We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. 60 Minutes crew remain in custody in Beirut.
Tara Brown and her crew from 60 Minutes remain in custody in Beirut after they were arrested Thursday while filming a story on a custody battle about two Australian children. Police in Beirut allege the TV crew were involved in an attempt to kidnap two children.
Last night host Michael Usher said on 60 Minutes that Brown and producer Stephen Rice as well as camera operator and soundie Ben Williamson and David Ballment were still detained in Beirut.
“Everyone in the Nine News and 60 Minutes family is doing their utmost to support [them],” Usher said.
“It’s a stressful time for them and their families, and the last thing our team wanted was to become the subject of their own story.
“For those working hard for their safe return, we earnestly thank you and we’ll keep you posted as events unfold.”
The crew were reporting on an attempt by Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner to reunite with her children Lahela, 6, and Noah, 4,
Victoria Buchan, the Director of Communications for Channel Nine, told Fairfax Media that the crew had not been charged despite reports from local media that charges were expected to be laid against seven people.
“There’s been some reports out of Lebanon that they’re being charged. That’s not the case,” Ms Buchan said.
“Nothing will happen, as far as we’ve been advised by the consulate and our legal people, until Monday their time, which is Monday night our time.
“There’s no change to the situation. They’re still being held, and we’re still working with the consulate and legal representation to get them out and home as soon as possible.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the government was offering consular assistance to the arrested Australians.
“But you have to understand that in situations like these, often the less I say, the better it is for the people.”
2. Authorities warned about teenage extremist who allegedly carved an Islamic State slogan into his cellmate’s forehead in prison.
Prison authorities were aware that Bourhan Hraichie, 18, the teenager who allegedly used a razor blade to carve an Islamic State slogan into his cellmate’s forehead had become radicalised reports The Australian.
Hraichie was charged by police over the attack last week in which he allegedly carved the ‘E4E’ into the forehead of a former Australian soldier with whom he was sharing a cell inside Kempsey prison on the NSW Mid North Coast.
The slogan is said to be a reference to the phrase “an eye for an eye”.
Corrections NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said that he was “appalled” the men had been locked up together.
He said Hraichie “clearly identified himself as a radical” and had previously been separated from others in prison.
The Australian reports that when asked if the two men had deliberately been placed together in a cell, Mr Severin said he would not speculate, but “anybody that shares a cell with anybody, one would assume that is not done randomly.
The 40-year-old victim, who served in East Timor suffered a broken sternum, was choked and had hot water poured over him during the alleged attack.
The general manager of the prison, Greg Steele, has since been stood down from the role.
“As a result of that I have decided to suspend the general manager of the correctional centre pending the outcome of this investigation,” Commissioner Severin said yesterday.
“If you are radicalised and at risk of engaging in violent extremism, you need to be locked up.
“You need to be very highly controlled.”
3. Girl, 11, survives deadly snakebite.
A young girl bitten by a brown snake initially thought it was her pet cat nipping at her ankle.
Elsie Ortuzar from Baldivis, south of Perth was bitten just before 7pm last Saturday.
Perth Now reports that she kicked out at the snake, screamed and ran to her first aid-trained mum.
The young girl who is said to be lucky to be alive had her leg elevated and a bandage placed around the bite.
“She asked me quite a number of times, ‘Am I going to die, am I going to die?’” her mum said.
Her parents drove to Rockingham Hospital where Elsie was given two types of anti-venom.
Natasha Ortuzar said while she and her husband must know first aid for work, she urged other parents to undergo training.
“Snakes are out there. The chances of being bitten might be minimal, but first aid is vital,” she said.
4. Figures show majority of mothers using PPL are low income.
Just six per cent of mothers who claimed the taxpayer funded parental leave scheme earned more than $100,000. Image via IStock.
Figures provided to the Senate have shown that the majority of mothers who have accessed the government’s paid parental leave scheme are low and middle income earners.
News Limited reports that just six per cent of mothers who claimed the taxpayer funded parental leave scheme earned more than $100,000.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter said earlier this month that the government will not be able to pass cuts to paid parental leave before the federal election.
Currently women are able to access their employer's scheme (if they have one), plus the government's scheme, which pays the minimum wage for 18 weeks.
Under a new policy announced by the Coalition late last year, women who had an employer scheme would only be able to access the government scheme to top them up to 18 weeks.
Mr Porter said there was a “real equity issue with PPL” as women who earned in the top 20 per cent could still access $12,000 in government payments.
But these figures show that only three per cent of mums who have accessed government-funded paid parental leave over the last five years earned more than $120,000.
Almost 70 per cent of the 600,000 women who have claimed PPL were on incomes ranging from $20,000 to $70,000.
5. NRL player’s toddler caught under buggy.
The three-year-old son of Cronulla Shark player Chris Heighington was lucky to be left unscathed yesterday after being caught under a maintenance vehicle after the NRL side’s win over Gold Coast.
The little boy entered the field after the siren and was knocked over by the manned buggy used to collect signage at southern end of Southern Cross Group Stadium. Teammates rushed to help free the little boy who was examined by club doctors.
Coach Shane Flanagan told media he was okay.
“I think they’re still checking him out. He’s only a little kid (so) you can’t tell them too much what’s wrong with him. So terrible, concerning. Hopefully he’ll be okay.”
6. Doctors encourage mothers to feed babies boiled peanuts.
Unroasted, boiled peanuts could help them avoid a peanut allergy. Image via IStock.
A leading neonatologist and allergy specialist has said that feeding babies boiled peanuts could be the key to cutting allergy rates.
reports that unfrosted, boiled (for 30 minutes) peanuts could help them avoid a peanut allergy. Dr John Sinn explained that Asian babies are more likely to be exposed to peanuts in this way and are much less likely to have peanut allergies.
He said that roasted peanuts commonly eaten in Australia and turned into peanut butter makes the protein in them indigestible.
He has also warned against rubbing certain moisturisers into a baby’s skin.
Some “natural” nut, sesame and other food-based moisturisers could be contributing to the chance their baby will develop severe allergies he says.
“Don’t put these creams on the baby unless they have eaten the food first so the gastric system has had a chance to attack it,” he says.
7. Brussels wasn’t terrorists original target.
The terrorists behind the Brussels bombings initially had planned to strike France, Belgium's prosecutor has revealed.
Mohamed Abrini who was arrested and charged in relation to the November bombings in 2015 in Paris, that left 130 people dead.
Belgium's prosecutor said that Abrini, known as the man in the hat, had confessed over the weekend to being present for the bombings in Belgium last month.
The prosecutor said in a statement that his confession underscored the links between the Paris and Brussels attacks.
"The Federal Prosecution Office can confirm that numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again,"
"Eventually, surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels."
8. India temple fires leaves at least 100 people dead.
At least 100 people have been killed in a fire at an Indian temple in Kerala state, south India, after a spark from an unauthorized fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks stored at the temple.
Over 200 were injured and 102 killed after the explosion erupt at about 3am, officials said.
A blaze spread quickly through the temple, trapping devotees within. Most of those killed died when the building collapsed.
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Top Comments
1) I wonder what kind of story 60 Minutes would run on a television crew from Lebanon who, allegedly paid for a kidnapping crew, then accompanied a Lebanese father to Australia for the purpose of filming the snatching of his children from their Australian mother, all the while knowing what they were involved in was illegal?.
Can you imagine the apoplexy from Telegraph and the Australian columnists, not to mention conservative shock jocks
Hope the 60 min crew are convicted and bunged up in jail in Lebanon. The show i am sure bankrolled this abduction all for their idiot consumption of their bogan audience. Pathetic.
100% with you on this one. Media is supposed to report the news, not make it. If it is found they funded, actively planned and or participated in a criminal conspiracy, I'm done with them.
Of course, media looking after its own, expect wall to wall coverage and campaign to bring them home.