Monday's news in less time than it takes to drink your coffee.

1. Homebirth task force

A major police task force investigation in South Australia into the deaths of five newborn babies linked to homebirth midwife Lisa Barrett is underway.

According to The Advertiser, two of the babies’ deaths have been declared possible major crimes with detectives considering manslaughter charges.

A Coronial Inquest examined the death of three babies in home births attended by Lisa Barrett: Tate Spencer-Koch in July 2007, Jahli Hobbs in April 2009 and of Tully Kavanagh in October 2011. According to the report, a police task force investigation is examining a fifth home birth death involving a baby boy, who has not been named, in December 2012.

Police reports say the death of this baby and that of Tully Kavanagh have been declared major crimes.

Mamamia has written in detail about Lisa Barrett’s involvement in the deaths of four babies, plus a coroner’s findings that all four of those deaths “could and should have been prevented’.

You can read that post here.

2. Lizard in formula

A NSW mother is calling for a major brand of formula to be recalled after she found a lizard in her tin on Friday.

Artilina Castanares posted a complaint on the Coles Facebook page after she purchased her product in the store. She said she contacted Careline about her discovery but was told an investigation would take 6 – 8 weeks.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports she was in shock at finding the lizard.

“Some parents are freaking out over it. I’m getting private messages, emails, from mothers with the same batch number,” she told the newspaper.

According to the report, the S-26 Original Process formula is made and packaged in Singapore.

 3. Carbon tax repeal bill expected

An amended carbon tax repeal bill is expected to be presented to the Senate and the House of Representatives as early as today.

According to a poll in The Australian, 53 percent of Australians still want the tax to be abolished – but the poll also shows 35 percent want the Palmer United Party (PUP) to continue to block the removal of the tax. The ABC reports that PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie has said the repeal legislation should go through this week.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told the ABC’s Insiders Labor would be submitting its own amendment to the carbon tax repeal legislation when it is debated in the House of Representatives this week.

4. Attempted child abduction

An 18-year-old woman will face court today after an alleged attempted child snatching in Federation Square in Melbourne yesterday. Police say the woman tried to snatch the three-year-old child from her family.

The accused woman has been charged with child stealing and remanded to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today.

5. Baden-Clay trial

The jury in the trial of 43-year-old former real estate agent Gerard Baden-Clay will face a third day of deliberations today.

The seven men and five women of the jury did not debate over the weekend.

Baden-Clay is accused of killing his wife on April 19 2012 and dumping her body on the banks of Kholo Creek at Anstead, 14 kilometres away. He has pleaded not guilty to murder.

6. Star under fire for Ian Thorpe tweet

Joe Hildebrand has come under fire for a joke he made on Twitter during Ian Thorpe’s interview with Michael Parkinson.

“Good on Thorpey for coming out as gay. Although if he really wanted to shock people he should’ve said that he was straight. #IanThorpe,” he wrote.

His comment was quickly called out for being unfair and unnecessary.

Triple J radio weekend breakfast host Kyran Wheatley tweeted: “@Joe_Hildebrand he JUST said it was this sort of expectation that prevented him from coming out. How fucking stupid are you?”

He went on to apologise for the remark.

For more on Ian Thorpe’s remarkable interview read this post here.

7. Equal pay report

A new Oxfam reports shows that Australian women are 75 years behind on pay equality.

The report into gender disparities within the countries that make up the G20 reveals that it will take 75 years before women are paid the same as men.

Oxfam boss Helen Szoke says women are paid less than men, do most of the unpaid labour and are over-represented in part-time work.

The report also found another 20-60 percent would be added to the GDP of G20 countries if unpaid work such as caring for children or carrying out housework was recognised and valued. According to the report, women are subsiding the economy with 2-5 hours more unpaid work a day than men.

8. Australians in Gaza

As Israeli ground troops enter the Gaza Strip, Australians have been told to leave the area by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop — who says the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv is arranging a one-off assisted departure of Australians from Gaza.

Over 165 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza in six days of conflict between the two sides, with more than 1,000 have been injured.

Julie Bishop told Sky News 17 Australians had been assisted out so far.

 9. Camper vans called out for encouraging ‘rape culture’

A mother is calling for Brisbane based campervan company Wicked Campers to withdraw their fleet from the roads after her 11-year-old daughter spotted a vehicle with the slogan “In every princess, there’s a little slut who wants to try it just once’ 
on the back of a Wicked Camper van.

For more, read this post here.

10. Missing snowboarders

Update – 1:40pm- A body has reportedly been located at Mount Bogong under snow. The search continues for the other body.

Police say they hope it can be recovered in the ‘very near future.’

The Herald Sun reports that police found a body at 10:30am, who has yet to be identified, and are still searching for the second man.

Previously, Mamamia wrote:

A search will resume today for two snowboarders missing in Victoria.

Martin Buckland, 33, and Daniel Kerr, 32, failed to return to Melbourne on Saturday from their snowboarding trip to the Eskdale Spur area of Mount Bogong.

A team of 23 police officers searched for the pair yesterday and will continue at first light today.

11. Loneliest bear in the world

A Zoo in Argentina is facing worldwide criticism after claims a polar bear living there is lonely and depressed.

Arturo the polar bear is thought to have become depressed since the death of his long-term companion Pelusa two years ago, which has left him lonely and bereft.

The UK Mirror reports the polar bear is showing signs of abnormal behavior including pacing and rocking. There are fears that his environment – with extreme temperatures of up to 40 degrees and just a 50cm cooling pool –are contributing to his decline.

Greenpeace have called for the polar bear to be moved to a zoo in Canada but officials from Argentina’s Mendoza Zoo say that he is too old to move and might die on the journey.

Protesters have been circulating online petitions for months to attempt to have Aruoro Zoo with a petition on Change.org receiving over 30 000 signatures.

12. Sexual harassment still rife

According to a report in The Herald Sun, sexual harassment continues to be a major workplace issue — with 194 formal complaints made to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission last year.

This has led to payouts of more than $70,000, the newspaper reports. The report states that most often, the harassment is perpatrated by male bosses.

Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kate Jenkins told The Herald Sun: “When I started working in this area many years ago, the problem was more the presence of dirty magazines, nude calendars and wolf whistling in blue-collar workplaces such as factories and car yards.”

“Now it seems to be more office-based, and although improvements have been made over time, there are still many incidents,” she said.

13. Rove returns

Big news for fans of The Project, with reports that TV veteran Rove McManus will return to the Ten Network as the new host ofthe show.

He will replace Charlie Pickering, who announced his resignation earlier this year. For more, read this post here.

14. World Cup

Germany have won the World Cup with a nail biting goal scored in extra time with 6 minutes left. The final score was 1-0 over Argentina.

German fans were jubilant!

After over 120 mins, Germany become the first European nation to win the World Cup in South America. Last time they won was in 1990.

 15. Sex offender found in Ballarat

A sex offender who escaped a correctional facility in Victoria earlier this month has been found in a Ballarat toilet.

Andrew Darling walked out the correctional facility, known as the Village of the Damned and home to some of the state’s worst sex offenders, on July 6 — but was captured by Ballarat police just before 9.30am today, The Examiner reports.

He was located at a toilet block next to a Coles supermarket after a member of the public called 000 and reported his location.

Police say the sex offender, who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl, did not resist arrest.

Units from Ararat Criminal Investigation Unit are reportedly travelling to Ballarat to interview him.

16. Terry Richardson to shoot Playboy issue

Controversial photographer Terry Richardson is set to shoot an entire issue of Playboy.

A Playboy spokeswoman confirmed the rumour to Jezebel, saying: “Yes, Terry has shot for the magazine many times over the years, and has been a great partner.”

Richardson has been accused of sexual harrassment by several models, with The Guardian reporting that models have accused Richardson of inappropriate sexual conduct for more than a decade.

In 2010, Danish model Rie Rasmussen confronted the photographer, accusing him of abusing his position of power within the industry to sexually harass young women.

“He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of,” Rasmussen said.

“They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves,” she said.

The shoe company Aldo parted ways with Richardson — who has photographed celebrities including Miley Cyrus, President Obama and Lady Gaga — in June as complaints about him gained more media traction, Jezebel reports.

The issue is set to come out in early 2015, the Huffington Post reports.

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