Monday's news in less than 5 minutes

1. Gammy’s parents

The parents of baby Gammy have appeared on 60 Minutes saying they left their newborn son in Thailand as they were scared they would lose his sister, Pipah too.

“We were scared we were going to lose her. We had to try and get out as fast as we could.” David Farnell said.

He also said he ashamed of his past as a sex offender.

“I’ve been convicted of child sex offences and I hang my head in shame for that and I’m deeply regretful of that,” he said.

Overwhelmingly comments on the interview were negative with the couple being accused of not caring for their son.

For more read this post or this post.

2. Images posted on Twitter of Australia boy holding soldier’s head

An image has been posted on Twitter of the seven-year old son of an Australian jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf, holding up the severed head of a Syrian soldier.

The boy, who was brought up in Sydney, holds the head high with the captain – by his father – saying, “That’s my boy”.

The Australian, which uncovered the image, reports it is “utterly shocking”.

3. Women stoned to death

Two women have been stoned to death in rebel-held northern Syria accused of having sex outside marriage.

AP reports the women were placed in a hole in the ground while a large pile of rocks was dumped near them.

A cleric then asked the local men to stone them.

In the case of the first woman, no one stepped forward to do so; instead, Ap reports, “jihadi fighters, mostly foreign extremists, did it themselves, pelting Faddah Ahmad with stones until her body was dragged away.”

4. 500 slaughtered in Iraq

As American and British planes drop relief supplies on Mount Sinjar in Northern Iraq, at least 500 members of the Yazidi ethnic minority group  have reportedly been the target of “indiscriminate slaughter.“

Iraq Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said ISIS, in some cases, buried Yazidi alive as they fled their occupied homeland in northern Iraq, Reuters reports.

More than 300 women have been taken as slaves.

Up to 150,000 refugees are still stranded on Mount Sinjar, but the ABC reports a Yazidi politician, Vian Dakhil, said 20,000 to 30,000 people have managed to escape down one side of the mountain into Syria.

On the second day of the US military campaign, American forces have launched more airstrikes to defend attacks on Yazidi civilians.

The Australian reports Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will hold security briefings with US and British officials this week on the campaign against the Islamic State terrorists.

5. 17 y/o arrested over rape and murder of 6 y/o

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested over the murder and rape of six-year-old Jenise Wright in the US state of Washington.

The little girl went missing last weekend and her body was found on Thursday. Jenise was last seen when she went to bed Saturday night.

Her parents reportedly waited nearly 24 hours before calling for help because they said she often wandered around their Mobile Home Park on her own.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Detective Earl Smith told ABCNews that the 17-year-old is a resident of the same mobile home park where Jenise lived.

6. City2Surf Death

Yesterday’s City2Surf in Sydney has been marred by the tragic death of a 27-year-old man who collapsed near the finish line after a reported cardiac arrest.

7. Quentin Bryce to chair domestic violence task force

There has been welcome news with the establishment of a new Domestic and family Violence Taskforce chaired by Former Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.

The announcement was made yesterday by Premier Campbell Newman.

The taskforce will report back to the Premier by the end of February 2015 with recommendations to inform the development of a domestic and family violence strategy.

In QLD alone there are 175 reports of domestic violence a day, and reported incidents of domestic violence rose in QLD from 57,963 in 2012 to 64,246 in 2013.

The Courier Mail report that the worst group of offenders are male tradesmen, road workers and gardeners.

8. “Spice” kills 19 year-old

A family left devastated by the death of their son to synthetic cannabis have asked for his story to be shared to warn other of the dangers of these ‘legal highs’.

The 19-year-old died after smoking the drug in the US state of California.

For more, read this post here.

9. Baby born to 13 -year-old taken into care

A baby born to a 13 year-old girl and fathered by her 15-year-old brother has been taken into care.

The Daily Mail reports that the baby, now aged two, was taken into custody and a court has recently ruled that baby will be put up for adoption in Northern Ireland.

The judge in the Belfast High Court said the mother, now 16, was incapable of giving consent for the adoption herself.

10. Nine-year-old boy fights off alligator

A nine-year old boy has calmly described how he fought off an alligator while swimming in a lake in Florida.

The 182kg alligator grabbed the boy from behind — but James Barney said he “hit it a couple of times.”

“It let go a little, and then I had enough strength left to pry its jaw open a little,” he explained.

11. Prove you are a virgin to teach?

Women’s rights advocates are furious over a requirement in Brazil’s biggest state Sao Paulo to prove they are virgins and free of a range of cancers.

The education department demands women wishing to be teachers to undergo a pap smear or to present a doctor’s statement that they have not been sexually active.

CBC News reports that until recently they had also ben requited to undergo a colonoscopy.

Ana Paula de Oliveira Castro, a public defender of women’s issues in Sao Paulo, said it was an invasion of privacy.

“It violates women’s rights. It’s very intimate information that she has the right to keep. It’s absurd to continue with these demands,” she said.

12. Concerns over soccer injuries in young children

An expert in the UK has called for a ban to be placed on children heading the ball when playing soccer with concerns it can cause brain injuries.

A leading neuroscientist has said the repeated impact affects a child’s neck muscles that are not yet fully developed.

Dr Michael Grey from the University of Birmingham’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, has told The Telegraph that as a child’s brain is still immature it is more vulnerable to damage.

Some have called for the age at which heading be introduce to be 14 but he says it is individual.

“The brain bounces back and forth and it is the impact of the brain against the inside of the skull causes additional damage.”

13. Police seize CCTV footage of Gold Coast tragedy

Police have seized footage from the night that tragically ended in 26-year-old Warriena Tagpuno Wright’s death.

Ms Wright, from New Zealand, allegedly met up with 28-year-old Gable Tostee  after the pair became acquainted on Tinder. The couple was seen on the balcony of a Gold Coast apartment block at 2:20 last Friday, the Daily Mail reports.

But the night ended in tragedy when Ms Wright fell 14 floors from the balcony and died.

Mr Tostee was questioned by police on Friday and released without charge, and police seized CCTV footage from the apartment following the interview.

Mr Tostee later took to a bodybuilding site to deny that he had caused the fall.

“I’ve been advised not to go into details but all I will say is that I absolutely did NOT cause this girl to fall and that I am devastated about what happened to her,” he wrote.

[post_snippet id=324408]