Your speedy update on all the day’s stories, Monday, July 12 2014
1. One body found in the search for missing snowboarders.
Melbourne residents Martin (Martie) Buckland, 33, and Daniel Kerr, 32, have been missing since Thursday while snowboarding in remote terrain on Mt Bogong, Victoria. Police confirmed that a body, who they now identify as Daniel Kerr, was found at 10:30am this morning under 4 metres of snow.
Wangaratta police area commander Inspector David Ryan told media, “The news is not good. We have located one body in the search area. We are still looking for the second male. There is every possibility the other male is not far away. It would appear the gentleman have been caught up in an avalanche.”
The search continues for the second snowboarder, but rescuers are reportedly not hopeful for a positive outcome.
Our thoughts are with their family at this time.
2. Is Angelina Jolie going to visit Nauru detention centre?
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie, 39, has been a UN ambassador for 10 years, advocating for refugees across the globe.
Radio New Zealand reports that last month Angelina was invited to visit the Australian detention centre during her attendance at a global summit on on sexual violence against women in conflict.
Early reports said a Nauru government representative confirmed the visit, "We believe this will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the facilities for refugees on Nauru, which we believe are world's best practice."
However, new reports suggest that Angelina won't be attending due to a full schedule for the next 12 months.
In October last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the centre failed to meet international standards and were highly criticised.
3. The world's saddest polar bear.
Lonely ArturoArturo is a 29-year-old polar bear living in a concrete enclosure at Mendoza Zoo, Argentina. And he has been labelled the world's saddest animal.
Besides battling 40C heat and only having 50cm of cool water, he also is completely alone. Having lost his long-term friend 2 years ago (Pelusa passed away). He reportedly has depression which has him displaying strange behaviour (for a polar bear) which includes tilting his head, showing his teeth, pacing back and forth and rocking from side to side.
Anti-zoo and animal rights campaigners are demanding his freedom. US singer, Cher, 68, took to twitter to share her outrage, "Don’t cry for him, Argentina? No tears of Mrs Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for tortured polar bear Arturo. Your hands are stained with his blood when he dies."
4. Is the world ready for a 3-parent baby?
Couples with harmful genetic disorders may soon be able to remove the DNA associated with those disorders by using 2 eggs and sperm from three different people. The Sydney Morning Herald report 2 research groups in the US and one in Britain believe they have enough data to begin trials on a process called mitochondrial-replacement therapy.
Say Mary and Tom want a baby, but they have a chance of passing on an incurable genetic disorder to their offspring. If legalised, the therapy would take Mary's egg and remove the affected mitochondria (where genetic disorders live). They would then need to replace those mitochondria with healthy ones - say from their friend Sue. And then add Tom's sperm to make an embryo which would then need to be planted in Mary's womb.
Both Britain and US governments are discussing the procedure - which alters the germ line (Sue's DNA would be in Mary's baby's eggs or sperms).
1 in 4000 children and adults are diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease. Some can be born with the disease, however, only be a carrier or have a minor affect. However, their offspring could suffer the full wrath. Unfortunately, there is never a certainty on what affect their offspring would experience.
5. Is this Dad the parent-of-the-year? Or over-indulging his daughter?
Father of three, Jeremiah Heaton travelled 14 hours by caravan through the desert before planting a flag on a stretch of disputed land between Egypt and Sudan. All because he promised his 7-year-old daughter, Emily, that she would one day be a real princess.
Bir Tawil is 1,300 km sq stretch of desert, unclaimed by Sudan or Egypt. And while others have tried to claim the land online, Jeremiah believes planting the family flag (blue background with a seal and stars) gives him an edge over the other claims.
Jeremiah explains how it all came about, "Over the winter, Emily and I were playing, and she has a fixation on princesses. She asked me, in all seriousness, if she’d be a real princess someday. And I said she would."
Experts say that other African nations and the UN would need to accept the claim before Princess Emily could be the official ruler.
6. Quick! A loom band dress on sale for AU$310,000.
It took Helen Wright, 42, 45 hours to make a dress entirely from 24,000 loom bands with her friend, Kathryn Burnand, from North Wales. Which she then decided to put on eBay for AU$90. After 137 bids and a mere 34 hours to go, the dress is now at AU$310,000.Helen told Wales Online, "I’m still in shock and I can’t believe it. I still won’t believe it until the bidding’s finished and the money is in the bank. My friend Katherine physically made it because she’s out of work and gets bored ... She did an hour here or there in between her house work to keep her busy. It was made as a novelty and we never intended it to be worn."
Loom bands are brightly-coloured wristbands made of interwoven rubber bands and have been spotted on Duchess Kate (which then made the trend take off in the UK.)