Daily Buzz: Mum leaves kids in car, ends up in court

DASH TO THE SHOPS LANDS IN COURT

A Brisbane mother has pleaded guilty to leaving her three children in the car, with engine running and air-conditioning on, while she ducked into the shops for 10 minutes. A bystander noticed the children – the eldest of whom was 10 – in the car and watched them for five minutes before phoning the police.

Queensland has laws that state children under 12 should not be left alone for an ‘unreasonable’ amount of time.

The magistrate said the woman was co-operative and helpful and had excellent character references.

Her defence lawyer said: “We’re not talking about a car park outside a casino.”

She was released without penalty.

Here’s what else is on our radar today:

1. A dog has won Britain’s Got Talent and claimed the $800,000 top prize. Well, his owner did the last part.

2. The developed world throws out as much food in waste each year as sub-Saharan Africa produces. Whoa. Professor Chris Barrett, from Cornell University, is in Australia warning of the massive increases in the cost of food production to come in the next few decades.

3. ‘One of our greatest Australians’, according to Malcolm Turnbull, has passed away peacefully on Sunday. Don Ritchie saved some 500 would-be suicide victims from jumping off Sydney’s notorious suicide spot The Gap. He lived nearby and would keep watch, talking people down from the bring and offering a cuppa and a biscuit. He was 85.

4. Online shoppers, take note. The Aussie dollar has fallen below parity with the greenback for the first time in 2012. It’s worth 99.80 US cents and is likely to slip lower.

5. How young is too young for Facebook? Australian Bureau of Statistics stats show about 2.2 million Aussie kids aged five to 14 are on the social network, despite its age limit saying users had to be at least 13.

6. Apparently Oprah and the US First lady Michelle Obama are not at all on friendly terms. That’s according to a new book written by a former New York Times Magazine editor. The White House says the stories are ‘made up’.