Thursday'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. Marcus Stanford appeared in court yesterday to face charges over Stephanie Scott’s murder.

Marcus Stanford, twin brother of Stephanie Scott’s alleged murderer Vincent Stanford, appeared in court yesterday.

ABC reports Stanford, age 24, has been charged as an accessory after the fact to the murder of Leeton High School teacher Stephanie Scott in April.

Ms Scott’s burnt body was found in isolated bushlands approximately 70 kilometres from her home town, just days before she was due to be married.

Appearing in front of Griffith Court via video-link today, Marcus Stanford did not apply for bail.

His next court appearance is set for July 29th.

2. British fathers have made an emotional plea to their wives who may have fled to Syria to join IS.

Two fathers, whose children are believed to have been taken to Syria by their mothers have begged for them to be returned home to Britain.

Their wives Sugra and Khadija Dawood and the women’s sister, Zohra, are thought to be en route to join IS militants in the Middle East, according to The Independent.

They have taken their nine children with them after departing from Bradford in Yorkshire over a week ago.

Akhtar Iqbal who is married to Sugra Dawood gave an emotive plea to his wife, saying he loved her and asking her to contact him.

“Please, please call me. It’s been eight, nine days, you are out and we don’t know where you are,” he said.

“I miss you, I love you. All of you, I love you a lot. I can’t live without you.”

Mr Iqbal said he was “shaking with fear” thinking about his five children, who are aged between three and fifteen years 0f age.

Mohammed Shoaib wept as he pleaded with his wife Khadija to bring home his two children, aged five and seven.

“We had a perfect relationship, we had a lovely family. Please contact me whenever you want. Please come back,” he said.

“I’m not angry, please come back, everything is normal, come back to normal life please. They are young kids, seven and five. We had a perfect relationship, we had a lovely family, I don’t know what happened. Please contact me whenever you want.”

The women were expected to return to their homes in Bradford Yorkshire last Thursday.

3. The man accused of murdering Masa Vukotic says he must have his mental health assessed, lawyer says.

The man accused of murdering Melbourne teenager Masa Vukotic will be assessed to determine if he is mentally fit to enter a plea in court.

Sean Christian Price is accused of stabbing the 17-year-old while she was out jogging in a Melbourne park.

He appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates court on Monday via video link, but details can only now be reported.

According to The Age defence counsel Ruth Shann told the court that Price needed further psychological assessment to determine if he was well enough to enter a plea.

“We need to understand more about Mr Price’s condition, including his fitness to plea,” she said.

Masa’s father, Slavoljub, was in court with family members and a group of supporters wearing pink — Masa’s favourite colour.

4. Prime Minister Tony Abbott says ‘The Killing Season’ proves Labor can’t be trusted.

Controversy from Tuesday night’s episode of The Killing Season spilled over into parliament yesterday as Tony Abbott taunted the Opposition Leader over the previous Government’s failings.

Bill Shorten attacked Abbott over a controversial deal struck with the Greens that will most likely leave some pensioners out of pocket.

“Given the Prime Minister has now done dirty deals with the Greens on the debt ceiling and slashing part pensions,” Mr Shorten said “how can Australians believe a single word this Prime Minister says?”

Mr Abbott hit back saying: “I am a little surprised that the Leader of the Opposition should choose to start question time today talking about trust, given what we were told on The Killing Season last night.

“I want to say publicly: thank you to the ABC. Thank you to the ABC. I don’t normally say thank you to the ABC, but I have to say Australia is indebted to you on this instance.”

Maybe you ought to give them back some of their funding then? AHEM.

5. Ireland is mourning the death of five students after California balcony collapse.

Five Irish students and one other woman were killed yesterday when after a hotel balcony collapsed in California, while several others remain in a critical condition.

BBC reports the accident occurred during the 21st birthday celebrations of one of the students at around 1.00am local time on Wednesday.

Families begin to arrive in Berkeley after balcony collapse tragedy http://t.co/zLRzP2qHTD pic.twitter.com/PF5XsHBfY8

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 17, 2015

The victims, all aged between 21 and 22 years, were on a work exchange programme — over 700 Irish students are believed to be living in the area.

Philip Grant, the Consul General of Ireland to the Western United States told the press: “We’re still in an emergency response mode. It’s a formative experience, and to have this happen … has left us all frozen in shock and disbelief.”

Mourners and local residents affected by the tragedy have begun leaving flowers and photos at the scene as forensic investigators examine the site.

Police chief have said their is no sign of criminal activity at this point.

6. Study: Women in their 40s should freeze their eggs at a young age.

A new study has found that a woman’s chance of conceiving in her forties could be greatly improved if she froze her eggs before the age of 35.

The study conducted in Spain found that while women older than 44 had a 1.3 per cent chance of conceiving through IVF, women aged 38 and 39 had a 24 per cent chance.

“Women of 44 or older should be fully informed about their real chances of a live birth and counselled in favour of egg donation,” lead researcher Dr Marta Devesa said.

According to The Guardian, Dr Devesa suggests women freeze their eggs prior to the age of 35, or use donor eggs from younger women to have the best chances of conception.

The study involved 4,000 women at the Hospital Universitari Quirón-Dexeus in Barcelona, Spain.

7. Teenager dies during routine wisdom teeth surgery.

A 17-year-old girl has died while getting her wisdom teeth out.

Sydney Galleger from Minnesota, USA suffered a cardiac arrest during the routine procedure.

“We have all been blessed to have been touched by Sydney in one way or another,” Sydney’s mother wrote online, according to TIME.

“Her faith was strong, her heart was big, her laughter was infectious and her smile could light up a room.”

Toward the end of Sydney’s procedure, she started going into cardiac arrest. Emergency services were called immediately but nothing could be done to revive her.

Sydney was pronounced dead a week later.

8. Hundreds of Australian women targeted in nude photo leak.

Nude photographs of hundreds of South Australian women and teenage girls have been leaked on a US-based website.

The photos were either posted or provided directly by recipients of the images, although SBS reports some may have been taken from private Facebook accounts.

One of the victims believes the leak was an act of revenge.

“I let a boyfriend take the photos while we were together and I guess that was his way of kind of getting back at me,” she told Seven News.

The South Australian police are attempting to have the website blocked in Australia, but are unable to exercise much authority over the website and its owners as it is hosted in the United States.

Police are investigating those who may have leaked the images.

Yesterday, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon called the leak “sickening”.

“The photos have to come from somewhere and if they come from an ex-partner, then that ex-partner who does such a nasty or spiteful thing ought to be subject to a sanction,” he said.

9. State of Origin fans furious after Ron Clarke tribute disrupted.

While NSW took out last night’s State of Origin clash in Melbourne, football fans are reeling after a rowdy crowd refused to stay silent during a tribute to the late Ron Clarke.

The Origin opened with a minute silence for the legendary athlete, who passed away yesterday at the age of 78.

During the silence, shouts of “Queenslander” and “Gallen’s a wanker!” could be heard from the crowd.

“You get 91 and a half thousand people in any space you’re always going to get a few idiots and that’s exactly what they were, completely disrespectful idiots who don’t do our city, our state, or indeed our nation any credit at all,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told Nine News.

Clarke was a record-breaking Olympic track athlete and also served a stint as the Gold Coast Mayor.

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