Tuesday'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. Melbourne mother charged with murder.

A 36-year old mother will appear in court today after being charged with the murder of her three young children.

Yesterday Victorian homicide detectives charged Akon Guode with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after the Toyota Kluger four-wheel-drive that she was driving plunged into Lake Gladman, in Melbourne’s west, on April 8.

Insider the car were Ms Guode’s four children – one-year-old boy Bol, his four-year-old brother Maudit and his twin sister Anger all died.

Six-year-old Awel, survived the crash along with the accused.

For more read this post here. 

2. Family appeal after Perth mother goes missing.

The family of a mother from Perth, missing since Saturday, have made an emotional appeal for the public to assist in her return.

Robyn Santen, 36, was last seen in inner-city Leederville on Saturday evening.

Police say she may have gone for a swim at a nearby beach.

Yesterday her family made an appeal.

“Please come home, the kids and I miss you so much,” her husband Troy Santen pleaded.

Her brother Andrew Paton said “We love you so much; please, just come home to us,”

Police will resume and air and sea search at first light today.

Ms Santen is described as 170 centimetres tall, with a fair complexion, medium build and short brown hair.

If you see her or have any information, call police on 131 444.

3. Formula is worse for babies than alcohol-tinged breastmilk.

A statement by Australia’s leading breastfeeding association has left many new mothers feeling guilty and shamed about how they feed their babies.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association has said that it is “better to give breastfeed with a small amount of alcohol than to feed artificial baby milk.”

The advice, on their website comes in the face of research showing that an increasing number of women are turning to bottle feeding within weeks of giving birth because they wish to recommence consuming alcohol.

The ABA has recommended that new mums stick with breast milk – saying it is okay for them to drink up to two alcoholic drinks a day.

ABA Queensland spokeswoman Naomi Millgate told News Limited “I am not advocating for women to drink alcohol and certainly not in the first four weeks but they need to know they don’t need to give up on breastfeeding if they want to have a couple of drinks and are scared of the impact on the baby.”

4. Rosie Batty slams nation’s leaders for sexist comments.

Australian of the Year Rosie Batty has told the Royal Commission into Family Violence that attitudes towards women must change in every sphere of society to tackle the scourge of family violence – and she has specifically pinpointed the nation’s leaders as being guilty of gender inequality.

“I think as a society we have become very aware of some of the sexist and inappropriate attitudes of some of the leaders in our country,” she said.

“We hear those statements and we don’t like them. We can actually hear them now. So I think cultural change means no one is immune, everyone has to change and really become aware of their behaviour and their influence on others.”

“That obviously means that culture has to change from the highest levels, including political parties and leaders of the country, influential corporations.”

5. Federal Government to outline its long-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today.

The Coalition is expected to reveal its long-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today.

Australia currently aims to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, based on the level of emissions in 2000.

The Australian reports that the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott negotiated last night with Federal Cabinet a new target that will scale back draft proposals to cut Australian emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

According to the report last night Cabinet agreed to a 26 per cent reduction on today’s carbon emissions by 2030 – which will be agreed upon as official policy by the Coalition today.

According to The Australian this target would be below Canada’s ambition of 30 per cent by 2030 and would not keep up with the US target of 26-28 per cent by 2025 or the EU promise of a 40 per cent cut from 1990 levels by 2030.

6. Students at Sydney University using impersonators to sit exams.

A report by Sydney University has shown that students are paying impersonators to sit their exams for them.

The taskforce has released its first report into academic misconduct that came after the university was embroiled in several high-profile cheating scandals.

It found that “plagiarism, collusion, recycling and ghost writing” were problems that were common for students undertaking take-home assignments. It also found that cheating in formal exams was also a concern.

“The problem of cheating in exams is not trivial – a study on multiple choice exams within the university revealed an average level of cheating of about 5 per cent,” it said.

And the students most likely to cheat – business students. The report found that there was a “disproportionately” high number of students from its business school who engaged in academic misconduct.

Sydney University is not alone reports Fairfax Media, at the University of NSW all wrist watches have been banned from exam rooms to ensure students do not use technology to cheat.

7. Police searching for man who tried to have sex with a dog.

NSW Police are searching for a man who tried to have sex with a dog in front of two female dog owners in Sydney’s west on Sunday.

The two women aged 20 and 23 say they were approached by the man as they were walking their dogs through the suburb of Greystanes about 1pm on Sunday.

A police spokeperson said the man stopped to talk to the dogs then exposed his penis in front of the women and “attempted to commit bestiality on the other dog.”

He is described as being of Indian/subcontinental appearance, 180-190 centimetres tall, with a dark complexion and with unshaven, short black hair.

When he approached the women, he was wearing a grey T-shirt, dark blue shorts with a pin stripe through them and dirty white and red “skater style shoes”.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. 

8. Two killed in Ikea knife attack.

A man has been taken into custody and is being held on suspicion of murder following the attack.

Vastmanland police said in a statement that they had been called at about 1pm local time and arrived at the store where officers “found a man and a woman who had knife injuries and who later died of their wounds”.

Police confirmed two people had died, and one was seriously injured following the knife attack in the kitchen section of the store.

9. David Beckham hits back at criticism of Harper’s dummy.

Football star David Beckham has hit back at criticism over his four-year old Daughter Harper’s use of a dummy.

The little girl was photographed sucking on a pink dummy over the weekend with many saying that she is too old for the pacifier.

His furious post to Instagram told people to back off.

“Why do people feel they have the right to criticize a parent about their own children without having any facts?? Everybody who has children knows that when they aren’t feeling well or have a fever you do what comforts them best and most of the time it’s a pacifier so those who criticize think twice about what you say about other people’s children because actually you have no right to criticize me as a parent …”

10. New Zealand narrows it down to 40 flags.

Will New Zealand ditch the flag? As the country waits to find out an independent panel in New Zealand has released a long list of 40 designs for a new flag – and only one contains the Union Jack.

The panel will now consult with experts on culture, art, design and vexillology and will ensure the 40 designs comply with intellectual property laws before announcing a shortlist of four in September.

The country will then vote for their favourite flag of the four in a referendum.

A second referendum will then be held next March to decide between the preferred option and the current flag.

However many in New Zealand say that a new flag isn’t necessary – only 739 people across the country turned up to public meetings to hear about the project, and a recent survey by a NZ current affairs show found that 84% said the country didn’t need a new flag at all.

Take a look at some that didn’t make the cut:

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