Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Search for William

Police announced yesterday that they are now stopping the search for missing three-year-old boy William Tyrell, instead they will look to “human intervention” as why William disappeared.

Today is the 10th day he has been missing.

A community meeting yesterday confirmed that SES and Police will scale back with police saying they will be “focusing on examining the many pieces of information received concerning William’s unexplained disappearance.”

Over the weekend William’s family released this letter to thank those involved in his search.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

2. Julia Gillard interview

In a major interview to be aired tomorrow night on Channel Nine former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said she regrets giving predecessor Kevin Rudd “false hope” before she took over from him as Prime Minister.

“If anything, the reputation I have from that night is one of political brutality,” she said.

She said at first she told Mr Rudd he would have more time to improve the popularity of the government.

“Actually, in the moment I was hesitant, a conversation went too long, I certainly fed (him) hope.”

3. Former PM John Howard critisises Gillard

Meanwhile in an interview last night on Seven’s Sunday Night former Prime Minister John Howard has said that Julia Gillard should not have played the misogyny card. He said her famous speech on misogyny was “nonsense … because it was untrue”.

“The idea that Tony Abbott is anti-women is ridiculous — it’s just quite wrong,” he said.

“I think it is the worst possible way of promoting a greater involvement by women in public life … and to play the misogyny card — so many women of ability I know in the community pour scorn on that.”

While describing Julia Gillard as “a very pleasant person to deal with” he said that she had no authority because she had never won an election in her own right.

4. Foreign Minister pledges $2 million to aid women in Iraq

The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has pledged $2 million to help displaced women and girls and victims of gender-based violence in Iraq.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council in New York on the threat IS poses she said that the “murderous terrorist organization” was not only a threat to the Middle East but to Australia and the rest of the world.

5. Federal Parliament goes into lockdown

As Parliament resumes today security is being increased to unprecedented levels.

Last week the Prime Minister revealed that “chatter” had singled out parliament as a potential terror target.

Fairfax Media reports that the ministerial wing of Parliament House has been locked down and that a ban on unaccompanied passes has been affected immediately.

“Other than Members and Senators, only Ministerial Staff or those with both photographic passes and conducting business in the Ministerial Wing may access the area,” said a memo issued last night.
Federal Parliament resumes today after a two week break.

6. Baby tested for Ebola but cleared

A one-year-old baby taken to Royal Children’s Hospital with a suspected case of the Ebola virus has been cleared of the highly contagious disease.

The baby, from Nigeria, was cleared of Ebola yesterday.

7. Man accidentally runs over own daughter

A QLD man from Redbank Plains has accidentally run over his own adult daughter leaving her critically injured.

News Limited reports that the 36-year-old woman was opening a gate for him when she was hit around 8.40am

8.  Accused rapist cleared as he had “sexsomnia”

A man in Sweden has been cleared of a rape charge after testimony showed he suffered ‘sexsomnia’. Mikael Halvarsson said he had no memory of the alleged assault and was asleep during the incident. The court heard he has been sharing a bed with the woman but with separate blankets.

ABC News reports that when the victim called police they found him still asleep in her bed. His mother testified that he had disturbed sleep patterns before.

According to ABC News Dr. Kingman Strohl, a professor of medicine confirmed it’s a recognised medical diagnosis that includes unintentional sexual behaviors during sleep.

9. US couple confess to killing mother in Bali

The couple who have been behind bars in Bali accused of murdering Sheila von Wiese-Mack and stuffing her body in a suitcase have admitted to the killing.

Von Wiese-Mack’s daughter, Heather Mack, 19 and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21 have been held in custody in Indonesia since the murder.

News 24 reports that Indonesian authorities say Tommy Schaefer has admitted that he killed his girlfriend’s mother and that Heather Mack, who is three months pregnant, has also confessed to witnessing her mother’s murder and helping to dispose of her body, police in Bali said.

“Both of them have confessed,” Bali Regional Police Chief Colonel Djoko Heru Utomo said.

“Tommy was the one who carried out the killing.”

10. Menopause to be eliminated in 20 years

Scientist have predicted that menopause could be a thing of the past within 20 years as progress in stem cell therapies may mean the female reproductive life span could be extended. Pioneering stem cell scientist Aubrey de Grey has said that current age limits on when women can conceive and give birth were likely to vanish. According to The Daily Mail the scientist said there is no reason why “anti-ageing treatments should not extend to the female reproductive life-span because the ovaries were ‘just another organ’.”

11.  UN Climate Change Summit

As the UN Climate Change Summit gets underway in New York Desmond Tutu has said that we all have a “duty to persuade our leaders to lead us in a new direction” as climate change is a global enemy.

The Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town wrote in The Guardian that

” The most devastating effects of climate change – deadly storms, heat waves, droughts, rising food prices and the advent of climate refugees – are being visited on the world’s poor. Those who have no involvement in creating the problem are the most affected, while those with the capacity to arrest the slide dither. Africans, who emit far less carbon than the people of any other continent, will pay the steepest price. It is a deep injustice.”

12. Internet trolls are sadistic

A study into internet trolls has shown that they show all the signs of sadism.

Two psycholgical studies in the journal Personality and Individual Differences reveal that the behaviour of a troll had nothing to do with strong held beliefs instead was just that of “prototypical everyday sadists.”

“Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others,” write the report’s authors.

“Sadists just want to have fun and the internet is their playground.”

13. Clive Palmer distances himself from Jacqui Lambie’s burqa comments

Clive Palmer has refused to back recent statements on the burqa and sharia law by Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie, Fairfax Media reports.

Senator Lambie has argued the burqa is a “national security risk” that should be banned, that Muslims adhering to sharia law should “get out” of Australia, and that Islamic law “involves terrorism”.

You can read more about Senator Lambie’s controversial comments here.

14. Details of new anti-terror laws clarified

The Abbott government agreed to explicitly prohibit the use of torture in its new terror laws.

Attorney-General George Brandis today gave a press conference clarifying details of the Coalition’s proposed new anti-terror laws, saying the governmeny had added a new clause to the legislation, specifically ruling out the use of torture, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“I should also point out that this legislation will be the subject of thorough parliamentary scrutiny. The opposition has offered us bipartisan support on these measures,” he said.

The government will also set a 10-year expiry date for certain elements of the controversial laws, Senator Brandis reports.

His comments follow criticism from key independents- Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm and Family’s First Bob Day- about the potential use of torture against suspected terrorists.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus also raised questions at the weekend about how the government would rule out the use of torture under the new legislation, he told ABC Radio National.

“The fact that a number of people have raised this concern I think tells you something… it might be the right thing just to include a simple amendment to put it beyond doubt,” Mr Dreyfus said.

Mr Brandis said today he is confident Labor will pass the laws when they are brought before the Senate on Wednesday.

The new laws will enable police to conduct secret searches into the homes of suspected terrorists and radical preachers and will provide intelligence officers immunity from prosecution around their actions during security operations (excepting death, serious injury, property loss or sexual offences.)

What news are you talking about today?

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