Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Six cases of Zika Virus in Australia last year as pregnant women urged not to travel.

Six people tested positive for the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Australia last year, but health authorities say all of them were infected overseas.

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the federal health department said she could not provide any further detail about the six people, except to say: “There have never been any locally acquired cases of Zika virus infection reported in Australia.”

News of the imported cases came as Australian health authorities listed more than 20 “countries of concern” for pregnant Australian women to avoid amid fears about the virus, which has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil.

Fairfax Media is reporting the first imported Zika case detected in Australia was in 2012. There was one case in 2013 and 12 cases in 2014.

2. A body has washed ashore on a Sunshine Coast beach, two days after teenager disappeared in rough seas.

Police located the body at the beach, just north of Noosa, late yesterday.

Officers went to the beach after receiving reports a body had been found.

Police have confirmed a body believed to be that of 19-year-old Josh Carter, who was reported missing on Sunday, was found on Tuesday afternoon.

The body washed up on the beach about 5km south of the Teewah Beach camping area about 2.30pm.

Carter had been swimming with a friend at Teewah Beach on Sunday when he was swept out to sea by a rip.

The unpatrolled beach is known for having dangerous conditions.

3. A kangaroo’s severed head has been found left on a public BBQ.

A kangaroo has been decapitated and its head left bleeding on a public BBQ, in what police say is a criminal act of animal cruelty.

The kangaroo was found at a park in Diamond Creek in Melbourne yesterday.

Police closed the public BBQ near the Diamond Creek Walking Track.

The area was taped off and is being considered a crime scene. Officers were called to reports the head of a kangaroo had been left on a BBQ hot plate.

The kangaroo’s body was found about 60 metres away.
Walkers found the body of the kangaroo before the head was discovered early on Australia Day.

A skinned rabbit was also reportedly found in a nearby children’s playground.

4. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says now is not the time to become a republic.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has suggested Australia should wait until the Queen is no longer on the throne before ­becoming a republic.

Despite all state and territory leaders openly declaring their desire for an Australian head of state, Mr Turnbull said he was not the man to lead such a push, given his ­failed leadership of the republican movement’s referendum bid of 1999.

Even new Australian of the Year David Morrison is a committed republican, saying yesterday: “With great respect to those who don’t share my views … I will lend my voice to the republican movement.”

A long-time republican supporter, Mr Turnbull said when he lost the 1999 republic referendum, that the monarchist PM of the time John Howard had “broken our hearts.

But yesterday he said: “If you don’t want to have ­another heroic defeat and you want it to be carried, the best time to do that will be after the end of the Queen’s reign.”

The PM suggested there were many more urgent issues confronting Australia.

5. Research shows Disney princesses don’t get as many lines as male characters.

New research by linguists Carmen Fought and Karen Eisenhauer, published by The Washington Post, says despite princesses having the lead roles, the men in the films have more to say.

Men speak 68 per cent of the time in The Little Mermaid; 71 per cent in Beauty and the Beast; 76 per cent in Pocahontas; and 77 per cent in Mulan.

For Aladdin, which doesn’t have a female lead, the percentage was even worse; just 10 per cent of speaking roles were female.

Early Disney films seem to be more equal, with Snow White (1937) holding an equal share of male and female words spoken, and women out-speaking their male counterparts in Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959).

The research found that the older Disney films had fewer speaking roles in general but more gender balance.

But with more ensemble musical interludes in the ’80s and ’90s, the number of characters grew and so did the disparity.

“My best guess is that it’s carelessness, because we’re so trained to think that male is the norm,” Eisenhauer told The Post.

6. Victorian teachers reveal parents let their children stay home to play X-box.

The Herald Sun reports parents are letting their kids wag school to play computer games, babysit siblings and go shopping.

Some teens are even ditching class for the whole year, Victorian teachers say.

As pupils return to class this week, a third of the state’s primary teachers and almost half of secondary teachers now brand truancy a big problem.

But not one parent has been fined for repeatedly failing to send a child to school — nearly two years after tough new laws were introduced.

Principals and the Australian Education Union say that’s evidence that schools need better support to address truancy.

Worst cases disclosed in a Herald Sun teacher survey include:

Neglected children whose parents wouldn’t get out of bed to get them ready, or needed sleep-ins after boozy nights.

Chronic cases of students who refused to go for up to a year.

A year 8 student was allowed to take months off to play his Xbox and another too tired from late nights playing computer games and on social media.

7. Two people have died in a horror car crash in Melbourne.

Two people are dead after a car careened off a 55-metre-high bridge on Melbourne’s Western Ring Road early this morning.

A witness to the crash, Paul, said that it looked like two cars were racing.

He said it was “like watching a movie”.

Paul told radio station 3AW he was driving to work about 1.30am, doing 100km/h when he saw two cars speeding along the ring road.

“They gave me a fright they were going that hard,” he said.

One car lost control and went over the railing of the EJ Whitten bridge at Keilor East and burst into flames.

Major Collision Unit detectives are investigating the crash.