Monday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Child ‘dumpers’ arrested

An American couple who were being sought by police after returning their adopted son to the state after raising him for nearly a decade have turned themselves in. The parents told the local newspaper that the boy behaved aggressively and would not agree to get help.

The County Prosecutor said ‘When you are the parent and you recklessly abandon a child or children, there are criminal consequences. These children don’t have a return-to-sender stamp emblazoned on their forehead.’

2. Childcare inquiry

The PM yesterday released the terms of reference for its inquiry into childcare and early childhood learning. The Productivity Commission will look at long day care, family day care, in-home care including nannies and au pairs, mobile care, occasional care, and outside school hours care. Australia’s system of childcare rebates and benefits has been singled out as perhaps the world’s most complicated as an inquiry begins to investigate adopting a New Zealand style scheme to support nannies.

3. First female Bishop

The Anglican Church has appointed its first female Bishop in Australia, the Reverend Dr Sarah Macneil. She will take charge of the NSW Grafton diocese which is due to be a focus in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, in Sydney today.

 4. Outrage over lion killing

An American television presenter has prompted a massive social media backlash by boasting online that she had killed a lion in South Africa. The outrage has extended to an online petition asking the South African government to bar her from returning. For more on this story and information on the online petition go to this post here.” Lion Killer outrage”

 5. Plan for Aussie kids

A call today for smacking be to discouraged, junk food advertising banned from kids’ TV and sporting events, and the legal drinking age raised to 21. The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth will launch its first national plan for children’s wellbeing in Canberra today.

 6. Tampon death

A teenager in the UK has died from from toxic shock syndrome caused by using her first tampon. 14 year old Natasha Scott-Falber from Wales was found dead on Valentine’s Day after suffering from what her family believed was norovirus. It’s now thought it was the rare bacterial infection caused by tampons.

 7. Legal age for sex debate

In the UK there are calls to lower the age of consent for sex to 15. Britain’s leading expert on public health said society is sending confused signals about when sex is permitted.

 8. Schoolies STD warning

Health officials have warned of an STD epidemic among schoolies as Surfers Paradise pharmacies report an increase in the sale of the morning-after pills.

9. Olivia’s daughter’s addictions

The daughter of Olivia Newton John has given a tell-all interview about her battle with anorexia, her daily cocaine and vodka habit and the pressure of growing up the daughter of a ‘perfect celebrity mother’.

Fresh out of rehab she said she replaced her eating disorder with other addictions, “The first time I tried cocaine I felt such relief. It took my anxiety away. I got to the stage where the first thing I did each morning was to do cocaine.’

10. Kids and veggies

Struggling to get your kids to eat their veggies? Well it seems like you can blame evolution.

Psychologists have said this behaviour was programmed into children from birth to avoid them being harmed or poisoned by flowers or plants. Now – eat your peas!

11. Gay waitress tip

A waitress is now getting tips from all over the world after she says a family refused to tip her because she is gay.

“I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with what your lifestyle and how you live your life,” a family member wrote on the receipt for $93.55. The waitress was so upset about the incident, she vented on Facebook. The response was overwhelming.

In brief:

Around 60,000 people have rallied for stronger action on climate change, and for the Coalition to keep the carbon tax.

Authorities in the Philippines are resorting to hasty mass burials to cope with the large amounts of dead bodies.

A plane has crashed while landing in Russia killing 50 passengers.

What news have you been talking about today?