Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Mother accused of murdering 21-month-old daughter to face trial.

A Brisbane mother is facing nine charges including murder of her 21-month-old daughter.

Ashleigh Meagan Watterson, 29, had manslaughter charges upgraded to murder before Supreme Court.

Ashleigh Meagan Watterson, 29, had manslaughter charges upgraded to murder before Supreme Court. Via Twitter

Watterson, who is on bail and was not in court, faces nine charges – one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault, and one count of grievous ­bodily harm over death of her daughter, Sarah Jade Watterson on March 20, 2012, at Rothwell, north of Brisbane.

Watterson’s lawyer Eugene O’Sullivan told the court he had obtained an “informal” medical report which states the baby “died of natural causes, breathing difficulties” reports The Courier Mail.

But prosecutors say up to 15 specialist pediatricians will prove Watterson killed the baby girl.

Mr O’Sullivan said he wished to challenge the admissibility of Watterson’s “alleged confession” to police “well after she was charged with attempted murder” saying she was “not mentally fit to do that interview … so we want that kicked out,”

“It’s not a confession, it’s a comment."

Justice Boddice said the trial, which is set to run for three weeks with 120 witnesses to be called, would be provisionally listed for February 2017.

2. Labor candidate Christian Kunde drops out of election race after links to extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir uncovered.

A NSW Labor candidate in the seat of Farrer, has dropped out of the race after his connection to extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir was uncovered by The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Kunde has also given speeches comparing gay marriage and marrying a family member.

Christian Kunde had written an opinion piece for the ABC defending the extremist group's Australian spokesman, Uthman Badar.

“In many articles... Uthman has been labelled an "advocate of honour killings", he wrote.

“He has been variously branded a "supporter of terrorism," as well as an "extremist" and a "fundamentalist".

“I should say that I know Uthman Badar personally. He is a brilliant economics graduate, who won the Premier's Award for all round achievement in his Higher School Certificate. Moreover, he is a husband, father, trusted friend and cricket enthusiast.

“The title "Cricket playing father" is unlikely to garner much attention in a headline, so "honour killing advocate" is chosen instead.”

Mr Kunde told The Daily Telegraph that he was not homophobic and his words were being misconstrued.

Mr Kunde issued a statement last night saying he’d step down in the interests of the party.

“I am not homophobic and I believe in Australian democracy. I disagree with the way my comments are being reported, in fact this distortion is exactly what I have warned about,” he said. “After consideration and consultation with my family I have opted to stand aside as an endorsed Labor representative as I do not wish to distract from Labor’s campaign.”

3. Newspoll shows parties tied 50/50.

The latest Newspoll out today shows that the two parties are neck and neck.

The Coalition's primary vote has increased slightly at 41 per cent while Labor is also up one per cent at 36 per cent. It remains below the 45.6 per cent won by the Tony Abbott-led Coalition at the last election.

Labor’s primary vote of 36 per cent is three points higher than in 2013, which was the worst result in 80 years for the ALP, but lower than the 38 per cent achieved by Julia Gillard in 2010 reports The Australian.

However the minor parties are still attracting a significant proportion of the electorate.

The Greens primary vote is steady at 10 percent, while other minor parties are attracting 13 per cent of the electorate.

Satisfaction with Mr Turnbull as PM has tumbled and is now equal to his record low of 36 per cent as Prime Minister, this is down from a high of 60 per cent last November.

4. PM sick with the flu.

With just two weeks to go on the election trail Malcolm Turnbull is fighting a new battle – with the flu.

Yesterday the PM bleary eyed and hoarse told reporters he was sick.

"Do you have any flu remedies for me? I'm happy to receive some advice," he asked.

5. Drink driving trend for mothers worrying.

NSW most senior traffic police officer has expressed his concern over a plethora of mothers caught over the limit behind the wheel with their kids in the car.

Traffic and Highway Patrol Command boss John Hartley said he was “stunned” by five recent cases of mothers caught driving with dangerous alcohol levels reports The Daily Telegraph.

One woman, aged 44, was driving a Volvo 4WD, with three children, aged between nine and 11 in the car, and allegedly blew 0.183.

Another, a mother from the Sydney suburb of Pymble was dropping her two-year-old daughter at a ballet class when she was pulled over. She told police she had “just brushed her teeth.”

She then blew a reading of 0.196, confessing she had drunk an “unknown quantity of red and white wine at home between 7pm and 5am”.

She pleaded guilty and was fined $1000 and banned from driving for six months.

A Central Coast mother blew 0.324 in a roadside test on August 20 last year on her way to pick up her children.

According to The Daily Telegraph she confessed to drinking seven glasses of wine before getting in the car.

“I think what we are seeing is a list of mothers with children in a car and importantly some very high readings, which indicates more than two wines at lunch,” Mr Hartley said.

“So that does concern me greatly.

“Mothers think they will get away because police won’t be around. This shows it is not a myth we are around targeting drink driving.

“Whether it is mum, dad, grandfather or grandmother picking up or dropping off (children), they should be capable of doing that without risking their lives.”

6. Risky drinking by parents influences teens.

A study has shown that teenagers drinking habits are influenced by their parents – particularly their mothers drinking.

According to new research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies “risky" drinking among parents has a strong influence on their teen's decision to try alcohol.

Risky drinking is defined as parents having five or more drinks on any occasion, at least two or three times a month.

The Sydney Morning Herald points out that they study did not consider if the teens, aged 14 to 16, actually had to witness their parents' drinking.

It found that mothers seemed more influential.

A quarter of teens whose mums drank at risky levels had sampled alcohol, compared with almost one in five teens whose fathers drank in the same way. About 16 per cent of children whose parents did drink not heavily, had tried alcohol.

7. Star Trek actor dies in car crash.

Anton Yelchin, the Russian-born actor who played Chekov in the new Star Trek films, has been killed by his own car at his home in Los Angeles.

The car struck him after rolling backwards down the drive pinning him against a brick postbox pillar and a security fence.

Yelchin, 27, also appeared in the crime thriller Alpha Dog and teen comedy Charlie Bartlett.

A third film with him in the role, Star Trek Beyond, is due for release next month.

News of his death led Twitter trends in Los Angles and

Fellow Star Trek actor John Cho, who plays Sulu in the series, tweeted, "I loved Anton Yelchin so much. He was a true artist - curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins."

8. Wife angry at finding out her husband has fathered 22 children as a sperm donor.

A New York math professor is coming home to a very cranky wife after she learnt he was not just the father to their three kids, but had 22 others he had fathered through sperm donation.

Ari Nagel, 40 has been donating his sperm to women for nearly a decade with baby number 23 on the way after recently impregnating another single mother.

The New York Post wrote that the prolific sperm donor’s wife isn’t too happy about the revelations.

'She's been yelling at me a lot,' the Kingsborough Community College professor told the paper about his wife Roxanne.

Nagel, said their relationship has not been romantic in years

“She always wanted me to be a regular, traditional spouse,” he said.

“When she saw me donating to all these women, she asked, "Why are they worthy and I'm not?"'

Nagel told The New York Post that some of the children were conceived the “old fashioned way” with lesbian couples sometimes holding their partner's hand in bed for moral support.

But often Nagel's sperm is produced” thanks to a couple of minutes of alone time with his phone” and delivered to the women.

“He's a lot of fun to be around,” one of the baby’s mothers Tiffany Harrison told The New York Post.

“He loves people, he's outgoing, and he's gorgeous.”

Harrison and her wife Yvonne have a toddler daughter with Nagel who he sees regularly sees for babysitting, birthdays and graduations.

With his wife he has three kids, a 12-year-old son and two daughters, who are ages two and five.

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