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Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. MH17 developments: Operation Bring Them Home

Footage of the crash site has emerged.

 

 

The first flight of bodies from the crash site in Ukraine is due to arrive at the Dutch military base near Eindhoven around lunchtime today (AEST).

Yesterday evening Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced a major operation to secure and identify the bodies – Operation Bring Them Home. The task force will be coordinated from Ukraine by former Australian Defence Force chief Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who most recently headed up the search for missing Malaysia Airways jet MH370.

The bodies will be initially processed in Kharkov before being flown to the Netherlands. An Australian C-17 military transport aircraft will help transport bodies out of Ukraine. Australian forensic experts, led by Professor David Ranson, will identify the victims and then relatives will be informed.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned the process could take months.

Missing bodies

The BBC reports that only 200 bodies arrived in Kharkov, not 282 as rebels claimed.

According to the BBC, monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have been examining the wreckage, and have found that major pieces of the plane had been cut into and that large parts now looked different.

The BBC reports that Ukraine army spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko claimed that Russian military experts, disguised as citizens, had been interfering with evidence at the scene since the crash.

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2. Australians still travelling Malaysia Airlines

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that travellers at Sydney airport are still travelling Malaysia Airlines unphased by the two plane catastrophes this year.

Flight Centre spokesman Haydn Long told Fairfax Media that most customers with Malaysia Airlines tickets had not adjusted their travel plans. “An overwhelming majority are continuing to travel as normal and only a minority are amending their plan,” Mr Long said.

3. Prime Minister Tony Abbott praised.

The Prime Minister signs the MH17 condolence book

The Prime Minister has been widely praised for his handling of the MH17 downing with News Limited reporting widespread praise for the PM.

Traditionally leaders see a spike in their approval ratings after disaster.

It was seen with former PM John Howard after the Port Arthur massacre and QLD Premier Anna Bligh after the 2010-11 floods. Former US President George W. Bush also managed to secure a second term after September 11.

Associate Professor Haydon Manning of Flinders University told News Limited he couldn’t think of a leader who hadn’t benefited from a crisis.

“To put it in crude terms, it offers our Prime Minister every opportunity to show another side of their character. We have basically seen the toughness of Tony Abbott, standing up to a powerful world leader but we have also seen his softer side, he has been able to show a depth of feeling.”

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4. Flights cancelled into Israel

The Federal Aviation Administration have banned U.S. carriers from flying to Tel Aviv for at least 24 hours after a rocket attack near Ben Gurion International Airport – and European airlines have followed suit.

European carriers Lufthansa, KLM, and Air France have all cancelled flights to Tel Aviv.

According to The Wall Street Journal a Delta Boeing 747 from New York carrying 273 passengers was headed for Tel Aviv overnight when it turned around and flew to Paris instead.

Meanwhile Israel have released vision of how underground passageways are destroyed.

The video was posted on the official YouTube page of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – it shows soldiers inserting a charge into a tunnel said to be in Gaza, then detonating it. According to the IDF, soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade found the tunnel in a residential area of Gaza.

5. Parents don’t notice bullied children

1 in 3 children were victims of bullying

A study has shown that most parents and teachers don’t notice – and teachers don’t report – when children are being bullied.

The study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that for more than half of the children who said they had been bullied, their parents were “either not aware or did not consider the actions were bullying”.

According to the study 1 in 3 children were victims of bullying with 1 in 7 persistently bullied for their whole school life.

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The Age reports that a staggering four out of five teachers did not report the child had been a victim of bullying. One in three 10-year-olds said they had been bullied in Australian schools.

6. Jacqui Lambie apologises 

Jacqui Lambie has apologized

Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie has issued an apology after she told Heart 107.3FM hosts Dave Noonan and Kim ­Napier that her ideal man “must have heaps of cash and a package between their legs, let’s be honest. I don’t need them to speak, they don’t even need to speak.”

Her words made headlines internationally – with The UK Times and The Telegraph in the UK reporting on the crude exchange.

She has now apologised saying, “I apologise to any radio listeners who may be offended by my comments on Kim and Dave’s Show,” she said in a statement.

“Of course my political enemies will make a big deal out of my comments, but the reality is I was talking with Kim and Dave on Heart FM – not Sarah Ferguson on the ABC.”

Mamamia reported on this yesterday here. 

7. South Australia announces Royal Commission

South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill has announced a Royal Commission into sexual abuse following revelations that a 32-year-old man was arrested after sexually abusing seven pre-school ages children in a government run care facility.

The man, 32, was arrested in Adelaide’s southern suburbs last month and charged with several counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and with production, dissemination and possession of child exploitation material. It is alleged the man was employed at an out of school hours care service and a residential care facility, where the offending is alleged to have taken place.

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The ABC report that police are still attempting to identify the man’s victims.

8. Mother of four left for 12 hours to die

Kirra-Lea McLoughlin died on Friday

A mother of four from Wolvi – 200km north of Brisbane has died after being left 12 hours before paramedics were called.

The Courier Mail reports that Kirra-Lea McLoughlin aged 27 suffered critical injuries in a fight during a gathering at her home last Wednesday night. But an ambulance was only called to the property the following afternoon, meaning she lay in her house for more than 12 hours before paramedics attended to her.

Ms McLoughlin died on Friday.

Up to six people have been interviewed over the incident but no charges have been laid.

According to The Brisbane Times, Ms McLaughlin was separated from her husband and had been living with another man at the property for the past eight months.

9. UK approves “three-parent babies”

The UK may see the world’s first three parent babies soon born after the Government gave the green light to the IVF technique.

New regulations to allow mitochondrial DNA transfer will now be put before parliament following a three-month consultation. If passed, Britain will become the first European country to legalise the process and more than 100 “three-parent” babies could be born in the UK each year.

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The method will allow parents at high risk of having children with severe disabilities such as muscular dystrophy to be offered donor DNA from a “second mother” to fix the genetic defects.

The Independent writes that critics have argued that the treatment could be the first step towards “designer babies” and even eugenics.

Bill Clinton is allegedly at it again!

10. Clinton affair revelations

There are new allegations that Former US President Bill Clinton is involved in another affair – this time with a woman nicknamed “The Energiser”.

The New York Post reports that the details have emerged in a book by a former president’s Secret Service Ronald Kessler. The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of Presidents says that regular security protocols are ignored when Energiser is on the scene.

In his book, he recalls overhearing one supervisor telling a new agent: “You don’t stop her, you don’t approach her, you just let her go in.”

11. Bring back our girls

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has met for the first time with parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.

AP reports that sadly 11 of the parents have died since the kidnappings — seven in a village attack this month and four of heart attacks and other illnesses that the Chibok community blames on the trauma, according to residents.

Jonathan spoke to the parents he met with of his determination that those still in captivity “are brought out alive.”

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12. Teenager mysteriously reunited with family

A 15-year old girl who went missing in October has been mysteriously reunited with her family, with no word on where she has been for the last nine months.

Her family say they are overjoyed but investigators say they have no idea where she has been.

For more read this post here.

13. “Totes” and  “YOLO” make dictionary

Totes and amazeballs makes the dictionary

The number one selling dictionary in the UK has included a number of controversial new words that will have scrabble lovers grabbing for their boards.

YOLO (You Only Live Once) ‘totes amazeballs’, MILF, ‘cougar’, ‘hipsters’, ‘sexting’, ‘friends with benefits’ and ‘whatevs’ made the latest edition of the Chambers Dictionary

14. Three day week? Yes please.

The world’s second richest man — a telecommunications tycoon from Mexico, Carlos Slim — has called for a three-day working week to improve efficiency.

Britain’s Financial Times reports he made the comments at a conference saying, “With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life.”

“Having four days [off] would be very important to generate new entertainment activities and other ways of being occupied,” Slim said.

He said current retirement ages come from a time of lower life expectancies, and should rise to 70 or 75.