Friday's news in under 5 minutes

BY MAMAMIA NEWS

1. Simon Gittany trial

It is expected today will be the final day of the Simon Gittany trial. Gittany is accused of throwing his fiancé Lisa Harnum off a balcony. He has pleaded not guilty. Yesterday saw the closing submission from Simon Gittany’s defence barrister.

“It’s an extraordinary proposition to accept – that Simon Gittany would have been so enraged as to unload his fiance from the balcony in full public view on a Saturday morning on a very busy street in the middle of the CBD,” the Defence barrister said

2. Appeal for King Hit sentence

Prosecutors have confirmed they will appeal the sentence handed down to Kieran Loveridge for the king-hit manslaughter of Thomas Kelly. There was outrage when 19-year-old Kieran Loveridge was sentenced last week to a minimum of four years for the alcohol-fueled death of Thomas Kelly.

For his parents reaction and more on this horrific crime see here.

3. Hate speech concerns

Jewish leaders are concerned that proposed law changes might encourage more ‘hate speech’ and racially motivated violence in Australia. The Attorney General George Brandis wants to amend sections of the Racial Discrimination Act that make it unlawful to offend or insult another person on grounds of race or ethnicity. Jewish leaders are preparing to fight Abbott government plans.

4. Melbourne nurse bashed

A Melbourne nurse is in a critical condition after police found her battered and face down in her home. Police say she may have been attacked by someone she met on a dating website. The nurse, Shey Webber, remains in a critical condition in hospital.

5. The Knights of the Jedi Council

Six members of the Army have been sacked over a scandal involving the group called Knights of the Jedi Council which made and emailed demeaning sexual videos of women.

6. AFL rape committal

In a Melbourne Court a committal hearing has heard former St Kilda footballer Stephen Milne describe two girls caught up in a sex scandal that led to him being charged with rape as “footy sluts.

7. Baby born to deceased Mum

A baby boy has been born in eastern Hungary to his brain-dead mother. The 31-year-old woman was declared brain dead after a haemorrhage in her 15th week of pregnancy. She was kept alive for 92 days.

8. Same-sex marriage

The upper house of the NSW Parliament has narrowly voted down a bill to legalise same-sex marriage. Despite initial hopes the upper house would pass the legislation, MPs voted against it by 21 votes to 19 in the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon.

9. Asthma lined to fertility

A new study into fertility has shown that women with asthma take longer to start a family. The researchers found a trend toward greater fertility problems among older women, probably because they had been coping with systemic – whole body – inflammation for longer.

10. Female Genital Mutilation arrest

In the UK Police have arrested two people over the genital mutilation of a five-week old baby girl. Despite the high number of cases of female genital mutilation in the country, 80 so far this year, nobody has yet been prosecuted

11. Childhood magic

A family’s delightful tradition has gone viral.  A man & his wife have blogged about their yearly ritual of ‘Dinovember’ where they try to keep the magic of childhood alive by convincing their daughters that their plastic dinosaurs have come to life.

https://medium.com/thoughts-on-creativity/6f4cb1886d41

In Brief:

Horror road crash overnight in QLD has killed a 21 year old. A 10-month-old baby girl in the car was rescued by a passerby.

Canadian police have smashed the largest, most extensive commercial child pornography ring ever uncovered in Canada which has extensive links to Australia.

A QLD mining contractor has won the right to advertise for 50 female truck drivers because they ‘improve a safety culture’.