news

Thursday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Australian couple “left for dead” in Bali. 

A couple from Newcastle have been left with devastating injuries while on holidays in Bali due to a hit-and-run accident.

Tori van de Stadt, 25, and her boyfriend Louis Macindoe, 26, were “left for dead” after a car struck their scooter from behind last Wednesday.

They were on their way back from dinner on their final night in Bali.

Two passersby came across them and found their motorbike “folded in half” in the middle of the road. The couple were bleeding and unconscious in a nearby ditch.

“The guy that found Tori had to keep her airways open for over an hour until the ambulance arrived because her face was so smashed up,” Ms van de Stadt’s mother, Tracey Priestley, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We don’t know how long they were there for.”

Ms van de Stadt has been left with devastating facial and spinal injuries. She will now undergo a full facial reconstruction at Royal Perth Hospital while Mr Macindoe was treated in Bali, arriving back in Australia overnight.

He wrote on Instagram alongside the last photo he took of her in Bali.

“This was the last photo I had on my phone before the incident that resulted in both of us becoming hospitalised,” he wrote.

“I’ve been operated on and gathered enough sense to operate my phone, sort of. Tori is still undergoing surgery and I need for you all to be still keeping her in your thoughts.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s hard to get any purchase on what happened given the circumstances, it’s the first time in my life that I’ve come that close to wiping out completely.

“While you might consider yourself to be pretty well versed on two wheels, sometimes your number can just be up.”

I’m sending cosmic healing vibes and loving energies across to Perth for my love @torivandagram. This was the last photo I had on my phone before the incident that resulted in both of us becoming hospitalised. I’ve been operated on and gathered enough sense to operate my phone, sort of. Tori is still undergoing surgery and I need for you all to be still keeping her in your thoughts. It’s hard to get any purchase on what happened given the circumstances, it’s the first time in my life that I’ve come that close to wiping out completely. While you might consider yourself to be pretty well versed on two wheels, sometimes your number can just be up. I’m completely overwhelmed with happiness knowing how much love and support has come from you all. The next little while will be particularly challenging for Tori as she makes her recovery and a gofundme page has been set up to assist her with ongoing medical expenses. Also, @izmoot who’s just organised an incredible bunch of shows in both Melb and Sydney is having a party for us at the @thefamilyhotelnewcastle this Friday night. There’s going to be a ride from Sydney to Newcastle and you can all stay in my room while I’m away as long as you can deal with the giant rat in the roof. Thank you everyone, lots of love ❤️❤️❤️

A photo posted by Louis Macindoe (@louistalksmacindoe) on

2. Mum who starved baby and then put her in a cooler bag to decompose changes her plea.

A West Australian mother who starved her three-month-old daughter and put her in a cooler bag to decompose has pleaded guilty to manslaughter midway through her murder trial and will be sentenced tomorrow.

ADVERTISEMENT

Tamara Louise Thompson was on trial accused of failing to provide proper sustenance and nourishment to her daughter, Destiny, who died between May and July 2015.

The court heard that Thompson failed to feed Destiny properly and would leave the bottle in her cot even though she could not feed herself.

The court also heard Thompson had begun selling toys and clothes Destiny had not yet grown into.

Thompson pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Wednesday and today face a sentencing hearing.

3. No survivors after plane crash.

A Pakistan International Airlines plane with 47 people on board has crashed, officials said.

Taj Muhammad Khan, a government official based in the Havelian region, told Reuters there were unlikely to be any survivors.

He said: “All of the bodies are burned beyond recognition. The debris is scattered.”

Authorities have released names of 40 passengers, including Pakistani popstar-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed, on board the flight that crashed shortly after take-off.

4. Is this Time’s most controversial person of the year yet?

Donald Trump has been named Time magazine person of the year for 2016.

The president-elect edged out presidential rival Hillary Clinton, who finished in second place on the list.

The magazine described Trump on its front cover as the “president of the divided states of America”, but Mr Trump denied he was responsible for creating any division.

ADVERTISEMENT

Speaking to NBC about the honour he said: “It means a lot, especially me growing up reading Time magazine. I’ve been lucky enough to be on the cover many times this year and last year but I consider this a very, very great honour.”

“I’m not president yet so I didn’t do anything to divide.

“There’s a lot of division and we’re gonna put it back together and we’re gonna have a country that’s very well healed.”

Time’s award names the person who has had the “greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year”.

Previous winners have included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Ebola Fighters, The Pope, President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Former President George W Bush, and Julian Assange.

5. Our largest school childcare provider black-listed after a child with Down syndrome wandered from one of its centres.

Camp Australia, the largest school childcare provider, has been black-listed by the Baird government after a child with Down syndrome wandered from one of its centres.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Camp Australia runs more than 700 pre-and-after-school childcare centres and cares for about 100,000 children a week has been blocked from tendering for new contracts at NSW schools.

Camp Australia was fined $30,000 this year after a seven-year-old child with Down syndrome wandered from its centre at Primary School, Perth. The boy, who also has autism and few verbal skills, left the school unnoticed and crossed a road to end up in a yard with a large dog.

6. C-sections are changing women’s bodies.

A study has found that caesarean sections are affecting evolution, meaning there has been an increase in women born with a narrow pelvis.

ADVERTISEMENT

The number of cases in which a baby is unable to fit down the mother’s birth canal has increased 20 percent worldwide from 30 in 1,000 to 36 in 1,000 since the procedure became commonplace in the ’50s, according to research from the University of Vienna.

“Women with a very narrow pelvis would not have survived birth 100 years ago. They do now and pass on their genes encoding for a narrow pelvis to their daughters,” Dr Philipp Mitteroecker from the university told the BBC.

Mitteroecker said the previous trend towards smaller babies up until the 1950s has been eliminated by the increase, with larger healthier babies increasingly common due to the use of C-section.

7. Protestors dressed as sausages storm red carpet at AACTA Awards.

A group of female filmmakers confused onlookers as they stormed the red carpet at the AACTA Awards dressed as sausages.

More than a dozen women chanted “End the sausage party” hoping to draw attention to the lack of opportunities for female filmmakers in Australia.

Women in Film and Television NSW (WIFT) took issue with the AACTA selecting just two movies made by women in their 28-movie screening tour.

“I don’t think there is a group of men sitting in a room conspiring to exclude women,” WIFT’s Sophie Mathison told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I think we are dealing with a screen industry that has had no significant shift in the statistics of female engagement in 40 years.”

8. Top dog names for 2016 have been released.

Hey Milo! Via I-Stock.

Malcolm Turnbull’s is named JoJo. Barack Obama has Bo and Sunny and we all know Pistol and Boo. But does your dog's name make the top ten for 2016?

ADVERTISEMENT

Rover.com have released the top dog names for 2016 and Boo and Pistol and nowhere to be seen. While 28% of dog names are human names, many of us name our dogs after pop culture or food.

Fetch Milo!

“Decades ago, dogs were simply our pets and the names we chose for them, like Spot or Rover, demonstrated that. As that relationship has evolved, pet owners have begun to think of themselves as ‘pet parents,’ and dogs are part of their families,” Rover CEO Aaron Easterly said.

“As the bond between people and their pets grows, we’ve seen a shift in how pets are named. The way we name them, sheds light on that unique human-dog relationship and reflects our personalities, cultural trends and the things we’re passionate about, from politics to celebrities.”

Top Female Dogs

1. Bella

2. Lucy

3. Daisy

4. Lola

5. Luna

Top Male Dogs

1. Max

2. Charlie

3. Buddy

4. Cooper

5. Jack

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au