We’ve rounded up all the most important headlines around this afternoon, so it’ll only take a few minutes to get your afternoon news fix.
1. Sydney mums warned over a faulty fridge that may have ruined vaccines.
By ABC NEWS
A Sydney hospital has begun contacting hundreds of women after discovering a faulty fridge may have ruined vaccines given to new mothers.
Nine newborn babies were also immunised with vaccines that may not work.
The Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital at Camperdown, in inner west Sydney, said the affected vaccines did not pose a direct health threat but their effectiveness may have been compromised.
The problem relates to patients who were on the hospital’s 8 East postnatal ward after August 2013.
RPA general manager Deborah Willcox said 570 mothers were being contacted about vaccines for diseases including diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and mumps.
All of the affected babies were given vaccines for hepatitis B.
She said the vaccines may have been exposed to slightly higher temperatures than normal, but mothers should not be alarmed.
“It is very important that I state there is no risk associated with receiving potentially less effective vaccines,” she said.
“Due to an issue with the refrigerator’s thermostat, the vaccines may have been exposed to temperatures just outside of what would be the acceptable, optimal temperature ranges for these types of medications.
“We cannot absolutely guarantee their effectiveness.”
The hospital has set up a free clinic at Croydon Community Health Centre to provide re-vaccinations to women free of charge.
A version of this post originally appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
2. Push to improve access to abortion services in NT.
By ABC NEWS
Northern Territory doctors have called for major reforms to abortion services in the Top End.
The issue was raised in an article in the Medical Journal of Australia, published after Royal Darwin Hospital lost its permanent abortion doctor.
While the role has been filled temporarily, the facility is yet to find a long-term fix.
In November, the then health minister Robyn Lambley flagged a review of abortion laws, which currently restrict the use of drug RU486 to special cases and require all terminations to be performed in hospitals.
The drug RU486 is taken orally and used as an alternative to surgical abortion.
Dr Suzanne Belton, from Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, was one of several authors who wrote the article.
The article highlighted that termination services in the NT were now reduced to one private hospital in Darwin, at which only a few doctors could provide surgical abortions, and one public hospital in Alice Springs.
With about 20 women presenting for a surgical abortion during their first trimester in Darwin every week, lack of public access was now a real problem, the authors wrote.
Dr Belton said the public provision of terminations in Darwin was precarious and the law must change.
“In other states there are free-standing abortion clinics, and it’s also possible for women in other states to go to the general practitioner and take some tablets and have a managed miscarriage, called a medication abortion,” she said.
A version of this post originally appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
3. Kids in Taiwan have their internet time limited.
Parents around the world may be worried their kids are spending too long on the internet — but now, Taiwan has passed a law limiting the amount of time under-18s can spend online.
A new amendment to the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act which cleared Taiwan’s legislature on Friday.
The amendment expands on existing rules bannng minors from smoking, drinking, chewing betel nut and using drugs, to say that juveniles “may not use electronic products for an unreasonable continuous period of time”.
If the law is broken, parents of guardians can be fined the equivalent of about $1500.
4. Malaysia Airlines website hacked to display pro-ISIS messages.
The Malaysia Airlines website is now back up and running after being hacked by a group proclaiming support for Islamic State.
The airline’s site was altered to read “ISIS will prevail” in its browser tab, and to display a message saying “404 – Plane Not Found” and “Hacked by Cyber Caliphate.”
The hacked site also included a photo of one of the airline’s Airbus A380 planes.
Catch up on more news in this 90-second news post by the ABC: