will also see the return of Colin Firth and will take place chronologically between the last movie, The Edge of Reason and Helen Fielding’s 2013 book,<em> Mad About the Boy.</em></p> <p> <img width="491" height="622" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/9549/patrickdempsey.jpg" alt="Patrick Dempsey" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/lifestyle/family/2015/08/facts-about-sound-of-music/">6 little known facts about The Sound of Music</a></span></strong></em></p> <p><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/lifestyle/family/2015/08/discontinued-classic-australian-lollies/">Old-favourite lollies that are no longer available</a></span></strong></em></p> <p><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/lifestyle/family/2015/08/new-favourite-childhood-book-covers/%20">Your favourite childhood books now look different</a></span></strong></em></p>

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