Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Luke Batty coronial inquest

The Victorian Coroners Court inquest into the death of 11-year old Luke Batty will begin today.

Luke was killed by his father in February at a cricket oval in the Victorian town of Tyabb.

 Nine News reports that State Coroner Judge Ian Gray will focus on the final 18 months of Luke’s life during the inquest.

He will examine what police and the Department of Human Services knew about the family violence threat posed by Luke’s father Greg Anderson and what they did in response.

2. Himalayas snow storm

The death toll from a devastating snowstorm in Nepal’s Himalayas has climbed to 43 in the worst trekking disaster ever to hit the country.

Rescuers say they have now completed their search for survivors.

The BBC reports that the focus now is on recovering bodies buried in the snow.

Several Australians are still unaccounted for in the area.

Fairfax Media reports that while DFAT says it is not aware of any Australians dead or missing in Nepal, the family and friends of almost two dozen trekkers, including a father and daughter, say they have not been able to make contact with their loved ones.

3. Joshua Hardy murder

The father of Darwin man Joshua Hardy who was killed outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Melbourne on Saturday night has pleaded with other families to tell each other of their love.

“Kids, if your parents are there – tell them you love ’em back,”  Fairfax Media reports he said

“And if they’re not, jump on the phone and tell each other how much you love them.

“Because we know that’s the last thing we said to Josh.”

Kyle Zandipour, 27, an investment banker at ANZ, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday charged with his murder.

 4. Mathias Cormann  ‘girly man’ comment.

Despite coming under criticism for his comments Finance Minister Mathias Cormann refuses to back away from his description of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as an “economic girly man”.

In a statement released yesterday Senator Cormann said “No amount of confected outrage from Bill Shorten, Labor and the Greens can detract from the fact that he is too weak to repair the budget mess Labor left behind,”

He continued “economic girly men has come to adopt its own meaning. It is not in any way intended as a reflection on girls, it is entirely intended as a reflection on Bill Shorten.”

Earlier in the day Labor frontbencher Penny Wong told Sky News that the use of the phrase was not appropriate.

“I just think, if we use ‘girl’ as an insult, what are we telling our sons and our daughters about being a girl? You are saying it is somehow less competent, weak, whatever, whatever the imputation. I just don’t think that is sensible. Imagine if we used any racial term in the way it was used? I think we would all be outraged for the same reasons.”

5. Synod revises gay acceptance stance

Gay rights groups have expressed their disappointment that a final version of a Vatican document, which initially seemed to express support for homosexual lifestyles, has been watered down.

An earlier version of the Bishop’s document called a “relatio” spoke of “accepting and valuing their [homosexuals’] sexual orientations” and giving gays “a welcoming home”.

But a revised version released Sunday radically altered the language, using vague and general terms.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group in the United States, told the ABC it was disappointing.

The final version now says that “there is no foundation whatsoever” to compare homosexual marriage to heterosexual marriage calling heterosexual marriage “God’s plan for matrimony and the family”.

The earlier version had said the church should acknowledge that couples in same-sex relations offered “mutual aid” and “precious support” for each other in times of difficulty.

6. Will kidnapped girls be freed?

There was hope in Nigeria that the 219 abducted schoolgirls who have been missing for six months would be freed by Boko Haram after the government announced a truce and a deal to free the girls.

Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh told media of the impending deal – saying a ceasefire with Boko Haram had been reached.

NBC News reports that ‘waves of violence’ since the announcement has cast doubt on the veracity of the deal.

7. Special forces to enter Iraq

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has told reporters in Baghdad that a deal has been reached with Baghdad for the deployment of about 200 of special forces troops to assist Iraqi troops in their fight against Islamic State militants.

8. Six-year old girl who can’t stop eating

A six-year old girl who suffered damage to the part of her brain that controls metabolism after surgery to remove a brain tumour now weighs 43kilograms.

Her desperate parents are searching for a cure to her devastating condition.

Could this treatment be the answer they are looking for?

For more read this post here.

9. Dangers of kids dropping out of organised sport

A study presented to Sports Medicine Australia has shown that kids who drop out of organised sport between the ages of eight and 10 are at high risk of mental health problems.

And the problems hit before they reach high school.

News Limited report that 250,000 kids are dropping out of sport annually.

10. Hong Kong Clashes

More violent clashes have erupted in Hong Kong over the weekend, as pro-democracy protesters appeared increasingly willing to confront police.

Police struggled to contain a youth-led movement that has shown little sign of waning after three weeks of standoffs.

Demonstrators in the Mongkok district launched a fresh assault early on Sunday, putting on helmets and goggles before surging forward to grab a line of metal barricades.

Hundreds of police officers hit out at a wall of umbrellas in the Mongkok district as protesters fended off police pepper spray.

CNN reports that Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying has said that talks would be held on Tuesday and broadcast live on television.

11. Sex Toy tree brought down by vandals

An artistic installation in Paris which has been receiving criticism for its resemblance to a sex toy and a Christmas tree has been brought down by vandals.

24-meter-high canvas artwork by U.S. artist Paul McCarthy was unveiled on Thursday in Place Vendome, famous for its luxury jewelry stores and the Ritz Hotel.

It came under intense scrutiny after the artist Paul McCarthy told Le Monde that the Christmas type tree was inspired by a “ butt plug”.

Vandals attacked the tree on Saturday, which has now been removed from the square.

12. Four-year olds given pre-school homework

Children as young as four are being asked to complete homework at some daycare centres according to News Limited.

Several day care centres are named including Bright Beginnings at Guildford, NSW where the centre’s pre-school program gives four and five year olds homework to prepare them for what they will be asked to do in kindergarten.

News Limited reports that many experts disagree with the practice.

Associate Professor Richard Walker said that homework for four-year-olds was ridiculous.

“Kids in primary school shouldn’t be doing too much homework, certainly not in the first couple of years and certainly not in kindergarten. Getting them ‘ready’ by doing homework at childcare is crazy.”

13. US President’s credit card rejected.

It happens to all of us it seems.

The President of the United States 
Barack Obama has revealed that his credit card was recently rejected when he attempted to pay for dinner at a New York restaurant.

“I was there during the General Assembly, and my credit card was rejected,” Obama said the unveiling of new measures to stem credit card fraud and identity theft in the US. 

”It turned out, I guess I don’t use it enough.

”

So they thought there was some fraud going on,” reports The Washington Post.

Luckily the first lady saved the day.

“Michelle had hers.” he told the audience.

“Fortunately.”

14. Burqa ban scrapped

The controversial ‘burqa ban’ in Australia’s parliament house has been scrapped.

The speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, and the Senate president, Stephen Parry, met on Sunday to reconsider thenew rules announced just over two weeks ago — and now, Bishop has reversed her decision to ban people with burqas and other face coverings from sitting in the public gallery.

According to The Guardian, the department said the new arrangements would be as follows: “All visitors entering Parliament House will be required to temporarily remove any coverings that prevent the recognition of facial features. This will enable DPS security staff to identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk. Once this process has taken place, visitors are free to move about the public spaces of the building, including all chamber galleries, with facial coverings in place.”

15. Birthmark photoshopped out of school portrait

A mother has spoken of her outrage after her daughter’s school portrait was heavily retouched without her permission.

Kindergarten student Mahli Guise, six, was left in tears after seeing her large birthmark on her neck removed on Tuesday.

Her mother Kendi Simmons told the Barrier Daily Truth she is worried the incident will have a negative affect on her daughter’s self esteem.

“We’re very concerned about what that’s doing to her body image,” she said. “When she’s 18 how is she going to feel when she looks at that photo and she still has the birthmark but the photo doesn’t?

“Why instill in a six-year-old that she needs to have a complex about what she looks like?

“She’s not doing a fashion shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine, she’s having her photo taken for the family album.”

16. Families lose out under proposed childcare changes

Recommendations from the federal government’s Productivity Commission into childcare will leave families worse off financially, according to parenting advocacy group The Parenthood.

Modelling released by the group today indicates that under the proposed changes, a Brisbane family earning $150,000 per year, paying $90 a day with two children in childcare, would be $91 worse off each week.

The group’s acting executive director, Jo Briskey, said in a press release today these changes will affect both high and low-earning families.

“We are very concerned that parents already cannot afford to pay more. In a recent national survey of more than 1000 Parenthood parents we found 75 per cent would stop work or reduce their hours if the childcare rebate was cut,” she said.

The final report from the Productivity Commission will be delivered to the federal government on October 31.

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