Monday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Ukraine army on alert

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has declared in Kiev that the Ukrainian government has put the military on full combat alert and is taking “all measures” to ensure peace and unity after Russian troops surrounded a Crimean base in a tense stand-off.

As Moscow attempts to tighten its grip on the peninsula John Kerry, US Secretary of State has threatened to expel Russia from the G8 group of industrialised nations.

“It’s an incredible act of aggression. It is really a stunning, willful choice by President Putin to invade another country. Russia is in violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia is in violation of its international obligations.“ He said.

2.Oscar Pistorius trial

The trial of Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius begins today in South Africa. Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend the model Reeva Steenkamp.

As the trial begins there are rumours that he has started a new serious romance with a 19-year old college student. For more on this and the trial touted to be the trial of the century read this post here.

“Oscar Pistorius: the trial of the century”.

3. Childcare centre staff shortage

The Australian has reported that hundreds of childcare centres around the country have applied for waivers to operate without a qualified teacher as they can not attract qualified staff.

Under the National Quality Framework agreed by federal, state and territory governments, every childcare centre must employ at least one university-qualified early childhood teacher from January 1.

However centres are having trouble getting the staff.

Nearly 700 centres have been exempted from national quality regulations. The Australian reports that the problem is primary schools that poach qualified kindergarten teachers from daycare.

4. Cabinet to discuss Qantas

Federal cabinet will tonight discuss changes to the Qantas Sale Act – which could be put to parliament within days.

The change would include a relaxation of the restriction limiting foreign ownership to 49 per cent and a stipulation that a majority of maintenance facilities and other significant operations be located in Australia.

5. Tanya Plibersek on gay marriage

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek has sent a letter to all Coalition MPs urging them to co-sponsor a bill to allow gay marriage and lobby for their party to allow a conscience vote.

According to The Australian the letter tells MP’s she is “seeking both your support for the bill and asking for you to consider co-sponsoring the proposed bill”.

“The proposed bill then goes on to substitute the words ‘a man and a woman’ or ‘a husband and wife’ with the words ‘two people’,” she says.

6. Online call for jail for two attackers

An online petition has been launched calling for the jailing of the two young women accused of attacking an elderly Gold Coast man on a bus.

The women faced a court in QLD on the weekend on charges of serious assault and public nuisance.

More than 24,000 people have since supported a Facebook page calling for a petition to be established to jail the two women.

But a series of vicious online attacks towards the women have promoted some to suggest the women had become bullying victims themselves.

7. Royal Tour

Details of the April Royal tour have been announced with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to spend Good Friday at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, an afternoon on Manly Beach and a trip to see the bilby enclosure at Taronga Zoo.

Reports yesterday that the family will bring with them a European nanny to care for Prince George were met with some consternation in the UK as a European nanny has not ever been used for a royal baby before.

The family will visit Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Uluru on their Australian portion of the visit. But the tour will exclude Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.

8. Concerns over baby wipes

There are concerns over a common preservative used in baby wipes – which is causing a massive increase in allergies. According to the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia it’s the hands of the using the wipes that are seeing the outbreak of rashes.

The preservative, Methylisothiazolinone (MI), is also used in make-up removal wipes, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, moisturisers, sunscreens and deodorants.

The proportion of positive tests has soared from 3.5 per cent in 2011 to 11.3 per cent in 2013.

9. The work divide

The new Mummy wars seem to be between those workers who have kids and those who don’t. A recent survey of 25,000 women has shown that two thirds of childless women surveyed say they are expected to work longer hours than their fellow workers with children and are resentful of the Mummy-workers.

Just over 50% also said the ‘flexi’ workers were more likely to be viewed as ‘less committed’ than the childless workers.

10. Swiss woman dies after breatharianism diet.

A woman in Switzerland has starved to death after attempting a breatharianism diet.

The woman was following the practise made famous by a Swiss chemistry doctor and an Indian yogi who both claim to derive sustenance from spiritual means rather than the intake of food.

The 50-year old Swiss woman not eat or drink anything for a week and even spat out her saliva.

An autopsy showed that she died of starvation.

11. Five kids in nine months

In an amazing twist of fate a couple have had five children in nine months.

The American couple decided to adopt after they were told IVF treatment would cost them up to $60,000. They found out their expectant Mum was having triplets, while the babies were in intensive care the couple had another surprise – they were pregnant – and with twins!

When the triplets were eight months old the twins were born.

They couple believe the twins may not have even come along had the adoption not worked out so well and taken away the stress they’d been under.

What news are you talking about today?