Thursday's news in under 5 minutes.

1.  Abdul Numan Haider shooting

There are reports that the 18-year-old man, Abdul Numan Haider who was shot dead outside a Melbourne Endeavour Hills police station planned to behead officers and post the images online.

According to Fairfax Media police believe the young man had intended to follow a statement given on social media by Islamic State and behead the officers, cover the bodies in an IS flag and then take photos to post via the Internet.

There are reports today that in his back pocket was a large IS flag.

Police say they had chosen to meet him outside the police station to avoid inflaming the situation.

The Australian reports that just days ago on his Facebook page he posted a pic of himself in military fatigues holding an Islamic State flag which a status that read “Let’s not put the focus on other things. The main message I’m sending with these statuses and photos is to the dogs of the Australian Federal Police and ASIO who are declaring war on Islam and Muslims.”

 2. Obama urges world to defeat IS

In his annual address to the UN General Assembly US President Barack Obama has said that U.S. led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq are necessary to stop the terrorist threats of the Islamic State and others

“The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.”

He also called for the world’s nations and religions — including Islam — to confront violent extremism among their citizens and adherents, calling it “a cancer” that threatens all people.

 3. IS behead French hostage

An IS linked Algerian jihadist group who abducted a French tourist say they have killed him after France refused to end its airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

The group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate) released a video titled “A Message with Blood to the French Government” that appears to show the beheading of 55-year-old Herve Gourdel a mountaineering guide from Nice.

4. Chloe Valentine inquest

She lived in a trash strewn rat infested house – known to be infamous for drunken violence and drug use.

How can a four-year old survive that?

An inquest into the death of Chloe Valentine has heard the first comment her mother made after her death was “I’m glad that’s all over so I can get pissed again”.

The Advertiser reports that Chloe’s mother Ashlee Polkinghorne was identified by Families SA as being a drug user who might put her child at risk.

Multiple witnesses have said that Polkinghorne ignored Chloe’s needs.

Her partner, Benjamin McPartland and Polkinghorne are serving four-year minimum jail terms over Chloe’s death.

5. Gammy’s sister taken to China

WA premier Colin Barnett revealed in Parliament yesterday that it was the niece of Gammy’s biological father David Farnell who alerted authorities to the fact the convicted paedophile had a baby girl in his care.

Nine News reports that the Premier told parliament there was never a cover-up of the case as initial details were “very vague”.

Meanwhile it has been reported that David Farnell’s wife has taken baby Pipah to China where she is attending her mother’s funeral.

6. Exec sues for harassment

A former state manager of JBWere has claimed she was harassed after taking time off to have her two babies.

Toni Thornton, who was an Executive Director, has claimed nearly $4.5 million in the Federal Court alleging she was told by her manager Paul Heath that “in his experience a woman’s IQ halves when she falls pregnant.”

Fairfax Media reports that Toni Thornton says she was given higher targets and lower bonuses than her colleagues when she returned to work after maternity leave.

She was also repeatedly asked: “Do you really want to come back to work?”

She says that she was told by her supervisor, Paul Heath at one stage, “Yup, you are having a boy because your bum has blown out”.

The case returns to court in November.

7. Is this ok? Or a massive breach of protocol?

The British PM David Cameron is under fire after being caught on camera saying the Queen purred down the phone line.

His comments came as he spoke to US media mogul Michael Bloomberg in New York yesterday.

Their conversation was picked up by a camera’s microphone.

The British Prime Minister was talking about the Queen’s reaction to the Scottish referendum.

He said, “The definition of relief, if you are Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is ringing up Her Majesty the Queen and saying, “Your Majesty, it is all right, it’s OK.” That was something. That’s relief. She purred down the line.”

‘I’ve never, I’ve never heard someone tear up like that … grateful.”

8. NAPLAN testing to go online

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has confirmed that NAPLAN tests will be moved to a computer based system. “

Moving NAPLAN online will improve the quality of student performance data at the national, state and territory level,” Mr Pyne said. “That’s why the Australian Government is committed to moving NAPLAN from a pencil-and-paper based test to a computer-based assessment and is working closely with the states and territories and the non-government sector,”

News Limited reports that the computer based testing will allow tailored testing to each student, and will be less stressful.

9. School confronts parents over lunch boxes

A Sydney school has adopted a new policy to ensure kids eat healthy lunches, by confronting parents who put treats in their children’s lunch boxes.

The Mosman Daily reports that North Sydney Demonstration School has a policy of monitoring what is in each lunch box and pulling up the parents if it isn’t suitable.

10. Virgin to have an unlimited leave policy

Richard Branson has changed his leave policy at Virgin, allowing staff to take as many days off work as they want. How good is that!

Branson writes that it was his daughter Holly who suggested he follow in the footsteps of company Netflix that does not track employee’s holidays.

“Dad, check this out. It’s something I have been talking about for a while,” she wrote to her father. “I have a friend whose company has done the same thing and they’ve apparently experienced a marked upward spike in everything — morale, creativity and productivity have all gone through the roof.”

11. Study challenges benefits of disturbing baby’s sleep

A QLD study has shown that forcing babies to change their sleep pattern can do more harm than good.

University of Queensland senior lecturer Pamela Douglas who will present the research to a conference next week told News Limited that behavioural sleep interventions that encourage parents to schedule their babies’ sleep and feeds “to certain hours or patterns in their first six months did not improve outcomes for mums or babies and could even lead to higher maternal anxiety or cessation of breastfeeding.”

“Parents might be advised to ignore baby’s cues, for instance in not allowing baby to sleep at the end of a feed, or a form of controlled crying.”

“The evidence is quite clear that these strategies not only don’t help parents and babies when applied in the first six months … for some families, they can actually make things worse.” She said.
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