We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Starbucks bombings: Seven dead in Jakarta.
Militants claimed to be loyal to Islamic State conducted a bombing and shooting campaign in Jakarta yesterday killing seven people including a Canadian citizen.
The attacks have been condemned by leaders across the world with the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull tweeted his sympathy to the victims and the people of Indonesia.
It began with an attack near a Starbucks outlet across from Sarinah’s, Jakarta’s oldest department store.
After an initial suicide bomb explosion, the men armed with pistols took people inside the cafe hostage. A local man tried to intervene, and was also shot.
Witnesses described a series of bombs exploding in the centre of the city.
“A massive bomb went off in front of our new Indonesia office,” Jeremy Douglas, regional representative for the United Nations Office for Crime and Drugs, said on Twitter.
Police said five attackers, as well as a Canadian victim and a police officer, had been killed by the time the incident was declared over.
Islamic State militants claimed responsibility:
“A group of soldiers of the caliphate in Indonesia targeted a gathering from the crusader alliance that fights the Islamic State in Jakarta through planting several explosive devices that went off as four of the soldiers attacked with light weapons and explosive belts,” the group said in a statement.
2. Parents bid to have disabled daughter sterilised quashed.
An intellectually disabled woman will not be forcibly sterilised, under a decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The mother and father of the 25-year-old, known as ZEH, wanted her fallopian tubes tied due to fears surrounding her “friendly and trusting nature” reports The Herald Sun.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Deputy president Genevieve Nihill wrote in a published decision the woman’s family were concerned about any future sexual activity.
“ZEH’s parents submitted that, if the treatment were not carried out, ZEH would face an unacceptably high risk of pregnancy in the event of her becoming sexually active,” Ms Nihill said.
Her parents applied for a guardianship order enabling the procedure, believing “it was in her best interests for her to become permanently infertile”.
In their application they claimed that the contraceptive pill she was on was having side effects and may lead to breast or cervical cancer.
Psychologist Kerry Arrow said ZEH wanted to remain on the Pill and was “adamant” that she routinely remembered to take it.
The investigating public advocate saying “ZEH stated that she likes taking the Pill and is happy to keep doing so.”
The tribunal found that while ZEH was unable to give autonomous consent to the operation it wasn’t in the woman’s interests to be sterilised in what was described as an “invasive” procedure.
3. Man dies after tree falls on car in Sydney storms.
A man has died after a tree fell onto a moving car during a severe thunderstorm in Sydney yesterday.
The storm followed a day of intense heat where temps hit 40 degrees.
The man died at the scene, while the female driver of the car was taken to hospital in a critical condition with pelvic and abdominal injuries
4. Record number of Australians nominated for Oscars.
Thirteen Australians have been nominated for Academy Awards this year – a record number for the 88 years of the awards.
Cate Blanchett has been nominated for best actress for Carol, and the Mad Max Fury Road team has multiple nominees in the technical categories, as well as nominations for Best Picture (George Miller and Doug Mitchell), Best Directing (George Miller), Best Editing (Margaret Sixel) and Best Cinematography (John Seale).
The Revenant leads the nominations with 12 nominations, closely followed by George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road with 10.
There are eight films in contention for best picture. The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, The Martian, Room and Spotlight.
Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for best actor for The Revenant – this is his sixth nomination but so far he has never won.
5. Charlie Hebo cartoon. This time too far?
The latest Charlie Hedbo cartoon is causing much controversy after it printed an image of drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi grown-up and sexually harassing women like the men accused of attacking women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
The cartoon has the headline ‘Migrants’, it shows two men with their tongues hanging out chasing screaming women.
Top left there is a depiction of the famous image of Aylan lying face down on the beach with his arms at his side.
Next to it is the question: “What would little Aylan have grown up to be?”
The answer at the bottom of the cartoon is: “Ass groper in Germany”.
The cartoon is seen by some as going too far with Twitter users called the image “disgusting” and “tasteless”, as well as accusing the magazine of racism and Islamophobia.
But others have pointed out that perhaps the image is satirizing the attitude by many right-wingers that all refugees are criminals.
6. Three winners in US $1.6 billion powerball.
Three winning tickets have taken out the record $1.6 billion U.S. Powerball jackpot, from three separate states in the US.
Each of the three winning tickets is worth $528.8 million, the California Lottery said. The winning numbers were 08 27 34 04 19 and Powerball 10.
The winners – from Tennessee, California and Florida are yet to come forward.
7. Alan Rickman has died of cancer at the age of 69.
British actor, Alan Rickman – best known for roles in Harry Potter as Professor Severus Snape and in Love Actually has died.
Rickman, 69, died from cancer.
Former co-star Emma Thompson paid tribute to her “friend” and “ally”, who she describes as “a rare and unique human being”.
8. Aussies want to be seen as being generous.
Being generous is the trait that just under a third of Australians want to be known for amongst their friends, followed by being independent (27%) or being smart (23%).
Research by KFC ( who are currently running a “Shout a Mate” promotion) has shown that Australians are generous by nature with 7 out of 10 people considering it un-Australian to not shout your mate a beer, a meal or to turn up to a friend’s house empty handed.
The research found that the main reason Aussies shout their mates are to show they care. In return, 73% of us like shouting a mate because it makes us feel immediately good about ourselves.
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