Thursday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Parents of James Foley speak

The father, mother and brother of US journalist James Foley have spoken to the media saying how proud of him they were.

“We just pray that Jim’s death can bring our country together in a stronger way,” his mother Diane said.

His father said that James Foley was dedicated to his job reporting from the front line of conflicts in the Middle East, despite being previously kidnapped in Libya.

“He said to me: ‘Dad, why do firemen keep going back into blazing homes?’ He felt this was his job. This was his passion.”

Meanwhile just hours ago the US President Barack Obama condemned the beheading of  the American journalist as “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world”.

He said the future would be won by those such as James Foley, who built rather than destroyed.

As the US confirmed the horrific video was authentic he said that the United States “will be vigilant and we will be relentless” against Islamic State militants and would “do what’s necessary to see that justice is done” following the videotaped execution of an American journalist.

2. New York Post under fire for front page

The Australian editor of the New York Post is under fire for publishing a graphic front-page image of James Foley prior to his execution.

Twitter  is awash with expressions of anger and horror over the front page.

The publication of the images comes in the wake of a worldwide campaign against sharing the graphic photos.

The Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo said that they were actively suspending the accounts of people who continued to share the video. The hashtag #ISISmediablackout quickly  gained momentum after the YouTube video of Foley was broadcast

3. VIC Sexting laws

Fairfax Media reports that Victoria is about to become the first state to introduce specific laws against sexting.

The new laws will mean that people who send or threaten to send explicit images without consent do not go on the sex offenders register – instead they will be charged with distributing an intimate image or threatening to distribute an intimate image in “circumstances contrary to community standard of acceptable conduct”.

Attorney-General Robert Clark told The Age “It is important that the law keeps up with rapid changes in the use of technology, and that we ensure young persons aged under 18 are not inappropriately prosecuted or added to the sex offenders register for consensual, non-exploitative sexting,”

4. Richard Dawkins controversial Down Syndrome comments

Richard Dawkins has been slammed for saying on Twitter that fetuses with Down Syndrome should be aborted and parents should try again.

His comments came following a Twitter debate over the Irish Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion.

His controversial tweet came in response to a post saying “I honestly don’t know what I would do if I were pregnant with a kid with Down’s syndrome. Real ethical dilemma.”

His response:

The Daily Mail reports that in response the Down Syndrome Association said “’People with Down Syndrome can and do live full and rewarding lives, they also make a valuable contribution to our society.”

5. Family killed by serial offender

A NSW family have been left demanding justice after a drug addict and serial driving offender killed an innocent father and his two children while driving unlicensed.

The killer, Malcolm ­Joseph Harris has been sentenced to just two years in jail for the deaths.

The family say they are gutted by the sentence.

For more – and to help share their demand for justice read this post here.

6. AMA plan for $7 co-payment

The Australian Medical Association will today unveil a proposal they have put to the Government which will see patients with a chronic disease management plan, those in aged care, children, and concession card holders exempt from the $7 GP co-payment.

Professor Owler told News Limited that the proposal was put to the Health Minster Peter Dutton several weeks ago. He is said to be seriously considering adopting it.

7. Parents concerns over a bomb threat at pre-school

Parents at a Sydney preschool have been left terrified after a letter was found allegedly threatening that a bomb was in a child’s school bag.

The Daily Mail reports police have confirmed there was a ‘threatening note’ discovered in the kitchen at the Booralie Early Learning Centre in Terrey Hills on Sydney’s Northern Beaches at 9.30am on Wednesday.

Parents have expressed their horror on a local Facebook group. One saying “‘I don’t think I could send my child back there just in case as I would never forgive myself if something happened.”

8. A woman’s duty to wear a bikini

The former minister for families in France, Nadine Morano, has claimed that it is a French woman’s duty to wear a bikini.

She posted an image of a veiled woman on a beach to her Facebook page accompanied by a magazine cover featuring Brigitte Bardot in a bikini According to The Independent she wrote next to the image “It’s a French woman’s duty to wear a bikini.”

She posted that she had seen a Muslim woman sitting on a French beach wearing a headscarf, long-sleeved tunic and trousers while the man with her, thought to be her husband, swam in the water wearing only a pair of swimming trunks.

Morano wrote: “When you choose to come to a country of secular laws like France, you have an obligation to respect our culture and the liberty of women. Or you go somewhere else.”

9. Judges call to lift surrogacy ban

Two of the nations top judges have called for the ban on commercial surrogacy to be lifted in Australia.

Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant and Federal Circuit Court chief judge John Pascoe told The Australian that all parties – children surrogate mothers and would-be parents could be protected if commercial surrogacy arrangements were permitted in Australia.

The judges say they are concerned that woman are being exploited in poorer countries and that visa laws should be changed in Australia stopping babies being brought in.

10. Couple fined $500 for leaving baby in car

A couple who left their baby sleeping in the car while they went shopping at K-Mart have been fined $500 each by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

The Chronicle reports that the man and woman told the court they were happy to leave their baby sleeping for a few hours in the car while they went shopping. Their lawyer told the court that the couple were from Northern Iraq and did not understand the cultural differences.

They showed remorse for the dangerous crime and no convictions were recorded.

11. Mother who tried to kill her daughter told there is “no case to answer”

Warning: This post deals with suicide and may be distressing for some readers.

The Courier Mail reports that a mother who tried to kill her 9-year old autistic daughter has walked free after a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to put her to trial

The Sunshine Coast mother was charged with two counts of attempted murder for what police say was an attempt to gas her autistic nine-year-old girl in their family car.

She had put in place a mechanism to take both their lives, but the had fallen asleep on the couch from sleeping pills before the plan was carried out. The woman admitted to police she was planning suicide and to take her daughter with her.

The Courier Mail reports that police allege “a second attempt was made on the daughter’s life four months later on September 22 but this time the car was running.

The mother was found unconscious next to her vehicle in the garage.” The magistrate ruled the cases failed suicides.

If you need help please contact Lifeline on 13 11 12.

12. Police issue warning over Minecraft

It seems it isn’t the creepers and the zombies parents need to be aware of, but the overseas hackers.

Police have issued a warning over the popular game Minecraft after a family’s details were accessed by a disgruntled player.

News Limited report that a Sydney 13-year old boy had been playing the game with a teenager based in New Zealand when they fell out.

The New Zealand teenager accessed the teen’s passwords and his parents’ credit card information. He went on to post details including their names and addresses and credit card numbers on the web. The game – the third most popular kid’s game worldwide has 36 million registered users in the world.

13. Inquiry finds homework of no benefit

The Herald Sun reports that an inquiry has found that homework has almost no academic benefits for primary school students.

The Victorian Parliament’s Education and Training Committee found that there was “strong evidence” that homework at the primary-level had little impact on academic performance.

The committee will now recommended a review of homework guidelines after the findings.

14. Doctors remove 38-year-old skeleton from mother

Doctors have removed the 38-year-old skeleton of a baby from a woman’s womb.

The Daily Mail reports that Jyoti Kumar, from Madhya Pradesh in central India, fell pregnant at 24 in 1978, but was told her baby would not survive after it was found growing outside the womb.

Fearing surgery, Jyoti fled – and assumed the issue was treated until she started experiencing ongoing pain.

The 62-year-old sought treatment at the NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences in the central Indian city Nagpur, and doctors found a lump on the right side of her abdomen. A sonography, a CT scan and an MRI determined it was a mass containing a matured skeleton.

Dr Mohammad Yunus Shah said the length of Jyoti’s ectopic pregnancy ‘could be the longest case on record at 38 years’.

 15. Robin Williams’ ashes scattered

Robin Williams has been cremated and his ashes scattered in the San Francisco Bay.

The scattering took place on August 12 – one day after the comedian and actor’s suicide – according to his death certificate, obtained by Radar Online.

What news are you talking about today?

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