Cheat Sheet: Today's news in 60 seconds

Your speedy update on all the day’s big stories, Wednesday, April 23 2014

Mother bites off pitbull’s ear to save her daughter.

A distraught mother has bitten off a dog’s ear in an attempt to save her two-year-old daughter’s life. Chelsi Camp was minding the pitbull when it jumped on her toddler, Mackenzi (pictured) and tried to maul her face. The Texas mother took action without a second thought, shoving her hand in the dog’s mouth and biting off its ear to try and keep it away from her daughter. Ms Camp then called the police who shot the dog as soon as they arrived. Mackenzi suffered scarring to her face and Ms Camp suffered arm injuries. She told KHOU Texas News:  “The dog came up and he was sort of curious. And when he smelt her, that’s when he sort of flipped because I think he smelt my dog on her…You do whatever you can, and I don’t have physical strength on my side.”

Dads kill to punish mums

A domestic violence counsellor has told The Age that children are often killed by vengeful fathers to punish their mothers. Domestic Violence Resource Centre senior researcher, Deborah Kirkwood, told The Age that fathers who killed their children "feel entitled to take their lives because they’re his possessions. It’s about making the mother suffer." Figures from the Australian Institute of Criminology have revealed that there were 22 cases of fathers killing their own children nationwide between 2008 and 2010. A candle-lit vigil was held last night in Melbourne for mother-of-four Fiona Warzywoda, who was allegedly stabbed to death by her abusive de facto husband Craig McDermott last Wednesday, just hours after she took out a family violence order.

Parents fight to halt childcare funding axe.

Hundreds of parents are writing letters to the Federal Government demanding that children who attend preschool be protected from the budget axe. Over 650 dads and mums across Australia have signed a petition, led by The Parenthood advocacy group, begging Tony Abbott not to cut the scheme which provides four-year-olds with 15 hours of preschool education per week. Many parents have also writen to federal Assistant Minister for Education, Sussan Ley, asking her to keep funding the Universal Access to Early Childhood Education program, which will otherwise discontinue at the end of 2014.  The Parenthood’s executive director, Fiona Sugden, says: “Taking away kindy and preschool funding would not give our children the education they need to prepare them for formal schooling."

If you haven't noticed one yet, you've probably eaten it.

The warm beginning to Autumn in Australia has seen pantry moths breeding like never before.  The minuscule moths are heavily attracted to dry food, including flour and biscuits, and can consume a cupboard's worth of food within a few weeks. The moths and their caterpillar-like offspring are hard to notice, so if you haven't seen them in your pantry yet there's every chance you've been eating them. Australian Museum entomologist, Dave Britton, says: “They’re serious pests in flour mills and bakeries, so it’s almost guaranteed you’ve eaten bits of them from time to time. They won’t hurt you.” The best way to get rid of the moths is to: empty your pantry, throw contaminated foods outside, put bay leaves in the pantry, freeze suspected contaminated items to kill the eggs, wash all containers, vacuum the pantry, scrub with hot, soapy water and wipe with white vinegar.

Christina's kaftan & casserole parties.

Christine Hendricks, 38, appeared on  The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, sharing stories of her family's Easter traditions and also revealing that she holds 'kaftan and casserole parties' where the Mad Men actress and her friends wear her favourite dress, the kaftan, and eat casseroles. The Hollywood sex symbol showed off her enviable curves in a leopard print wrap dress and discussed the final series of Mad Men before spinning around the stage with the popular host in her own kaftans. Watch Christina and Jimmy's hilarious conversation here...