Tuesday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Indonesia accuses Australia of bribery.

Indonesia’s vice-president Jusuf Kalla has accused Australia of bribery, accusing the government of paying people smugglers.

“It is wrong for a person to bribe, let alone a state. Such an act is definitely incorrect in the context of bilateral relations,” Mr Kalla said.

Mr Kalla has questioned Australia’s ethics over claims officials paid US$5,000 each to crew members of a people smuggling boat to return 65 asylum seekers to Indonesia.

So far Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton have refused to answer questions about whether Australian officials paid the people smugglers to turn boat around.

The Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said in a statement it was “actually not so hard for Australia to answer the question” and that Australia was “deflecting the issue”.

Ms Marsudi’s spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told ABC News that Indonesia was concerned about the humanitarian aspects of turning back boats, saying the boat at the centre of the bribery allegations was carrying women and children when it ran aground on a remote Indonesian reef.

Yesterday Mr Abbott said in Parliament: “The very consistent position of this Government has been not to comment on operational details”.

Attorney-General George Brandis, also was questioned about the claims, said, “No Australian government comments on operational matters but I can assure you that everything this government has done has been within the law.”

2. Manhunt after attempted abduction in Perth.

Police are searching for a man who tried to snatch an eight-year old boy from his balcony while he was eating breakfast yesterday.

Jordan Cutts from the Seven Network said “He [the boy] managed to break away and he was running around down by the river and a woman has found him and managed to calm him down,” he said.

A woman who found the little boy told Nine News the boy was lying in the middle of the road in the foetal position after running from his attacker.

“He said ‘a man tried to take me from my backyard’ and that was when I asked him to slow down and tell the story again,”

The man was described as being about 175 centimetres tall, slim and dressed in a black hooded jumper.

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 131 444.

3. Bronwyn Bishops attacks Gillian Triggs.

On last night’s Q&A Parliamentary Speaker Bronwyn Bishop attacked the Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs for being too political.

“Gillian, if I can say, that report of yours was seen by many, including me, as one that was, if it was to be done, should have been done under the previous Government when there were 2000 children [in detention] but you chose to do it afterwards and that made it very political,” Ms Bishop said.

“It has made you a very political figure. Therefore, you are subject to criticism,”

Ms Triggs fired back “”My position is not a political one,”

“We work according to the law at the Australian Human Rights Commission and we try to ensure that our evidence is accurate and well-founded. Unfortunately, of course, many of our findings and recommendations are interpreted in political ways.

“I’m afraid, in the human rights context, it is very hard not to be perceived to be political and that is really something we have to manage. I can certainly assure the Australian people that the Human Rights Commission operates in a very neutral way and we operate on the basis of the rule of law.”

4. Sydney sinkhole forces residents to leave their homes.

A sinkhole measuring 10 metres by six metres, and three metres deep opened up in the backyard of a home in Sydney’s south yesterday forcing more than a dozen residents of surrounding homes to flee.

The row of townhouses sits on top of a garage which Fairfax Media reports is prone to flooding.

The State Emergency Service told Fairfax Media it suspected the flooding had leached into the ground out the back of the property, causing the backyard to cave in.

The residents have now been allowed to return home.

5. Students exposed to porn at Melbourne primary school.

Parents from a Melbourne primary school have been shocked to learn their primary school students, as young as seven, had been exposed to pornography after it was downloaded onto the school’s Ipads by a group of students – some aged just eight.

The Age reports that the students at Galilee Regional Catholic Primary School in South Melbourne downloaded the pornography after basic filtering software was not put in place.

The Age reports that one parent said girls in Grade one and three had viewed the images.

“I have concerns it could have a lasting impact on children,” the mother said. “No one seems to be accountable…they have been very slow and very quick to deflect the blame.”

The school principal told The Age that the pictures were viewed via a search engine ‘image’ search.”

“Examples of students viewing inappropriate images in our school are extremely rare. However, this acts as a reminder that students are natural explorers and risk takers so we must be ever vigilant.” Principal Frank Servello said.

6. Boy dies in house fire.

An 11-year-old boy has died in a house fire in Brisbane’s west.

The ABC reports that firefighters dragged the child out of the burning building in Hilliup Street, Westlake but he could not be revived and died at the scene.

The boy’s 44-year-old mother and two sisters, aged 10 and 13, managed to escape the blaze.

7. Out of control car injures Melbourne school students.

A 12-year old girl has been seriously injured and six others hurt when a 71-year-old woman lost control of her car in a shopping centre car park and ploughed through two fences hitting students who were on their lunch hour.

The accident happened at Blackburn High School on Springfield Rd just before 2pm yesterday.

The 12-year-old girl was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital suffering potential head and spinal injuries.

8. Rachel Dolezal has resigned from NAACP.

Rachel Dolezal, the US civil rights activist who pretended to be African-American, has announced she is stepping down as president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter – the US’s oldest and largest civil rights organisation.

In a message posted on the group’s Facebook page,  37-year old Dolezal wrote that she was stepping aside after the “unexpected firestorm” that erupted over whether she misrepresented her race.

She said “the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity.”

And that in light of that “it is with complete allegiance to the cause of racial and social justice and the NAACP that I step aside.”

In her only attempt to justify pretending to be African-American she wrote.

“I am consistently committed to empowering marginalized voices and believe that many individuals have been heard in the last hours and days that would not otherwise have had a platform to weigh in on this important discussion.”

For more read this post here.

9. US Shark victims in “shallow water”.

Two teenagers in the US, mauled by a shark in separate attacks less than 90 minutes apart, were swimming in shallow water.

The attacks took place on the same stretch of North Carolina beach yesterday – but despite the first attack the beaches were not shut until after the second attack.

A 13-year-old girl’s left arm was amputated below the elbow and she also suffered a leg injury. A 16-year-old male’s arm was also amputated below the shoulder.

Both victims were “about 20 yards (18 metres) off the shore in waist-deep water” when they were attacked, according to Chris Anselmo, Oak Island, N.C., fire chief.

Officials however still have not shut the beaches reports 13 News Now. 

Chris Anselmo said Oak Island beaches are open today and a police helicopter will be looking for sharks near the coast.

“No way that we are going to stop people from going into the water. … (We) just advise people to be careful and alert,” he said.

10. Jeb Bush launches US presidential campaign.

The third member of the Bush family, Jeb Bush, has launched his bid seek the nation’s highest office in the US.

CNN reports that Bush a clear front-runner. A Poll released found him virtually tied at the top of the field with Sen. Marco Rubio, a fellow Floridian.

Behind them, 10% of those polled said they planned to support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

When matched against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Bush trails 51% to 43%.

11. Cooking makes you less of a man.

Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster has said that men who cook are less masculine.

Speaking to The Telegraph she has said that men should be “the hunter-gatherer, the macho man, looking after the family”.

“I do agree with equal rights and if women want to go and work that’s fabulous,”

But she said “going as far as cooking and putting the apron on, I think that it, not belittles men, but takes the masculinity and I would miss that.”

She then admitted that while she likes to cook and takes on the supermarket duties as well as much of the cooking, the family also employ a chef.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au
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