Tuesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Julian Assange to leave Ecuadorian embassy ‘soon’

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a press conference he will “soon” leave Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has been living for two years to avoid extradition.

Assange also addressed rumours over his poor health, saying anyone would be affected by spending two years in a building with no outside areas or direct sunlight.

“I can confirm that I am leaving the embassy soon, but perhaps not for the reasons that the Murdoch press and Sky News are saying at the moment,” he said.

Sky News and the British press have been reporting he has heart and lung problems.

Assange has been detained in the UK after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault. They want to question him over claims that he raped one woman and sexually molested and coerced another.

Assange says both encounters were consensual.

Fairfax Media have exclusively reported that Assange plans to leave under changes to the UK law.

They write:

 Mr Assange clarified his remarks by referring to what he described as “a range of important legal developments in the United Kingdom,” especially the British government’s decision to opt out of the European Arrest Warrant system under which Sweden sought his extradition to be questioned about sexual assault and rape allegations first raised in August 2010.

“It has been our legal advice from the very beginning that under international law and European law everyone has a right to asylum and that right must be respected legally,” Mr Assange said

2. Asylum seeker children to be given bridging visas

The Daily Telegraph reports that 1547 child detainees and their families who have been held in community detention housing will be allowed to settle in the community on bridging visas while their refugee applications are being processed.

The reports states that the policy will not apply to those transferred from offshore for medical treatment, or to the 300 children on Nauru and Christmas Island.

3. Schools consider later starting times

The Herald Sun reports that sleepy teens may be given a reprieve, with some secondary schools considering a later start time to allow students to wake up.

Melbourne High School is considering delaying the school’s start time to 9.30am rather than 8.50am. This would mean some classes do not finish till 6.30pm.

Teenagers need typically 9- 10 hours of sleep a night.

In NSW some schools already offer delayed start times with Wollongong’s Edmund Rice College having a midday start for years 11 and 12.

For more, see this post.

4. #Ferguson

As protests escalate in the town of US Ferguson over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, The National Guard has been deployed to control protesters.

Police clashed with angry crowds in the latest violence with tear gas fired at demonstrators as gunfire was heard.

The announcement to deploy National Guards came as a preliminary private autopsy found that Mr Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, according to The New York Times.

5. Government to consider budget reforms

The Prime Minister has told Macquarie Radio the Federal government will consider adjustments to the budget.

“What we’re not prepared to do is sell out the fundamentals,” he said.

6.  Crocodile takes man

A fisherman has been killed by a crocodile east of Darwin while he was trying to retrieve a fishing hook next to the Adelaide River Bridge.

Police located the man’s remains late last night.

His wife witnessed the attack, according to the NT News.

7. Liberian soldiers told to shoot on sight

The Liberian Observer has reported the Army has been commanded to shoot anyone trying to illegally enter their country from Ebola-affected areas to be shot on sight.

8. Clive Palmer’s controversial comments

Clive Palmer has said that the Chinese government are “mongrels” who shoot their own people.

In an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A, he said that the ‘communist Chinese government’ was trying to take over Australia’s ports to steal natural resources.

“I don’t mind standing up against the Chinese bastards and stopping them from doing it.”

News Limited report Palmer is currently in a legal battle with a Chinese state-owned company CITIC Pacific.

Twitter exploded with condemnation over his comments.

9. Suitcase murder accused pregnant

The American teenager arrested over the murder of her mother in Bali may be charged with premeditated murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

Heather Mack, 19, and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, were arrested in Bali’s Kuta area last week after the body of her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack was found stuffed inside a suitcase in the boot of a taxi.

The teenager has told her lawyer that she is two months pregnant and that she is innocent.

For more, see this post.

10. Guidelines on eating during before and after pregnancy

Guidelines have been released on your nutrition during pregnancy – before, during and after you have a baby.

News Limited report that the Early Life Nutrition guidelines will help reduce a child’s risk of disease later in life.

Key points are:

• Pregnant women should take iodine and folic acid supplements and eat oily fish like salmon or tuna several times a week.
• To prevent allergies in children, pregnant women are advised not to avoid peanuts or other allergens.
• Pregnant women are urged to ensure they don’t gain more than 9-18 kilograms in weight.

11. First three years of life crucial

Meanwhile a childcare inquiry has heard evidence that the first three years of a child’s life are the greatest period of “developmental plasticity”.

Fairfax Media reports Professor Frank Oberklaid, director of the Centre for Community Child Health, told the Productivity Commission inquiry that ”from the age of two or three, attending childcare had been shown to confer a huge advantage when the child reaches primary school.”

He said childcare could offer socialisation with other young children, with these opportunities not as apparent in other forms of care like nannying.

12. Victims discouraged from going to police

The Royal Commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has begun a two-week hearing on the Melbourne Response.

Victims have told how they were discouraged from going to the police under a response set up Archbishop George Pell.

The Australian reports one victim, Paul Hersbach, told the commission how a priest, Victor Rubeo had abused his father and uncle as children in the 1960s.

Mr Hersbach accepted $17,500 in compensation and a generic “form letter” from present Archbishop Denis Hart.

He said, “I want the church to show compassion for its victims.”

“I do not want or need a personal apology. I do not want the church burnt down. All I want is someone from the Catholic Church to show compassion and give me a call one day and say ‘Hi Paul, how are you doing these days?’”

13. Teenagers no longer the group to worry about on our roads

The good news is that the road toll has fallen to its lowest level in 80 years.

But it seems the biggest groups in danger on our roads isn’t teenagers anymore: it is those aged over 65, among which fatalities have increased by 10 per cent in the 12 months to July 2014.

Carsguide.com.au report that five years ago, 307 drivers aged 17-to-25 died on the nation’s roads compared to 235 road users over the age of 65.

However in the 12 months to July, 204 young drivers died compared to 258 deaths of those aged over 65.

14. Melbourne named world’s most liveable city

Sorry, Sydney.

Melbourne has been named the world’s most liveable city for the fourth year in a row by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Survey.

The city achieved a perfect score in healthcare, education, sport and infrastructure, the Herald Sun reports.

Three other Australian cities made the list: Adelaide took out fifth place, while Sydney won seventh, and Perth ranked ninth.

Vienna in Austria topped the list, while Damascus in Syria came last.

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