We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Tragedy at pool party as a toddler drowns in front of family and friends.
A three-year old girl has drowned at a Logan public pool in front of her family and other children.
The little girl was pulled unconscious from the 25m lap pool of the Bethania Aquatic Centre just after 2pm.
Nine News reports that the toddler had been at a party at the pool with her family, and a family member pulled her from the water.
Paramedics tried to revive her at the scene and she was rushed to Logan Hospital where she died.
“There was a large family gathering at the pool for the afternoon,” Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman Phillip Campbell said.
About 70 people were at the pool at the time. Police have closed the pool as they source CCTV.
Witnesses described on Facebook how she had been playing happily 10 minutes before the tragic incident.
“I saw her 10 minutes before … It happened very quickly “I just wish one of us that was there saw her jump in. I feel so sad for her and her family. They were playing with their kids the whole time” one woman wrote on Facebook.
Her death comes as three other children nearly drowned in separate incidents in Queensland yesterday.
A 10-year-old girl was fighting for life after she was found submerged in a private pool near Caloundra about 3pm reports The Courier Mail and twin boys, aged 5 also nearly drowned in a public pool south of Brisbane.
2. Cardinal George Pell will today give evidence to the child abuse royal commission.
After a lengthy wait Cardinal George Pell will finally give evidence via video link from Rome about the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of child sexual abuse.
It’s the third time he has faced the public hearings into what went on in the Catholic Church in Victoria.
Pell will have an audience of 15 survivors and supporters who have travelled from Australia after a crowd-funding campaign raised more than $200,000 for their journey.
The Cardinal has been called to give evidence about two case studies — number 28 about the Diocese of Ballarat and number 35 about the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The royal commission has heard evidence from Gerald Ridsdale, a former Ballarat priest who has been convicted of some 138 offences against children, involving 53 victims.
His nephew David Ridsdale told the royal commission he phoned Cardinal Pell in 1993 to tell him that his uncle was abusing him, but that the priest tried to silence him.
The Commission is now trying to establish, for the third time, whether Pell knew about the abuse.
Case study 35 deals with the response of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne to complaints and allegations of child sexual abuse — including during Cardinal Pell’s time as an Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne.
3. Police hunt rapist with distinctive walk.
Police in Melbourne hope someone will recognise a man who broke into a teenage girl’s bedroom and sexually assaulted her on Friday morning.
The teenager was sexually assaulted while the rest of her family were asleep inside their Roxburgh Park home.
Police say the man got into the teen’s bed and sexually assaulted her. After the attack, the intruder forced the girl into the bathroom while he escaped though the bedroom window.
CCTV footage from a neighbouring property shows him then jumping from a fence and running with a distinctive walk.
The man is described as being about 170cm tall with a thin, muscular build, aged in his 20s and clean-shaven. he spoke with an Australian accent.
At the time of the incident he was wearing dark jeans, a pink t-shirt and a dark jacket.
Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Walsh from the Sexual Crimes Squad urged anyone who believes they recognise the man to come forward.
“I’d urge people to have a close look at the image because there will be someone out there in the community who knows who he is,” he said.
“This is a horrific crime and incredibly traumatic for the victim and her family.
“Any piece of information, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem, could prove vital in the investigation.”
Det Sen Sgt Walsh said the CCTV images of the man were quite clear.
“The grabs that you’ll see are reasonably clear … quite a distinctive walk, I think it’s fair to say, that he’s got,” he said.
Police have also released a computer-generated image of the intruder.
Anyone who recognises the man or who may have any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
4. Two-year-old girl attacked by a dog.
A two-year-old girl has been attacked by a dog in a park in the Sydney suburb of Sydenham
The little girl was in the park with her mother when the dog attacked her.
The dog was described as a bulldog and it is believed it was unleashed.
The girl was rushed to hospital with serious facial injuries. The dog was surrended to police by its owner and has been put down.
5. Boy freed after having hand stuck in vending machine for 5 hours.
A four-year-old boy, with his eyes on the cookies, had his hand stuck in a vending machine for more than five hours in Melbourne’s CBD yesterday.
Emergency services were called to a Lonsdale Street address lunchtime on Sunday, where they found the little boy with his hand stuck in the anti-theft flaps of the machine.
His father said the little boy, named Leo was from Arnhem Land and his son Leo had never seen a vending machine before.
“I don’t think he’s seen a vending machine before, so he saw the Oreos and some biscuits and some other things,” his dad, Aaron Shorthouse told the ABC.
Rescuers had to work for hours to dismantle the machine piece-by-piece to free the boy.
The frantic boy had to be sedated after the tactic of letting him watch cartoons on the phones of fire fighters did not work.
“He’s fine after five-and-a-half hours. He was a bit inquisitive, he put his hand in the vending machine, but yes he’s good now,” his dad said.
Sergeant Ali Gurdag said it was an unusual operation.
“First type of job I’ve had to respond to in that situation,” he said.
“To see that young, little kid in the discomfort he was in, and observing the fire brigade and how patient they were, it was just an exceptional performance.”
6. Man kills 14 family members then himself.
A man has stabbed 14 members of his family to death before taking his own life.
The man, named as 35-year-old chartered accountant Hansil Warekar, hosted a party at his house in Thane, 25 kilometres to the north-east of Mumbai, on Saturday night killed eight children, his wife, his three sisters and his parents, The Indian Times reported after they stayed the night.
Ashutosh Dumbare, joint commissioner of Thane Police, said at around 2.30am on Sunday morning, Mr Warekar locked all the doors then went from room to room attacking his family while they slept.
“Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife that we found near his body,” Mr Dumbare said.
“There were three rooms in the house, while he was in a room with his wife and two daughters on the first floor, his parents and sisters were in separate rooms on the ground floor.”
One of Mr Warekar’s sisters was the sole survivor of the attack.
7. Hillary Clinton claims win in South Carolina Democratic primary.
Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic primary in South Carolina.
With more than 95 percent of the votes counted, Mrs Clinton led rival Bernie Sanders by a 48-point margin, dramatically reversing her 28-point loss in the state to President Barack Obama during their 2008 primary battle.
The result is seen as key ahead of ‘Super Tuesday’ next week when 11 primaries will take place.
The former secretary of state decisively established her strength among African American voters giving her the upper hand on Tuesday in six Southern states.
Eleven states will now vote on Tuesday and four more over the next weekend.
In her victory speech, Mrs Clinton took dig at the man tipped to be the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
“Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great,” she said, referencing Mr Trump’s campaign slogan.
8. Chemical found in babies dummies “probably” causes cancer.
A chemical that is found in babies’ dummies and condoms “probably causes cancer” the World Health Organisation has said but experts have said that people should not be concerned as it is more of a threat to workers in factories who produce the items.
MBT or 2-mercaptobenzothiazole is in a wide range of rubber products, including condoms, babies’ dummies, rubber gloves, soft playground surfaces made of “rubber crumb”, elastic bands and car tyres.
Experts from eight countries said there was enough evidence to add the chemical to its “encyclopaedia of carcinogens”.
Professor Hans Kromhout, a member of the committee that reviewed the chemical, said: “It has been identified in gloves and baby bottle teats and soothers.
“It has recently been identified in inhalable road dust with the wearing of rubber tyres the most likely source of this contamination.”
MBT has been linked to bladder cancer, bowel cancer and a type of blood cancer.
Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au