Wednesday's news in under 2 minutes.

1. A Victorian landlord has been cleared of the deaths of six-year-old Chase and eight-year-old Tyler Robinson who died in 2010 when a gas heater in their home increased carbon monoxide levels to dangerous highs.

The coroner in the case has said that landlords need to be encouraged to have gas heaters serviced regularly – approximately every two years. The mother of the two boys, Vanessa Robinson, suffers ongoing health problems from the faulty gas heater that killed her children, and has since started campaigning to install carbon monoxide alarms inside homes. 

You can read a full post from Vanessa Robinson here.

2. The 24-year-old man who allegedly abducted his 8-month-old son at knife point last week has reportedly handed himself into police. The man was arrested and charged with numerous offences. A police spokesperson said: “He was arrested and subsequently charged with a number of offences, including take and detain person with intent to obtain advantage and take or detain child with intent to remove from parental control.” He’ll appear in court this week.

3. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has reportedly hired three political strategists who helped Barack Obama secure another term in office. Fairfax reported those three include former executive director of the Democratic National Committee Tom McMahon, consultant Joon Kim and Matthew McGregor who is a British Social Media adviser.

4. A woman in Germany has given birth to a baby girl weighing more than 6 kilograms, reports Die Welt. Baby Jasleen was born in a natural birth – not delivered via caesarean – and is the country’s largest ever newborn.

5. It’s been revealed that the man who was driving the train that crashed in Spain killing 79 people was on the phone at the time of the derailment. Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was charged with 79 counts of negligent homicide after the accident but was released on bail.

7. In the next printed edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, gay marriage will be included as a secondary definition of marriage. Currently, marriage is defined as ‘the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognised by law, by which they become husband and wife.’ A clarification will read: ‘in some jurisdictions a union between partners of the same sex.’

8. Bradley Manning – the man who was accused of giving classified US government documents to Wikileaks – has reportedly been found not guilty of aiding the enemy. Twenty-five-year-old Manning was however been convicted on lesser charges of espionage and could still spend the rest of his life behind bars.