Wednesday'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. Mother smoked cannabis before the crash that killed her two-year-old daughter.

A NSW mother has admitted that she smoked three or four “cones” of cannabis on the day she crashed a car she was driving, killing her two-year-old daughter and injuring her 11-month-old son.

The 20-year old woman’s two-year old daughter was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Nissan Pulsar with a normal seat belt when it crashed about 55 kilometres north of Scone, about 7pm on August 17.

Fairfax Media reports the woman was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, driving while suspended and driving with a passenger between six months and four years unrestrained.

Newcastle Local court heard she made admissions to having smoked three to four “cones” of cannabis through a “bong” about 10am on the day of the collision.

Magistrate Steven Jackson granted the woman bail on the condition she not drive a motor vehicle and reside at either a home in Aberdeen or Ronald McDonald House, where her 11-month old son is in intensive care.

2. Sydney man found tied up, murdered with bleach poured down his throat, hailed as a “kind man”.

Ruth Robinson, the partner of 26-year-old Jay Cerin, has spoken of how he was a good person who wouldn’t hurt anyone just days after police found him dead on the bedroom floor of his unit in Sydney’s west.

“I’ve known Jay since I was 12, he was a kind man, he had a heart of gold,” she said of the Mount Druitt man.

“He wasn’t involved in drugs. He wanted a family. We were planning on having a baby. He couldn’t wait to be a dad.”

Mr Cerin’s half-brother Trent Errington and Mr Errington’s girlfriend of one month, Rhiannon Bloodsworth, were arrested and refused bail over the murder.

They had been staying with Mr Cerin in his Penrith unit in the lead up to the murder.

Fairfax Media reports he had been tied up, stabbed and had bleach poured down his throat.

3. Mother dies after Queensland unit fire, just days after the death of her son.

The fire also hospitalised the boy’s father, one-year-old sister and five-year-old brother.

Neighbours smashed their way through the flames but were unable to rescue 30-year-old Crystal Cartledge or her three-year-old son Baileigh.

4. The New Zealand flag finalists are here (and two were designed by architect from Melbourne).

The four finalists in New Zealand’s public competition to design what could be the country’s new national flag have been revealed — but the reception within New Zealand has not been overwhelming.

Twitter exploding with negative comments:

“Has this entire process just been one long elaborate practical joke? That’s the only way to explain the ‪#NZflag shortlist. Utterly awful,” one user wrote.

All but one of the designs, which could end up replacing the existing Union Jack-emblazoned flag, uses the national silver fern symbol. The fourth shows the curving koru Maori symbol.

Two are by the same designer: Kiwi-born architect Kyle Lockwood, who lives in Melbourne.

The shortlisted four designs will be put to a public  vote in November. The favourite from that poll will then go to another public vote, against the incumbent NZ flag, next year.

5. Pope says all priests can forgive women who’ve had abortions.

Pope Francis has called on priests to forgive women who have had abortions — going against the usual hardline view in the Catholic Church.

In Catholicism, abortion is viewed as such a grave sin that it can punished with excommunication.

In most countries, only a bishop can approve forgiveness for abortion.

“I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it,” he said.

The change is only for the coming Jubilee Year, beginning in December.

He said he was “well aware of the pressure” that some women were under to abort, adding that he had “met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this ‘agonising and painful decision’.”

6. Auschwitz Memorial defends mist showers.

The Auschwitz Memorial in Poland is defending its decision to install outdoor mist sprinklers that has reminded visitors of gas chambers.

A number of tourists who visited the former Nazi death camp have said they were stunned to see the sprinklers outside the entrance.

“As a Jew who has lost so many relatives in the Holocaust, they looked like the showers that the Jews were forced to take before entering the gas chambers,” Meir Bulka told The Jerusalem Post.

The Auschwitz Memorial museum responded to the controversy on its Facebook page, saying the sprinklers were installed to keep visitors cool during the August heat wave in Poland.

Because thousands of people visit the memorial every day and lineups in the blazing sun are long, the sprinklers were installed “on the days of highest temperatures and removed when the temperature drops,” the museum said.

“Something had to be done, as we have noticed cases of faints among people and other dangerous situations.”

The museum added that the “safety and health of visitors are our priority during the period of extreme heat.”

They then commented: “And one more thing. It is really hard for us to comment on some suggested historical references since the mist sprinkles do not look like showers and the fake showers installed by Germans inside some of the gas chambers were not used to deliver gas into them. Zyklon B was dropped inside the gas chambers in a completely different way – through holes in the ceiling or airtight drops in walls.”

Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War. It is estimated that more than 1.1 million people and children, most of them Jews, were killed there between 1940 and 1945.

7. Chaos in Hungary as asylum seekers protest.

There have been scenes of chaos in Budapest as hundreds of asylum seekers protest, demanding they be allowed to travel on to Germany.

Hungarian authorities closed the train station altogether, then reopened it — but barred entry to the asylum seekers.

Around 1,000 people waved tickets, clapping, booing and shouting “Germany! Germany!” outside the station. Later they sat down, staring at a police blockade erected at the entrance.

About 100 police wearing helmets and wielding batons guarded the station. Dozens of asylum seekers who were inside were forced out.

“I am really pissed off. Why can’t the Hungarians just let us go?,” Afghan asylum seeker Haider, 31, said after ripping up his ticket.

“I worked as a translator for the US army for four years.”

An announcement was earlier made at the train station that no trains would be leaving or arriving “until further notice”.

The number of migrants entering Europe has reached record levels, with 107,500 arriving in July alone.

The BBC reports that under the EU’s “Dublin Regulation” asylum seekers must register in the first EU member state in which they arrive. However, the protocol has been widely abused, as many of those who reached Hungary first arrived in Greece, where they failed to claim asylum.

8. Thousands of Icelanders offer to take in Syrian migrants.

Over 12,000 Icelanders have joined a Facebook page offering to take Syrian refugees into their home, prompting the government to rethink its current policy.

The page was started by Icelandic author Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir, who encouraged her fellow countrymen to speak out in favour of those needing asylum, and within 24 hours, over 10,000 people had responded.

The government had previously announced plans to take in 50 refugees from the Syrian conflict – over four million people have fled Syria since a civil war erupted there in 2011.

Prime Minister Sigmund David Gunnlaugsson now says a special council comprised of several ministers will map Iceland’s resources to see how many refugees could be taken and said the government now had no fixed number.

One offer, by a woman named Hekla Stefansdottir wrote: “I’m a single mother with a 6-year-old son… We can take a child in need. I’m a teacher and would teach the child to speak, read and write Icelandic and adjust to Icelandic society. We have clothes, a bed, toys and everything a child needs. I would of course pay for the airplane ticket.”

Another single mother, offered her two extra rooms to a Syrian family, saying: “One of the rooms is rather large and the other is smaller … I am offering these two rooms and would of course buy beds”.

Iceland has taken in 39 refugees in the past five years, 13 of them from Syria. Since 1956, the number of refugees totals just 511 people.

9. Shortage of folic acid – much-needed vitamin for pregnant women.

A worldwide shortage of folic acid has given doctors concern enough to issue a warning to pregnant women to make sure they take the much-needed supplement.

Under Australian regulations, manufacturers must add folic acid to wheat flour in bread as a way to protect unborn children from neural tube defects.

But News Limited reports that a slowdown in production in China has meant a global shortage of folic acid, with existing supplies prioritised to vitamin manufacturers.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Baggoley said supplies of folic acid for use in supplements and infant formula would not be affected by the shortage. He has asked doctors to remind their pregnant patients to use supplements, as they may not get what they need through bread.

“This global shortage of the production of folic acid means there may not be sufficient supplies to add to wheat flour for making bread for up to 12 to 18 months,” Prof Baggoley said.

“Pregnant women and those planning a pregnancy should follow the NHMRC recommendations and continue to take a daily folic acid supplement at least one month before, and three months after conception.”

Folate can prevent seven out of 10 cases of neural tube defects, such as spina-bifida, if taken before conception and during the first few weeks of pregnancy.

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