1. “An absolute miracle”: Missing dad found after spending five days lost in Victoria’s rugged bushland.
With no food or water and a dead mobile phone battery, a bushwalker's survival for five days in Victoria's rugged bushland has been hailed a "miracle".
Julio Ascui was finally found by rescuers just before lunchtime on Wednesday, hungry, "really thirsty" and 8kg lighter after getting lost at Halls Gap in the Grampians State Park on Friday.
When asked how he felt when rescuers made contact, the 50-year-old said: "Amazing. But I was really thirsty."
Munching on a banana and smiling for the media, the Keilor Downs father told how he perched himself near a river, filling his bottle with water daily.
"I just come in to trek, you know, and I got lost for five days," he told ABC News.
"I feel really well, yeah. Thank you. Thank you, guys."
More than 50 police officers and searchers ramped up the hunt for Mr Ascui on Wednesday morning, and his family joined them.
He was reported missing after failing to contact his family since his last Facebook post on Friday, in which he uploaded photos and tagged himself at the Grampians.
Sergeant Karen Bain said Mr Ascui lost his way at the top of a ridge, then wandered a kilometre from his car in very rugged terrain.
"He saw a beautiful spot he wanted to go and have a look at and there's no track up there, so he's just wandered off to try and find it, turned around and he was lost," she told reporters.
"Then he spent the last five days trying to find his way back.
"He didn't have water or food in his pack, but he managed to find some kind of water along the track where he was.
"He was way off track, so it was an absolute miracle we found him today."
Mr Ascui, who grew up in the mountains of Chile and had some experience with the terrain, was dehydrated and taken to hospital for a check up.
Mr Ascui's family cried tears of joy and relief.
"I didn't know happiness until we found my dad today," son Josh Ascui told reporters.
2. A five-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he was accidentally shot in the face by another child.
A five-year-old boy remains in a critical condition after being shot in the face by another boy on a rural property near the Queensland-NSW border, AAP reports.
It's believed the boy was shot with a rifle by the other child, reportedly his 12-year-old older cousin, at a Cottonvale property near Stanthorpe after 4pm on Tuesday.
The grandfather of the two boys, Tony Calvisi, told The Courier Mail the children were banned from touching the guns, but said "curiosity got the better of them".
"They were playing with something they were always told never to touch, and I don't know why," he said.
"[The gun] was in a place where they shouldn't have got to it. But children, they find things.
"They're children. It's an accident – an unfortunate one. I don't know why it's happened. We're really upset about what's happened. We can't put it into words."
Police described the incident as a "tragic accident", though investigations are continuing.
The boy was taken to Stanthorpe Hospital with a facial wound before being airlifted to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane for emergency surgery where he remains in a critical but stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
3. Surprise! Scientists say eating bacon and eggs for breakfast could actually help you lose weight.
If you haven't already had breakfast, consider frying yourself up a plate of bacon and eggs, because scientists say it can actually be good for your health.
According to The Courier Mail, a new report from the CSIRO has confirmed the benefits of consuming more protein at breakfast time.
The study shows that by upping their protein intake in the morning, Aussies can stave off unhealthy cravings throughout the day. That means less unnecessary - and at times, unhealthy - snacking.
"The average Australian eats much lower amounts of protein at breakfast, so increasing breakfast protein may help to control eating later in the day," senior principal research scientist for CSIRO and co-author of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, Professor Manny Noakes, told The Courier Mail.
"If you find it difficult to control what you eat, a redistribution of protein towards breakfast may be the answer to reducing your waistline without leaving you ravenously hungry and craving unhealthy foods."
Traditionally, most Aussies lean towards higher protein meals later in the day instead of at breakfast time, with women consuming just 11g of protein in the mornings, while men eat an average of 15g. The new study suggests we increase our protein uptake to 25g in the early hours of the day.
Scientists suggest adding whole protein sources, like lean meats, fish, eggs, legumes and dairy to the breakfast menu.
4. Iceland has become the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay women less than men.
An historic law passed by the Icelandic government has made it illegal to pay women less than men for the same type of work.
According to Al Jazeera, the new laws mean that companies with more than 25 staff must prove that they abide by 'equal pay for equal work'. Those that fail to prove pay parity will face fines.
The law is the first of its kind internationally.
The law was first introduced and passed on International Women's Day - March 8 - in 2017, but only came into effect in the Nordic county on January 1, 2018.
Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, told Al Jazeera companies will receive certification from the government that they are paying men and women equally.
"It's a mechanism to ensure women and men are being paid equally," she said.
"We have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap."
Iceland has long been viewed as a world leader when it comes to gender equality, having been ranked by the World Economic Forum as the world's most gender-equal country for the past nine years.
The country has closed around 10 per cent of its total gender gap - making it one of the fastest improving countries in the world when it comes to equality - since 2006.
The new law is part of a mission by the Icelandic government to completely eradicate the wage gap by 2020.
5. The Melbourne Renegades move back into the top four after a dramatic victory against the Sydney Sixers.
The Melbourne Renegades moved back into the top four with a dramatic super-over victory against the top-of-the-table Sydney Sixers in a WBBL cliff-hanger at Geelong.
Jess Duffin hit a single off the last ball of Marizanne Kapp's super over to snatch the win for the Victorians; their nine runs in the extension eclipsing the Sixers' 2-8.
It was the second celebration of the day for the Renegades who fleetingly thought they'd defended their 7-120 in regulation play, AAP reports.
Sixer Sarah Aley, needing three to win off the last ball of the final over, inside-edged Amy Satterthwaite to short fine leg for what appeared to be just a single.
Kris Britt threw the ball to Renegades keeper Emma Inglis who instinctively and prematurely started celebrating - but didn't break the wickets.
Aley, showing tremendous match awareness, scampered back for a second run to tie the scores, her quick thinking beating the desperate efforts of Sattherthwaite who cottoned on to what was happening but couldn't execute the run out.
The Sixers had been in control at 2-81 in the 13th over when Maitlan Brown's diving outfield catch to dismiss WBBL leading run scorer Ellyse Perry (37), off the bowling of Chamari Atapattu, turned the match on its head.
Atapattu (2-6) then got rid of the dangerous Erin Burns (20) in her next over, exposing the Sixers' lower order who could only scramble a tie.
Earlier player-of-the-match Satterthwaite's measured 44 combined with Inglis's turbo-charged 31 off 17 balls had rescued the Renegades from a dire position of 3-17 after seven overs.
South African legspinner Dane van Niekerk (2-25) dismissed the dangerous duo in her last over to extend her advantage atop the WBBL wicker-taking leaderboard but Satterthwaite and the Renegades, spectacularly, had the last laugh.
6. Trump launches bizarre tweet at North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un: "My nuclear button is much bigger and more powerful".
Donald Trump has responded on Twitter to North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un's claim of having a nuclear button on his desk, that he too has a nuclear button which is much bigger and more powerful.
"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.' Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his," the US president wrote on his personal Twitter account.
Trump's statement came as a response to some images released on Tuesday in which the North Korean leader is seen showing off his prowess to press the nuclear button at all times, AAP reports.
However, the threat did not seem to daunt Trump, who also boasted that "my Button works!," unlike Pyongyang's nuclear weaponry.
The statements came on the same day that the US announced the possibility of pushing forward new sanctions against North Korea, even though South Korea has proposed to hold a high-level meeting with Pyongyang, that could take place on January 9.
The meeting, which Kim Jong-un is yet to accept, would be the first of its kind in more than two years between the two neighbouring countries and would come at a time of heightened tension on the Korean peninsula due to Pyongyang's intense arms developments.
Pyongyang's ongoing missile and nuclear tests in recent months have led the United Nations to adopt a series of economic sanctions against the regime.
However, Washington's response has been rather ambiguous.
While the State Department does not hesitate to find a diplomatic solutions for the conflict, Trump does not rule out a possible military action.
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