We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. A missing six-day-old baby has been found.
A baby boy, who was aged just six days old, has finally been found along with his parents.
Attended by other family members, the newborn was swiftly taken to the Sydney Children’s Hospital to receive medical care.
A statement released by the NSW Police Force on Facebook reveals that the boy’s parents were arrested within two hours of each other after police apprehended the mother at the Sydney’s Children Hospital.
“The boy’s 25-year-old father was arrested on King Street, Mascot, around 6pm, while the boy’s 28-year-old mother was arrested at the Sydney Children’s Hospital shortly before 8pm.
Both parents are now at Mascot Police Station where they are assisting police with their inquiries.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the boy’s parents have been described as “erratic” and that police held serious concerns for the safety of the child.
The family first disappeared from Regents Park in Sydney’s western suburbs earlier this week on Tuesday.
The baby’s parents, Salome Taufehema, 28, and Steven Kennedy, 25, were arrested overnight and were denied bail from Parramatta Bail Court.
2. Catholic church avoided paying millions to sexual abuse victims.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has revealed a systematic program that the Church instigated to avoid paying compensation to child sexual abuse victims and survivors.
The Commission found that in the early 1990s, predicting the exposure of child sexual abuse allegations, the Church created the Melbourne Response program.
Internal documents from the program show that church leaders organised for all documents pertaining to sexual abuse be “kept to a minimum” to prevent lawsuits.
Cardinal George Pell, who was then an archbishop, allegedly orchestrated the entire program, which capped compensation payments to victims at $50,000.
Cardinal Pell has since attempted to defend the program at a previous state inquiry in 2013, claiming it was “based on justice”.
Ultimately, the capped compensation saved the Catholic church up to$62 million in payouts, according to analysis from the Sunday Age. The data shows that matters which were settled with the Melbourne Response program had an average payout of $42,000, compared to those of $270,000 who sued outside the program.
Documents released in the Commission show that the archdiocese of Melbourne began to prepare for child sexual abuse allegations, as far back as the late 1980s, despite the Church still denying its existence.
A representative from the archdiocese comments that the revelations in the Commission are “part of the larger story about the culture of secrecy and something nobody in the church at the time could be at all proud of”.
3. Man sexually assaulted backpackers as they slept.
A man has been arrested following accusations that he was sneaking into backpacking hostels and sexually assaulting women as they slept.
The 31-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is an Italian national and is currently on a tourist visa in Australia.
Police have alleged that the man entered into two hostels in Brisbane, X-base and Bunk hostel, at least seven times in the last six months to assault women.
At the moment, police know of two victims, however, they believe that there are many more out there.
Prosecutor, Terry Perry, confirms the possibility of more victims, considering that many might have been asleep at the time.
“He’s done this while they were asleep, they might not even know,” said Perry.
The man was first found out after a woman woke to see her friend being assaulted by him, and videoing the assault on his phone.
He will face court again next month.
4. Another horrific terrorist attack at a London tube station.
A man has been slashed and is suffering serious injuries after being attacked on Saturday evening at Leytonstone underground station, in London.
Witnesses at the scene report they heard the offender screaming “This is for Syria” and “all of your blood will be spilled” just before and during the attack.
After slashing the victim’s throat, the man allegedly involved in the incident attempted to threaten and hurt other passengers, before police quickly intervened.
The head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Unit, Commander Richard Walton, has confirmed that the knife attack is being investigated as a terrorist incident.
“We are treating this as a terrorist incident,” said Commander Walton.
“The threat from terrorism remains at severe, which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely.”
A number of bystanders report that they heard others at the station yelling, “You ain’t no Muslim, bruv” and “Drop it, you fool”.
The stabbing follows the UK Parliament’s decision to conduct British airstrikes on locations in Syria where Daesh is believe to be located.
5. A beautiful story of siblings who reveal they were transgender, within weeks of one another.
A report from The Sun has told the fascinating story of siblings, Russie and Aly who revealed they were transgender within weeks of one another.
Mum, Beth McGarrity, has said that a week before her then daughter’s 15th birthday, Aly told her that she identified as transgender.
“I’ve always wanted to be a boy,” Aly said. “I never told you this, but when I was little, I would go to sleep and wish that I’d wake up as a boy.”
Beth said that she expressed unconditional love and support of Aly, who then decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery after high school.
Just a month later, after witnessing the support that Beth showed before his sister, Aly, Russie also told his mum that he was transgender.
Following counselling sessions, the two siblings decided to go ahead with sex changes.
Russie and Aly, who are now 20 and 17, respectively, are known as Rai and Gavin.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Beth said, “People ask me what I’ve lost, but I don’t feel that I’ve lost anything. I have my son and daughter the way they should be.”
Do you have a news tip? We’d love to hear it. E-mail us at: news@mamamia.com.au
[post_snippet id=324408]
