Thursday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Iraq crisis continues

Islamist militants have attacked Iraq’s largest oil refinery in the city of Baiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

AP report that fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant had begun their attack on the refinery late on Tuesday night. The refinery accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s entire refining capacity, all of which goes toward domestic consumption – petrol, cooking oil and fuel for power stations.

Meanwhile Iraq has formally called on the US to launch air strikes against the militants.

“We have a request from the Iraqi government for air power,” top US military commander Gen Martin Dempsey said in front of US senators.

2. Socceroos’ World Cup loss

Australia has lost 3-2 to The Netherlands in the World Cup.

Tim Cahill scored his fifth World Cup goal with a left foot volley into the net off the crossbar.

However Australia suffered a blow when Tim Cahill picked up a yellow card just before half time. His second so far in the tournament and meaning he will be suspended for the final group game against Spain.

3. NSW claims victory in the State of Origin

NSW has won the State of Origin 6-4 bringing it home for the first time since 2005.

4. New evidence in the Bayden-Clay trial

The court in the trial of Gerard Bayden-Clay heard evidence yesterday that cuts on Bayden-Clay’s face were more likely to be fingernail scratches than shaving cuts, as he had claimed.

Gerard Bayden-Clay is accused of murdering his wife Allison on April 19, 2012. He has pleaded not guilty.

A compelling day of evidence yesterday also heard of blood in the car that Allison drove.

For more read here.

5. Great Barrier Reef “in danger”

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha has deferred, for another 12 months, the decision to put the Great Barrier Reef on the “in danger” list.

At the meeting they expressed concern and regret over the government’s decision to allow the dumping of 3 million cubic metres of dredge spoil in Reef waters at Abbot Point.

WWF-Australia Reef campaigner Richard Leck said that this decision “puts Australia firmly on notice to take stronger action to protect the Great Barrier Reef.”

“This is a victory for the millions around the world who say our Reef is not a dump.” He said.

6. Coles guilty over fresh bread claims, ACCC finds

The ACCC has won a case against Coles over the supermarket’s claims about its baked bread.

The consumer watchdog launched proceedings against Coles last year, saying they were misleading consumers into thinking bread was made on the day in-store when, in some cases, the bread had been partially baked months earlier in factories in Ireland, Denmark and Germany.

Federal Court chief justice James Allsop said Coles had breached three sections of Australian Consumer Law, in his ruling, handed down on Wednesday.

Coles could face fines of up to $1.1 million for each breach.

7. US carries out first executions since botched lethal injection

Two US states have allowed the first executions to go ahead since the botched lethal injection of a prisoner in April.

Two men, one in Georgia and the other in Missouri, were executed by lethal injection overnight.

In Georgia – Marcus Wellons, 58 was convicted of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl.

In the second case in Missouri, AP reports that John Winfield, 43 who was convicted of killing two women, was executed early Wednesday morning.

8. Michael Schumacher opens his eyes

There are reports that Formula One driver Michael Schumacher has opened his eyes and is nodding as he was transferred to a Swiss rehab facility.

The Swiss newspaper Blick reports that he nodded and communicated with staff during his 120 miles journey from Grenoble Hospital to University Hospital Lausanne on Monday morning.

9. Social media backlash over author who ate rabbit

A UK author has ignited fury among her followers after posting a picture on twitter of a rabbit she caught eating her parsley.

Jeanette Winterson tweeted ‘Rabbit ate my parsley. I am eating the rabbit.’ with an image of a partially skinned bunny.

She then posted regular follow-ups including one of the prepared flesh of the rabbit on a dish before an image of it being cooked in cider with rosemary and thyme.

One of her last tweets was of her cat eating its entrails “For all the Tweeters who said my cat would prefer Whiskers [sic] (where do u think pet food comes from BTW?)’

She encountered a massive backlash on social media. – and has been forced to defend herself in an interview with the BBC.

“There ought to be a discussion” she told the BBC ”because I would like people to understand what it means to eat animals, if you are going to eat them.”

“They are not made of fairy dust, they do not drop out of the sky.”

10. “Mummy blogger” charged over son’s death

A Mummy blogger in the US who allegedly poisoned her son with salt has been charged over his death, and may face up to 25 years in prison.

Lacey Spears blogged about her son’s battle with illness for years. His death however promoted an investigation.

Police allege Ms Spears poisoned the five-year-old boy, Garnett with sodium using a feeding tube into his stomach.

She was indicted on charges of depraved murder and manslaughter.

Mamamia has previously written about this here.

11. Bill Gates funding condoms

A YouTube video from the University of Wollongong has revealed that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $100,000 to the University to develop a condom with more sensation.

Dr. Robert Gorkin, a biomedical engineer, explains that researcher are creating an alternative to latex.

He says the material is “made to act and feel more like real skin.” In a hope to encourage more men to use protection thus avoiding unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs.

12. Attempt to put warning labels on soft drinks

A bill that would have made California the first state in the US to put warnings son soft drinks has been quashed.

The warning would have read: STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.

But it failed to get the required votes.

13. A new way to cut cake?

A scientist on YouTube has revealed a whole new way of cutting cake – which dates back 100 years.

He cuts the cake with elastic bands in parallel lines, allowing rectangular chunks to be eaten and the cake to be reformed as a circle.

The benefit of this new method is that it can be sealed and stored without drying out.

It involves lots of maths and rubber bands. Check it out..

 14. Funeral arranger admits to leaving body in car overnight

A Western Australian funeral arranger has admitted to leaving a body in her car overnight after the hospital morgue said it was too big to store, the ABC reports.

Joanne Cummings, who co-owns Pilbara Funeral Services, said the 200-kilogram body of a man was turned away by Hedland Health Campus staff last Wednesday, so she left it in her car with the air-conditioning on.

“I actually had to turn around and drive two hours home to Roebourne and keep him in my car overnight…I had to have the air-con up full (and) check on him every half hour, and the following morning we hired a sea container with a chiller unit in it,” she told the ABC.

The Hedland Health Campus equipment can only store bodies weighing up to 150 kilograms, according to the WA Country Health Service.

15. High Court says Abbott’s school chaplaincy funding scheme is unconstitutional

The High Court has ruled the law used to maintain funding to the school chaplaincy program  is unconstitutional. 

The court — the highest in Australia — upheld a challenge to the Commonwealth funding National School Chaplaincy Program this morning in Canberra.

The court considered whether the government had the power to fund the program — which was allocated nearly $250 million in this year’s federal budget — directly through local organisations, and said it did not.

“The making of the payments was therefore held to be unlawful,” the court said in its summary judgment.

It is the second time the funding arrangements have been challenged in the court: in 2012, it ruled the program was not being funded in a lawful way, but the Federal government passed a new law to keep the program going, the ABC reports.

Today, the court upheld a challenge to the validity of that law. The challenge was brought by Ron Williams, a Queensland father who believes there is no place in secular public schools for religious programs.

The ruling has been welcomed by groups including members of the LGBT community. Jacquie Tomlins from the Australian Equality Party described the result as “extremely good news.”

Despite the ruling, the national body for school chaplains said it believes the chaplaincy program will survive because the payments could continue as state and territory grants, the ABC reports.

16. “Sugar Daddy University” opens

A new course entitled Sugar Daddy University is offering to teach women how to attract marry a wealthy man.

The “University”, in New York, teaches five key elements of being a successful “sugar daddy” or “sugar baby” through the curriculum – Sexuality, Understanding, Generosity, Attraction and Reciprocity.

The course’s organisers, 37-year-old Carla Abonia and her mentor Alan Schneider, have even recruited plastic surgeons to advise women on how to improve their looks.

Schneider, who created the dating site SugarDaddyForMe.com, told UK newspaper The Mirror: “A lot of women don’t know how to approach men – they think they’re aggressive and predatory. We have to enhance and educate both sides so each respect each other.

17. Aboriginal girls at risk of falling behind

A new report by The Smith Family warns that Aboriginal girls are at risk of falling further behind at school than their male peers.

The report warns that sport is too often used as the tool to attract and encourage school participation among indigenous children — and that it’s not an effective way of engaging girls, Fairfax reports.

The report’s findings are based on evaluation of Girls at the Centre, an Alice Springs program that has been boosting the school attendance of Aboriginal girls, Fairfax reports.

18. Australians fighting in Syria and Iraq

Australians are fighting in Iraq with an al-Qaeda splinter group, Fairfax reports.

The Sydney Morning Herald cites security sources as saying that individuals who left Australia to fight in Syria, against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, are now among extremist fighters moving into neighbouring Iraq.

The Daily Telegraph reports that, according to intelligence sources, a “notorious convicted terrorist from western Sydney” has been identified among the militant fighters in Iraq.

Authorities are concerned that such fighters may pose a significant terrorism threat when they return to Australia, Fairfax reports.

19. Anti-psychosis and anti-depressant prescriptions for kids on the rise

Experts are concerned about a sharp increase in Australian children being prescribed anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medications, the ABC reports.

University of Sydney researchers conducted a study of government subsidised prescriptions, in which they looked at prescribing patterns for children and adolescents from 2009 to 2012.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, found that over that period the number of children aged between 10 and 14 given anti-depressants jumped by more than a third.

Anti-psychotic medications rose by almost 50 per cent and prescriptions to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder rose by 26.1 per cent, the ABC reports.

Professor Iain McGregor, who lead the study, called for a discussion about whether the benefits of medication outweigh thehazards, the SBS reports.

“We need to have a national debate about what is driving this phenomenon,” he said. “Why are we so reliant on meds for our mental wellbeing?”

20. What’s wrong with this picture from the Global Summit of Women?

Well, there’s a reason it’s been retweeted on Twitter 1000 times. The picture was taken by Québécois commentator Marie-Andrée Paquet, and shows an all-white, all-male panel at the 2014 Global Summit of Women.

Paquet shared with the text, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

The panel the CEOs were sitting on was titled, “Redefining the Marketplace: The Business Case for Gender Equality,” and was put together to discuss female inclusion in the workplace. The CEOs included representatives from banking, law and energy and former Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo.

The Summit specifically put together a “Male CEO Forum” to discuss women’s representation – but some commentators have asked whether it was appropriate, and asked why a panel of female and male CEOs could not have discussed the same issues.

21. Facebook releases statement about worldwide outage.

This afternoon Facebook experienced a worldwide outage on all desktops, tablets and mobile devices, that lasted up to an hour for some users.

The company has now addressed the outage, saying in a statement, “We experienced an issue that prevented people from posting to Facebook for a brief period of time. We resolved the issue quickly, and we are now back to 100 per cent.”

However, Facebook hasn’t yet revealed what caused the problem.

Social media users with keen memories have pointed that Mark Zuckerberg has been widely quoted as saying that Facebook would never crash.

What news are you talking about today?