Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. 38-year-old man accused of  murdering pregnant woman to appear in court today.

The 38-year-old partner of mother-of-four Kirralee Paepaerei will appear in court today, charged with her murder.

Yesterday he was refused bail after being charged with stabbing Ms Paepaerei, who was seven months pregnant, to death in her home in the Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt.

Her 15-year-old son found his mother dead in an upstairs room in the Mt Druitt home with stab wounds to her face and chest. He had earlier fled the house after his mother and her partner were arguing.

Nine News reports that Ms Paeparei’s partner drove himself to the local police station, telling police they had been the victims of a break-in.

He was then arrested.

Ms Paeparei who had four sons, had written on Facebook about her excitement at finally having a girl, saying: “I’m apparently getting my pink baby”.

Her baby did not survive the assault.

 For Domestic Violence support 24/7, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). 

2. Peta Credlin: “You will want to have women like me in politics.”

Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, speaking at The Women of the Future Awards at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last night has called for women to be “put in the epicentre of decision making”.

“Whether it’s board rooms, government boards, politics, cabinet rooms wherever. If you don’t have women there we will not exist,” she said.

When asked by ABC journalist Annabel Crabb if there was a “sweet spot” for women in politics between “bossy” and “weak,” she said that if she were a man she would have been portrayed differently.

“If I was a guy I wouldn’t be bossy, I would be strong. If I was a guy I wouldn’t be a micromanager I would be across my brief. If I wasn’t strong, determined and controlling, and got into government from opposition I might add, then I would be weak..and would have to be replaced,” she said.

Ms Credlin spoke of the “overt” and “covert” sexism towards women.

“I thought those were issues that belonged to my mother, I didn’t think they were issues that belonged to me,” she said.

“It’s the covert that’s really hard. The covert (sexism) is groups of men at the end of the day just finding themselves together to go for dinner and not thinking to ask anyone else.”

She also spoke of the anonymous critics who complained about her power.

“If you’re a cabinet minister, or a journalist and you’re intimidated by the chief of staff to the prime minister, maybe you don’t deserve your job,” she said.

For more, read this post here. 

2. Rabbitohs players’ suspected prescription drug overdose.

Two Rabbitohs players are emerging from their comas after a suspected prescription drug overdose in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Paramedics were called to a granny flat at Aaron Gray’s Rosebury home where he and Dylan Walker were lapsing in and out of consciousness about 3.45am.

The two rugby league players were having a “movie night” and had allegedly taken prescribed painkillers, thought to be oxy­codone after they had both undergone surgery.

Rabbitohs CEO John Lee said that the two young men, aged 20 and 21, had overdosed on the prescribed painkillers.

A friend at the flat had called Triple 0 after the pair began vomiting and choking from the effects of the drugs.

“This is medication that is not taken for fun, this is medication that is taken for pain and it is becoming clear that they took too much of that medication,” Mr Lee said.

“This is a traumatic time for those families, their loved ones are literally in intensive car.”

Nine News reports that the drug, believed to be Targin, also known as ‘hillbilly heroin’ can send people into a euphoric state if mixed with alcohol or energy drinks.

News Limited reports that energy drinks were found at the premises.

3. British neo-Nazi convicted of terror plot to put Prince Harry on throne.

Mark Colborne, 37, wrote an account in his diary of his plan to assassinate Prince Charles so Harry could be king.

The court heard Colborne felt alienated and marginalised for being a white, ginger-haired, man and also suffering from agoraphobia and depression. Colborne also compared himself to Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.

He was found guilty and will be sentenced at a later date.

4. Volkswagen admits 11 million cars have pollution-cheating devices.

Volkswagen has admitted that 11 million vehicles worldwide are fitted with software to cheat emissions tests.

US authorities announced on Friday that special software on VW diesel vehicles drastically reduced output of pollutants when they were undergoing emissions tests.

The software turned off emissions controls in several of its diesel cars when driving normally and turns them on when undergoing emissions tests.

The carmaker was also ordered to recall nearly 500,000 cars.

The scandal has now widened worldwide with revealing 11 million of its cars worldwide could be affected.

Chief executive Martin Winterkorn has now offered his “deepest apologies” for the scandal.

“I am infinitely sorry that we have disappointed people’s trust. I offer my deepest apologies to our customers, the authorities and to the public at large for our misconduct.”

US officials are now testing diesel vehicles from other manufacturers for any other similar software.

5. Refugees to be housed in Josef Fritzl’S House of Horrors property.

The house in Amsterdam had been on the market, but authorities had failed to find a buyer.

The Daily Mail reports it will accommodate up to 50 asylum seekers.

The cellar where Elisabeth and three of her seven children were kept was filled with concrete to stop it from becoming a tourist attraction.

6. Saudi Man arrested at just 17 to be crucified after appeal dismissed.

A young Saudi man who was arrested at the age of 17 for protesting against the government will face “death by crucifixion” after his final appeal was dismissed.

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested on 14 February 2012 when he was just 17, during a crackdown on anti-government protests in the Shiite province of Qatif.

Now aged 20 a Facebook page supporting him claims he was tortured into a false confession.

It is now feared he will be executed in just a few days.

The International Business Times reports that Ali the final appeal was held in secret and without Ali’s knowledge.

Human rights organization Reprieve has urged the European Union to intervene.

Maya Foa, Director of the death penalty team at legal charity Reprieve, said: “No one should have to go through the ordeal Ali has suffered – torture, forced ‘confession,’ and an unfair, secret trial process, resulting in a sentence of death by ‘crucifixion.’ But worse still, Ali was a vulnerable child when he was arrested and this ordeal began.”

“His execution – based apparently on the authorities’ dislike for his uncle, and his involvement in anti-government protests – would violate international law and the most basic standards of decency. It must be stopped.”

7. Claims staff at Darwin’s youth detention centre made teenagers fight and eat animal faeces for rewards of junk food.

The Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner is calling for an  investigation after claims staff at Darwin’s youth detention centre made teenagers fight and eat animal faeces for rewards of junk food.

The ABC reports that a teenager who spent time at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre last year said staff made young people fight, with the winner getting extra soft drink and chocolate.

You get Coke and a chocolate once a week,” he said.

“So boys, they wanted that a bit more than once a week, so workers would make them fight and stuff and do stuff that kids usually wouldn’t do just so they could get it.”

The teenager also claimed the staff made the youth eat animal poo for the favours.

“There was a peacock that came over from Berrimah prison into our prison and it started staying down bottom, where all the kids were and we started feeding it,” the teenager named Travis said.

“There was poo sitting on the ground one time and a young fella got dared to eat its shit and they videoed it and put it on SnapChat to all their friends and they gave him a Coke and a chocolate.”

Corrections Commissioner Ken Middlebrook  said he would not be initiating an investigation on the basis of Travis’ allegations.

“Not unless something substantive comes along for me to use,” he told the ABC.

“But listening to something coming in off the conference floor like this, I put no validity in it, unless it’s backed up with some evidence.

“Why hasn’t it been reported to us?”

NT Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne told the ABC the described the allegations were “absolutely horrifying” said they should be referred to police.

8. Council moves to get rid of “negative signs.”

A Council in Adelaide has promised to remove the “excessive and negative” street signs in the areas in a bid to “reduce the area’s visual pollution”. Charles Sturt Council says that the excessive signage is negative and focuses on telling people what they can’t do in public spaces.

Charles Sturt chief executive Paul Sutton said: “we don’t think this is always the right approach.”

The Advertiser reports that “negative” information signs — at Collins Reserve, in Kidman Park, McInerney Reserve at West Croydon, and Ridleyton’s Albert Greenshields Reserve — will be removed and replaced with positive and educational messages.

“We have traditionally put up signs to control behaviour without considering the effect on visual amenity,” Mr Sutton said.

One initiative is to remove No Stopping, No Parking and Bus Permit signs replace them with yellow painted lines on the road.

“We think people know how to act in public places and if there are rules people need to be aware of, such as picking up after your dog, this can be done in a positive way” he said.

The council had taken inspiration from Mosman Council in Sydney who ran a similar trial and changed their signage from “clean up after your dog” signs to “there’s no such thing as the dog poo fairy” messages making residents positively beam with happiness after all the negative energy was removed.

9. Research finds men most attracted to women in their early 20s.

A study has found that men are most attracted to women who are in their early 20s no matter the age of the man, while women are most attracted to men who are “roughly as old as she is.”

In his book “Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity – What Our Online Lives Tell Us About Our Offline Selves,” author and OKCupid co-founder Christian Rudder writes that using the data preferences on his dating site he found that men find women between the ages of 20 and 24 most attractive – no matter how old they get.

His book, shared on Jezebel says, “After [a man] hits thirty, the latter half of [OKCupid’s] age range (that is, women over 35) might as well not exist.”

A majority of the groups of men between the ages of 20 and 50 prefer women to be 20, while 21 was the next highest reported age.

“This isn’t survey data, this is data built from tens of millions of preferences expressed in the act of finding a date,” he wrote.

Women though like men to be slightly older than them until they hit their 30s.

After that they are most interested in men who are their own age or slightly younger. By their 40s, women are most attracted to men who are two to eight years younger than they are.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au
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