Friday afternoon's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Cardinal George Pell urged to return to Australia to face child sexual abuse inquiry.

This past week, Cardinal George Pell has been scrutinised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses for Child Sexual Abuse, for failing to report or appropriately handle sexual assault claims.

Yesterday, the inquiry was told that Cardinal Pell attempted to bribe an adult survivor of child sex abuse into staying silent on a sexual assault inflicted by his uncle, priest Gerald Ridsdale.

The Cardinal has rejected these allegations, saying in a statement: “I was and remain extremely sympathetic to [the victim] David Ridsdale who, because of his uncle, suffered horrible abuse…At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent.”

Now, a petition has emerged, calling for the Cardinal to return from Vatican City to face the hearing.

“Cardinal Pell should attend the Australian Royal Commission in person, to see and listen to the pain of the victims first hand and explain his actions and decisions,” the petition states.

“Writing a statement or appearing by video link from afar is a cowards approach and should NOT be supported by the Vatican.”

At the time this story was published, the change.org petition had nearly 40,000 signatures.

2. Fashion label Kookai accused of racism.

A young woman has taken to Facebook to express her dismay at a Melbourne-based women’s clothing store, for alleged racial discrimination.

Serena Xiao said she and her friend walked into they Kookai store in Emporium Melbourne and overheard a staff member tell security to “keep an eye on those two Asian girls.”

After purchasing over $100 worth of clothing from the store, she claims security “manhandled” her belongings, while other customers continued to leave the store uninterrupted.

She says the security guard inspected her lunch and her laptop.

Kookai responded to the report to their Facebook page and said they have tried to reach Ms Xiao without any success.

3. Three-month-old baby dies in bouncer.

A baby girl has died after she was left in a bouncer for several hours.

Leia-Mai Smith was left in the contraption while her mother was asleep, an inquiry has heard.

Leia-Mai’s mum, Danielle Jones, woke in the early hours of the morning to find that her baby was not breathing and her lips were blue.

“I took her out of the swing, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and dialled 999. When the paramedics arrived I pleaded with them to get my baby to breathe,” Ms Jones told the inquiry.

“It all seemed so unreal, like a bad dream, and I thought I would suddenly wake up and it would all be okay. I love my children dearly and live every day with this pain. She may just have been a baby but she was my baby.”

According to the Mirror, the hearing in Gloucester, UK heard there was a warning on the bouncer that said children should not be left in it unattended.

The exact cause of death is currently unknown.

4. NSW students allegedly indecently assaulted at school camp by deputy principal.

By ABC NEWS

A high school deputy principal in southern New South Wales has been charged with additional offences relating to the alleged aggravated indecent assault of female students at a school camp.

Police say last month a 14-year-old girl reported being indecently assaulted at her private school on two consecutive days in April.

After investigations by the NSW Police Child Abuse Squad, a 50-year-old man was arrested on May 6 and charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Police have also been investigating the alleged indecent assault of three other girls from the same private school.

Officers said the girls, two aged 14 and one aged 15, were allegedly indecently assaulted while away at a school camp in Victoria.

Yesterday, the 50-year-old man was charged at Deniliquin Police Station with three additional counts of aggravated indecent assault.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear into Deniliquin Local Court on July 21.

Police said investigations were continuing and detectives were asking anyone with information that may assist them to come forward.

This post was originally published by ABC Online.

5. Islamic State: Canberra teen’s Facebook targeted by terror group recruiter, mother claims.

By ABC NEWS

A popular ACT mother’s group website has posted claims from one of its members that her 13-year-old son’s Facebook account has been targeted by Islamic State recruiters.

The Canberra mother wrote via the website: “Today my 13-year-old son’s Facebook account has been either hacked or he has mistakenly accepted a friend request by someone recruiting for ISIS.

“We monitor our kids’ accounts closely and thankfully picked it up immediately — our son had no idea this person was on his account — we have the police involved but the owner of the Facebook page is clearly recruiting for war.

“I just wanted to warn other parents to keen an eye on this, it’s scary — check Facebook settings mummas and keep your babies safe.”

The administrators of the Canberra Mums website where the claims were posted said the mother was a public servant who regularly contributed to the site and that they had no reason to believe the claims were false.

ACT Police and the Australian Federal Police have refused to discuss the case with the ABC.

The AFP had urged parents to contact the national security hotline if they had any concerns that their children’s social media or email accounts were being targeted by extremists.

Terrorism expert Levi West said the online battle against extremism had been lost.

“Sadly it fits a pattern of behaviour of recruiting younger and younger people to the organisation or targeting them for propaganda or whatever it may be,” Mr West said.

“ISIS has demonstrated an incredible capacity to leverage social media in a highly sophisticated and intentional way.”

This post was originally published by ABC Online.

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au.

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