Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. A second Texas Ebola case

A healthcare worker who treated Liberian Eric Duncan – who died last week of Ebola at a hospital in Texas – has tested positive in a preliminary test for the deadly virus.

The female nurse was isolated after suffering from a fever on Friday night, Texas Department of State Health Services said.

The nurse had “extensive contact” on “multiple occasions,” with Eric Duncan said Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the CDC.

“At some point, there was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is undertaking a second test to ensure the positive result is correct.

Officials said they are working to ident
ify anyone who may have had contact with the worker.

NBC reports that the nurse’s family have requested her identity remain private.

“That health care worker is a heroic person who provided care to Mr. Duncan,” Dallas Judge Clay Jenkins said at a press conference.

2. School curriculum overhaul

The Abbott government has launched their much anticipated school curriculum review conducted by education consultant Kevin Donnelly and academic Ken Wiltshire as reported over the weekend.

The 30-point recommendation in the review calls to reduce the number of subjects undertaken by students.

Other recommendations:

• The review suggested there should be a greater emphasis on phonics in the English curriculum, particularly in the early years of reading.
•  It argues that the Australian curriculum does not pay enough attention to the impact of “Western civilization and Judeo-Christianity on Australia’s development, institutions and broader society and culture.”
• It calls for an axing of the cross-curriculum embedding of indigenous, sustainable and Asian perspectives in every subject, with those issues instead taught as separate subjects.
• A more rigorous maths curriculum similar to that taught in Japan.
• It questions the introduction of science being brought in so early pointing out that in Singapore and Finland (which are among the top performing education systems in the world) science is not taught until years 3 and 5 respectively.
•  It raises concerns about teachers’ poor grammar and punctuation. “It’s hard to expect teachers who have never been taught grammar, to teach it,” Education Minister Christopher Pyne said.

The Federal Government will release its final response to the review early next year.

 3. Oscar Pistorius sentencing

Oscar Pistorius will be sentenced this week, with Judge Thokozile Masipa to hear several days of legal arguments and testimony that will begin this evening.

Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, or negligent killing.

There is speculation he could receive anything from a suspended sentence to up to 15 years in prison.

 4. Rolf Harris new charges

A British newspaper has uncovered 10 new victims who claim they were abused by Rolf Harris which could result in fresh charges against him.

The Sunday Times reports that some of the claims relate to abuse in Australia and New Zealand and that many of the victims were under age.

Former detective-turned-investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas told The Sunday Times: “These new allegations are very serious in nature and could mean that Harris will face more charges.”

5. Mum never knew she was pregnant

A 38-year old woman who never knew she was pregnant – and was told she would never be able to have children has given birth on the same day she found out she was pregnant.

Kim Walsh has told her story but is now facing attack from internet trolls.

For more read this post here.

 6. Wallabies Star text message revealed

Wallabies Kurtley Beale will this week face the ARU Conduct Committee after “deeply offensive” text messages he sent to the only female staff member on the team came to light.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the images sent to former Wallabies staffer Di Patston in June features crude words along side an image of an overweight women.

After he sent the images Patston told him “Don’t you think my job is hard enough without this? This is how the only female staff member is treated?”

Beale apologised “I hate I have done this to you …”

It is alleged that Beale then verbally abused Patston on a flight from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo three weeks ago and after that Patson told ARU officials about the text messages.

 7. Racist attack

Two men charged after a racist attack on a security guard on a Brisbane train will appear before Brisbane Magistrates Court today.

Video of the attack which was posted online went viral.

A 17-year-old Brisbane male who spat and verbally harassed the guard faces several charges, including three assault-related charges, threatening violence and creating a nuisance on a railway.

An 18-year-old Ipswich man also faces a charge of creating a nuisance on a railway.

For more read this post here. 

 8. Baby dies after being left alone for 16 hours

A baby has died after her parents left her alone in her cot for sixteen hours without checking on her.

NBC reports that the nine-month old was placed face down in her cot at 8.30pm Sunday.

Her mother, Jasmyne Alexander, aged 21 from Virginia in the US came home from work at midnight and both parents began to drink and then went to sleep.

According to court documents they did not check on baby Avarice until Sunday afternoon, but she had died.

Police claim that Jasmyne and Adam Alexander had not taken their daughter to a doctor for seven months despite her having a breathing problem.

Both parents were arrested and charged with felony child neglect.

 9. Man charged after cowards punch attack

A 32-year-old Sydney man has been charged over a ‘cowards punch’ at Beach in the early hours of Sunday morning that left a 21-year old man with critical injuries.

The victim was placed in an induced coma, but has since been brought out of it.

He will require further medical treatment after suffering bruising to his brain, a large cut to his forehead, a black eye, a chipped tooth and cuts to his face and body reports Fairfax Media.

10. Melbourne Mum thanks the teen who returned her stillborn babies’ ashes

For Joanne Valiukas, 15 years after their stillbirth, the ashes of her triplets mean everything.

But when they were stolen from her home in Melbourne last Thursday she was devastated.

Luckily quick thinking from a teenage boy has seen her reunited with her precious babies’ ashes.

17-year old Josh Fitzpatrick found the box containing the ashes under a tree at the side of a road in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs.

The ABC reports that he told his mother about his find and together they went straight to the police station,

Joanne wept with relief when she found out the ashes were found.

“Thank you Josh you’ve given us back everything,” she said.

 11. One in eight Aussies can’t pay electricity bill

A survey of has found one in eight people cannot afford to pay their electricity bills and more than one in 10 people have missed more than three bill payments in the past 12 months.

The study by Ernst & Young showed that nine in 10 people said they had, or would consider, switching to solar energy.

 12. Here’s when we can finally see Kate

Kensington Palace has announced that the Duchess of Cambridge will make her first public appearance since her second pregnancy was announced when she meets Singaporean president Tony Tan on October 21st.

The Duke and Duchess are scheduled to meet President Tan when he arrives in the UK on a state visit.

According to The Daily Mail Kensington Palace warned that she may be forced to cancel this engagement due to her hyperemesis gravidarum, and said her appearances are being reviewed on a ‘case by case’ basis.

13. Man tries to have female judge disqualified for being a “feminist”

A man has tried to have a female Supreme Court judge disqualify herself from hearing a matter because he suspected she was a feminist.

Sydney man Tosson Mahmoud argued his views about the undesirability of women in senior roles in society might cause “women judges to retaliate against” him, Fairfax Media reports.

Justice Monika Schmidt said Mr Mahmoud asked her to step aside on the basis that he “suspected that as a female judge, I was a feminist with leftist leanings”.

The judge rejected the application, saying the man’s application rested partly on the assumption a male judge “would not hold views of the kind he suspected female judges such as I held”.

14. Mannequins with protruding ribs

Glassons New Zealand has drawn criticism on social media for using mannequins with protruding rib cages.

Law student and actress Emily Robins drew attention in a tweet to the mannequins, which Buzzfeed reports also feature no face or toes.

A spokesperson for Glassons New Zealand told Buzzfeed the mannequins would remain in stores, while Hallensteins Glassons Group chief executive Graeme Popplewell told stuff.co.nz: “due to the position of the mannequin… the rib cage is naturally enhanced as it would be in real life”.

Mr Popplewell added that the mannequin’s proportions meant it would have a body mass index of 18.8 — within the “healthy” BMI range.

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