NEWS: 7 things to talk about today.

1. There are reports out of the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadah today that a 5-year-old girl has been beaten to death by her father, a prominent Muslim cleric. Apparently the cleric, Fayan al-Ghamdi killed his daughter because he questioned her virginity. Unbelievably he has managed to pay around $50,000 in blood money in order to escape a jail term of any significance.

2. A Galaxy poll released today suggests that Tony Abbott is set to be Australia’s next Prime Minister following a 14 September election. He is predicted to win up to 14 seats from Labor, with the Coalition leading 54-46 on a two party preferred basis. Support for the Greens has also dropped.

3. Two (straight) AFL players, Brock McLean of Carlton and Daniel Jackson of Richmond, have joined in Victoria’s Gay Pride March over the weekend in an effort for their sport to taken stronger action to tackle homophobia. McLean told the Herald Sun that “The AFL and players have been so quiet on this issue for so long, they’re sort of pretending like it’s not there. But there is an issue there. There is homophobia in sport.”

4. The Superbowl is on today in the US and here are some fun facts: the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49-ers will be held in New Orleans at the same stadium that housed thousands of people after Hurricane Katrina, Beyonce will perform at half time, and the coaches of the two teams are brothers.

5. Hillary Clinton formally resigned as the US Secretary of State over the weekend. Now the question is – will she run for president in 2016?

6. According to Twitter, the passwords of around 250,000 users have been stolen in a sophisticated online attack. “This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident,” Twitter’s security director said after the attack was discovered. If you think you might have been one of those affected, Twitter’s recommending you reset your password.

7. A woman in Sydney was attempting to kill a spider when she accidentally caused an explosion. The 66-year-old was spraying incediscie under the washing machine when the incident occurred. No one was injured – but we suspect the spider is dead.