Friday afternoon's news in after 5 minutes.

3. Game of Thrones writer hits back at critics saying, “rape is part of war today.”

Popular books and HBO television series, Game of Thrones, are both well known for their depictions of violence – particularly against women.

However, after a recent episode depicted a rape scene that was not originally in the books, many have questioned the motives of including these crimes.

The author of the book series, George. R. R Martin, has hit back at critics saying that to not include violence against women in the books and TV series would be akin to the “Disneyland Middle Ages”.

He went on to say in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, “If you’re going to write about war, and you just want to include all the cool battles and heroes killing a lot of orcs and things like that and you don’t portray (sexual violence), then there’s something fundamentally dishonest about that. Rape, unfortunately, is still a part of war today. It’s not a strong testament to the human race, but I don’t think we should pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“I want to portray struggle. Drama comes out of conflict. If you portray a utopia, then you probably wrote a pretty boring book,” he said.

4. Immigration Minister demands apology from Professor Gillian Triggs.

Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, is furious with Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs over her recent comments linking the government’s “turn back the boats” policy with the Bali Nine executions.

Fairfax Media reports the minister has demanded Professor Triggs apologise “to the people of Australia” for her controversial accusation.

Professor Triggs was speaking at the Economic Development of Australia forum in Adelaide on Thursday when she posed the question, “Have we thought about what the consequences are of pushing people back to our neighbour Indonesia? Is it any wonder that Indonesia will not engage with us on other issues that we care about, like the death penalty?”

Mr Dutton accused Professor Triggs of linking the immigration policy with the deaths of Bali Nine inmates, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and called it a “complete disgrace” and “outrageous slur”.

5. Lena Dunham reveals she is in love with an Aussie comedian.

Lena Dunham — star and writer of the critically acclaimed television show, Girls — has announced her love for Aussie television comedian and writer, Josh Thomas on Twitter.

The 29-year-old Tweeted to her two million followers: “All I ever want is to be curled in bed watching Please Like Me. This show soothes my existential unrest. I love you.”

John Thomas’ ABC show, Please Like me, is loosely based on Thomas’ own challenges in life, and was nominated for an International Emmy Award for best comedy last year.

The television series has been renewed by the ABC for a third season and airs in the US on the network Pivot.

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

[post_snippet id=324408]