1. A new book claims Belle Gibson ‘faked a 40 minute seizure’ at her son’s birthday party.
A new book about the life of Belle Gibson, who lied that she had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and claimed to have healed herself with natural remedies, claims she once faked a seizure at her own son's fourth birthday party to convince family and friends of her illness.
The book - The Woman Who Fooled The World - written by Australian journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano is released today, and details an incident in which Gibson seized for '40 minutes' in the middle of her son's birthday celebrations.
The book describes how on July 2014, just as guests we preparing to leave Gibson's home after the party, the then 29-year-old's eyes "rolled back into her head" and she began shaking and convulsing on the ground.
"It was scary... It was so violent, the adults were crying," a guest at the party recalled.
When a guest pulled out her phone to call an ambulance, Gibson's seizure stopped.
"It was, 'No, no, no, this has happened before, everything's going to be all right, she'll get through it'," another friend told the book's authors.
"There's no need for an ambulance. That was the consensus."
Witnesses said the wellness blogger continued seizing on and off for around 40 minutes, while her son Oli and his friends watched in horror.
"He was petrified. The kids had to almost walk over the top of her to go upstairs," one friend said.
"Oli had to look at his mum looking like she was almost dead on the floor."
Later that night, Gibson wrote on Facebook that her seizures were a result of her brain cancer. Two weeks later, she shared on Instagram that her cancer had spread to multiple organs.
It wasn't until a year later that her lies would be exposed.
By that time she is believed to have made upwards of $420,000 through her various businesses, which were dependent on garnering sympathy from her followers and spruiking the natural diet she claimed had cured her.
In September, Gibson was fined $410,000 by the Federal Court for misleading consumers.
2. Turnbull Government threatens to refer Labor MPS to High Court over citizenship.
Any suggestion of a bi-partisan approach to ending the citizenship crisis that has rocked the foundations of the federal parliament looks dead and buried.
According to AAP, the Turnbull Government has threatened to refer two Labor MPs to the High Court over their citizenship status, an about-face of what it considered a "dangerous" option just a few weeks ago.
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne says there are questions over whether Labor MPs Justine Keay and Susan Lamb, as well as crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie, held dual citizenship at the time of the 2016 election.
"There is absolutely no reason the parliament should not vote to refer those members to the High Court if the Labor party refuses to do the right thing," Mr Pyne told Sky News on Sunday, reiterating comments he made on Friday.
The House of Representatives will sit for the final two weeks of the year from November 27.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Mr Shorten seems to think the constitution does not apply to the Labor Party.
"I just say to Bill Shorten, it is the High Court of Australia and nobody else that determines whether MPs and senators can sit in the parliament, and he should stop running a protection racket for his MPs," Mr Turnbull told reporters during a brief visit to Hong Kong.
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke described it as a "desperate born-to-rule approach".
He said it wasn't that long ago Attorney-General George Brandis spoke against the approach Mr Pyne and the Prime Minister are now advocating.
3. Mums-to-be to be screened to help combat post and antenatal depression rates.
New national guidelines could see mums-to-be screened while they are pregnant to determine if they are at risk of depression and other mental health problems, The West Australian reports.
The guidelines also recommend new mums receive additional screenings after the birth of their babies as part of routine maternity and postnatal care.
Current figures show around one in five new Australian mothers are affected by post and antenatal depression. According to the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE), most cases of perinatal mental health conditions go undetected.
Commissioned by the Federal Government, pregnant women will be given a standard questionnaire to help doctors, nurses and midwives better gauge their likelihood of developing mental health problems - like depression, anxiety and schizophrenia - in the lead up to, and after the birth of, her baby.
Terri Smith, from Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia, said the new guidelines are designed to help families who are affected by the "illness that doesn't discriminate" reach out for help.
"It absolutely affects every type of family," she told The West Australian, adding that many parents often suffer in silence because they are unaware of the symptoms or are too embarrassed to ask for help.
From November, all women have access to the free assessment through Medicare.
4. In response to bombshell Hollywood sexual harassment claims, people are sharing stories of celebrities doing good.
Over the past few weeks, some of Hollywood's most powerful and famous faces - Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Ben Affleck and Louis C.K., to name a few - have fallen from grace as men and women go public with allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
It's enough to make many lose faith in the people they have watched and admired for years. But it's not all bad news.
To combat the flood of horror Hollywood stories, and to spread a little positivity, Twitter users have begun sharing stories of celebrities doing good things.
Like the fact Coldplay frontman Chris Martin visits children's hospitals in every country his band tours to. Or Bono saving one woman's friend from her abusive ex-husband.
Even small niceties are making people smile: one user said Tom Hiddleston once ran into her and caused her to spill her coffee, and he was so mortified he bought her a fresh cup.
Another said Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage stopped to comfort her dog who had been scared by his scooter.
It seems there are still some good celebrities in the world, after all.
5. A new initiative hopes to improve survival rates for Australia's biggest cancer killer.
A new initiative is successfully encouraging those at higher risk of lung cancer to act sooner when symptoms appear.
The promising results of the first of its kind trial - to be presented at a oncology conference in Sydney on Monday - has raised hopes of improving survival rates for Australia's biggest cancer killer, AAP reports.
"Lung cancer is typically a difficult cancer to treat, but even harder to cure when there is a late diagnosis. Those with lung cancer often take a long time to visit their doctor, sometimes because they feel there is a stigma around chest symptoms when you are a long-term smoker," said Professor Phyllis Butow, President, Clinical Oncology Society of Australia.
The CHEST Trial involved over 500 Australians who are long term smokers, aged over 55, with a history of heavy smoking, and who are therefore at higher risk of lung cancer.
Participants in the trial were given a one-on-one consultation with a research nurse as well as a self-help manual informed by psychological theory, to help them understand what symptoms to look for and promote them seeking help sooner.
Researchers tracked which patients visited a GP when they developed respiratory symptoms.
The study found that those who were given the intervention were significantly more likely to see their GP when symptoms developed.
"This is the first trial to show a positive outcome in terms of successfully encouraging those at higher risk of lung cancer to seek medical attention when respiratory symptoms appear, and it's also relatively cost effective," said Professor Jon Emery, from the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research and Department of General Practice.
6. Donald Trump asked Russian President Vladimir Putin directly whether he had meddled with last year's presidential election. Unsurprisingly, he said no.
Donald Trump asked Russian President Vladimir Putin directly whether allegations of Russian meddling in last year's US presidential election were true, RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
While in Vietnam for APEC on Saturday Trump said he believed Putin's denial of the accusations despite the view of US intelligence agencies that Russian interference did take place. Trump later distanced himself from his remarks, AAP reports.
On Sunday, Trump was careful to make clear he sided with the intelligence agencies under his own leadership. He has previously called the allegations of election campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax.
According to RIA, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked how Trump had raised the question about alleged Russian meddling, said: "In fact, Trump asked whether that information could be true, how true it could be, and President Putin, for his part, explained his position, which is that Russia did not interfere in any election and this could not be the case."
Putin also said he did not understand "the groundless statements on the issue being made in the United States", Peskov added.
The Russian issue has clouded Trump's first year in office.
Trump's initial comments on Saturday drew criticism at home because US intelligence agencies have long since concluded there was Russian meddling through hacking and the release of emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Top Comments
Surely Belle Gibson has had her 15 minutes of fame. Pay back the money and quietly disappear.
6. '..US intelligence agencies have long since concluded there was Russian meddling through hacking and the release of emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.' - The hacking is considered the problem and not the content? What is wrong with this picture?