Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Climate Change report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has published a report after a week of intense debate between scientists and government officials.

The IPCC’s Synthesis Report calls for fossil fuels to be phased out by 2100 if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change.

The report says that most of the world’s electricity must be produced from low-carbon sources by 2050.

It warns that if nothing is done the worst is yet to come, including food shortages and violent conflicts.

UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said, “Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in the message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.”

In brief it states:

• Warming is “unequivocal” and the human influence on climate is clear

• The period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400 years.
• Droughts, coastal storm surges from the rising oceans and wildlife extinctions on land and in the seas will all worsen unless emissions are cut
• The acidification of the oceans, the melting of arctic ice and poorer crop yields in many parts are already being felt around the globe.
• Without concerted action on carbon, temperatures will increase over the coming decades and could be almost 5C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century
•  If not, the world faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible” damage.

2. Sweatshop workers make feminist t-shirts

A British newspaper has uncovered sweatshop conditions that make T-shirts worn by celebrities and British politicians to promote feminism.

The Mail On Sunday said that its investigation found the t-shirts with the slogan “This is what a feminist looks like” were being produced on a factory on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where the women machinists sleep 16 to a room.

The British fashion retailer Whistles, which sells the garments for £45 each, described the allegations as “extremely serious” and said it would be mounting an urgent investigation.

 3. States concerned about formalising nanny care

A national meeting of education ministers last week heard pushback from several of the states towards regulating the nanny industry.

Fairfax Media reports that NSW, Victoria, ACT and Western Australia rejected the national proposal to specifically consult the public and experts about regulating in-home care, which includes nannies.

This was proposed as a part of a productivity commission review of the national quality framework for early childhood education and care.

WA Community Services Minister Tony Simpson’s spokesman said there was “hesitancy about governments monitoring informal arrangements between nannies and parents ‘in the home environment’.”

 4. G20 targeting gender

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is spearheading a campaign to close the gender gap in workplace participation by 25% globally by 2025.

World leaders will make a commitment to the target at the G20 in Brisbane on November 16.

The Australian reports that across the G20 nations closing the gender gap would translate into more than 100 million new jobs for women.

In Australia it would lead to the creation of an additional 300,000 jobs for women.

 5. Melbourne Cup

With tomorrow’s Melbourne Cup dominating headlines there are fears that women are being incited to gamble with one company, Sportsbet, offering a ‘goodie bag’ of makeup worth $90 to women in states outside Victoria who sign up to their online betting.

The Age reports that Victoria has a ban on companies offering inducements to open betting accounts.

There are calls to make that ban national.

 6. Mother faces racist note in letterbox

A Brisbane mother has spoken of how she has faced increasing racism with notes placed in her letterbox and her car tyres spiked twice in one week.

“This Ebola is going to lead to more racism and more people are going to suffer,” Sarah Halliday told The Courier Mail.

Sarah Halliday, a single mother of five kids, came to Australia from South Sudan as a refugee 15 years ago.

She says one of the notes found by her kids had a photo of a black baby with “black s***” written on it.

 7. British tourist dies in her gap year on Fraser Island

A 22-year-old British backpacker has died in a car crash during her gap year when her four-wheel drive flipped on Fraser Island.

Initial investigations suggested the car she was in was overtaking another vehicle when it overturned.

Queensland police said a British national was pronounced dead at the scene and seven other people were taken to hospital with injuries.

For more, read this post here.

 8. Jumping castle accident

Three teenagers in Geelong are in hospital after an unusual accident where a jumping castle was lifted from the ground by a gust of wind at Bannockburn, near Geelong, on the weekend.

The inflatable jumping castle was lifted four metres off the ground.

The ABC reports that a girl is in a stable condition at the Royal Children’s Hospital with back injuries.

Two other teenagers in the Geelong Hospital have arm, leg and back injuries.

9. Eight men sentenced to jail for same-sex wedding

Egyptian authorities have sentenced eight men to three years jail for a same-sex wedding that took place in April.

 Haaretz.com reports that a video of the wedding went viral showing two men exchanging rings and embracing among cheering friends.

The arrests were made in September and they received three years in prison each for “inciting debauchery”.

Haaretz reports that “Consensual same-sex relations are not explicitly prohibited (in Egypt), but other laws have been used to imprison gay men in recent years, including “debauchery” or “shameless public acts”. Same-sex marriage is unheard of in Egypt.

 1o. Branson Space rocket plane crash

Sir Richard Branson has said he will “learn from what went wrong” as an official investigation begins into why Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane crashed during a test flight, reports Sky News.

The 39-year-old co-pilot died in the crash while the surviving pilot is undergoing surgery on injuries sustained in the incident over California’s Mojave Desert on Friday.

 11. Clue found in case of missing family

The first clue in five months has been found in the case of a family who went missing from their small Alaskan town in the US.

A piece of “outerwear” was discovered in the woods near their home in a search last week.

22-year-old Rebecca Adams and her children, 5-year-old Michelle Hundley and 3-year-old Jaracca Hundley, along with boyfriend Jividen, 37, went missing in late May. The family dog is also missing.

Police reported in June that there was no sign of forced entry, struggle, or “obvious signs of foul play” at the family’s apartment. The couple’s vehicles and belongings were still at the apartment.

Police hope to conduct more searches before winter snow sets in.

For more, read this post here.

12. Perth man says sorry for riding whale carcass

A Perth man who surfed aboard a whale carcass has apologised for his actions.

Yesterday he made headlines after diving from a boat and jumping on to the dead whale’s body as sharks circled nearby.

The 26-year-old man has apologised if anyone was offended by his actions, saying that riding atop the whale was a spur of the moment decision.

He told News Limited that even his parents think he is an idiot.

13. Mother arrested after hanging toddler from a hook for a photo

An 18-year-old woman has been arrested after she hung her 14-month-old boy from a hook like a piece of meat and snapped a photo that ended up online.

Alexis Breeden turned herself in to police in the U.S. state of Virginia on Thursday after the photo sparked outrage on social media.

Sgt James Konicki from the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s office said the child was unharmed.

“The baby’s father and mother had an argument and in retaliation the father posted this on Facebook to get the mother in trouble. But the child was absolutely fine,” he said.

Breeden is facing charges of felony child abuse.
[post_snippet id=324408]

14. “Sexting” without consent banned in Victoria

Victoria has introduced a spate of new laws to combat “sexting” without consent.

SBS reports that from today, it will be an offence to spread intimate images of others without their permission with offenders facing up to two years in prison.

Those who threaten to distribute images could also face up to a year behind bars.

The ban applies to images of anyone under 18 years of age as well as unconsenting adults.

Victorian Attorney General Robert Clark said it was important to introduce laws that keep up with rapidly changing technology.

“These new offences send a clear message that the malicious use of intimate images to embarrass and denigrate a victim is unacceptable and is a criminal offence”, he said in a statement.

“Previously, the law provided only limited protection against malicious distribution of intimate images and this behaviour can cause considerable harm to victims, especially when images go viral.

The laws will also ensure that under 18s who send sexts in a consenting and non-exploitative way can’t be charged with child pornography offences or placed on the sex offenders’ register.