Thursday's news in under 5 minutes

News Update: Clive Palmer claims the seat of Fairfax

Update: It’s official. Billionaire Clive Palmer has beaten Liberal National Party candidate Ted O’Brien to win the federal seat of Fairfax. Mr Palmer reportedly won by 53 votes.

The AEC called two recounts for the seat of Fairfax after Mr Palmer won by just 36 and then seven votes respectfully.

1. Child Brides

A UN report into child marriage has shown that one in every five girls (about 19%) gives birth before she turns 18 in developing countries. Of the 7.3 million girls who give birth every year, 2 million of them are under the age of 14.

Despite near-universal commitments to end child marriages, one in three girls in developing countries is married before age 18, according to the report. Families “may want to divest themselves of the burden of having a girl. In extreme cases, they may want to earn money by selling the girl.”

70,000 girls die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, according to UNICEF. About 5% of teenage births (680,000 out of 13.1 million) occur in developed countries. The United States leads the developed world in teenage births.

2. Mother and daughter trapped in Egypt

An Australian woman and her four-year-old daughter are trapped in Egypt because a court order has blocked them from leaving the country.

Amaal Finn signed an Arabic application form at the request of her husband, thinking it was for Egyptian residency. It was in fact consent for a court order banning her or her daughter Zareen from leaving the country.

Ms Finn’s Melbourne family is begging Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to intervene, so that the two can come home.

Ms Finn’s husband Mazen Baioumy has now gone missing in Australia, and the Family Court has permitted publication of details of the case in the hope the public can help federal police find him. It is believed that he may be hiding in the Egyptian consulate.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mr Baioumy should contact the Australian Federal Police via CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

3.Bully tore scalp

An eight-year-old girl in the US has been bullied so badly that part of her scalp was ripped from her head. Aolani Dunbar was bullied so severely over some hair extensions that she was taken to the emergency room.

There Doctors found a gaping wound on the crown of the eight-year-olds scalp, and her head was shaved bald to avoid infection. Doctors said the little girl may never grow hair on the injured part of her scalp again and may need skin grafts. Her mother has called on parents and schools to watch kids more closely in an effort to stop bullying.

4. Nursing home deaths

NSW Police have launched Strike Force Correa to investigate the deaths of an 83-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man, both of whom were rushed to hospital earlier this month within 24 hours of each other with similar hypoglycaemic symptoms suggesting an insulin injection overdose, from the same Newcastle aged-care facility.

A second woman, 91, from the same nursing home was also hospitalised with the same condition but later recovered. The strike force will now have to delve back into the files of other dead patients to rule them out of the investigation.

5. High court sex compo ruling

The High Court has ruled in Canberra that the woman, hurt in a “vigorous” sex session in a country motel six years ago, was not entitled to compensation from federal workplace insurer Comcare because the circumstances of her injury were unrelated to her employment.

But after four years before the courts, the case still divides legal opinion, with two High Court judges disagreeing with the majority of their colleagues and arguing the woman should have been paid out.

6. Homophobic rant

A Newcastle Knights NRL footballer, Ryan Stig has been condemned from angry social media users following a controversial rant about homosexuality and gay marriage.

Stig uploaded a letter on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that compared homosexuality to alcoholism and a “politically correct charade” that was equal to a “spiritual disease” and “demonic”.

Stig quickly received hundreds of likes following the post, however was slammed by many of his followers. His football club distanced themselves from the remarks.

7. Student Protests

In Victoria students clashed with police yesterday in a dramatic protest outside the State Parliament over proposed federal funding cuts to higher education.

The protesters burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and threw shoes at Liberal Party headquarters in a rally against proposed federal funding cuts to higher education.

About 100 student protesters gathered outside parliament house in Spring St before the group marched into the city. There were five arrests.

8. NSW same-sex marriage

It is NSW’s turn for the same-sex marriage debate, with legislation due to be introduced to parliament today at 9.30am. Labor MP Penny Sharpe – a member of the cross-party working group advocating for the laws – will introduce the bill in the Upper House.

9. Call to ban bike helmets

A Danish cycling expert is calling on Australia to ditch it helmet laws. Mikael Colville-Andersen, who is visiting Adelaide as a part of a global cycling conference says that he will refuse to cycle here because of Australia’s helmet law.”The world has been pointing and laughing at your bicycle helmet laws for almost two decades. Whenever a helmet law is proposed elsewhere in the world, which isn’t often, Australia is held up as the example of how helmet laws destroy urban cycling”

10. Maths study

A major study has shown that young children who frequently take days off school have poorer results in maths but the same level of absenteeism appears to have less of an effect on literacy at the same age.

High rates of absenteeism in primary school – about one day a week – had a noticeably detrimental effect on NAPLAN numeracy scores.

Associate Professor Janette Bobis from the University of Sydney said the nature of maths and the way it is taught – in topics and building on foundation concepts – might explain why children struggle to catch up.

”If they’ve missed out those foundational bits of knowledge, they’re just going to be lost when they come back into a classroom situation,” she said.

11. Date night

How can you refuse when it’s government sanctioned? Go on a date night! The government of Norway is urging married couples to work at their relationships and carve out more couple time. Norway has a 40% divorce rate, and the new minister for children, equality and social inclusion and herself a divorcee, is behind the push.

“It is important to find small pockets of time where parents can be lovers,” she said.

Ms Horne cited her inspiration as the 2010 film Date Night, starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey.

12. Halloween letter 

And Happy Halloween. In the US a woman is taking up the fight against child obesity by handing out letters instead of sweets to young Halloween trick-or-treaters she thinks are too fat.

The woman told a local radio station in West Fargo she had decided to hand out warning letters to the parents of costumed trick-or-treaters whom she believes are “moderately obese”

“Your child is, in my opinion, moderately obese and should not be consuming sugar and treats to the extent of some children this Halloween season.” She writes.

In Brief:

TWO Australians are facing the death penalty in Vietnam after they attempted to smuggle 3.5kg of heroin through the airport

A US couple have been arrested after one of them allegedly used an electric dog collar to punish a nine-year-old

New footage that appears to show serious mistreatment of Australian sheep in the Middle East has put the live animal export trade under fresh scrutiny.

Three former News of the World journalists admit to phone hacking.

Seen any news you want to talk about today?