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Sunday's news in 5 minutes.

Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop

Australia ‘days away’ from making a decision about Military involvement in Iraq

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said that a decision on Australia’s military involvement in Iraq will be made within days, following the first US led airstrikes on Islamic State.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who returned to Canberra this morning, after a week at the United Nations summit in New York is expected to sign off on the deployment of troops this week.

The news comes after British planes flew their first mission over Iraq.

US-led air strikes are continuing around the area, yesterday planes targeted an Islamic State group in Homs Province, Syria.

One dead and many injured after a Volcano erupted in Japan.

One hiker is reportedly dead and over 30 are injured following the eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan.

The Volcano, which is usually used for hiking, erupted on Saturday while 250 people were attempting to climb it. Most of the hikers were trapped by the explosion, and turned to mountain shelters to protect themselves. 230 have now reached the bottom, but there are still some people trapped by the ash.

According to NHK 32 people were seriously injured and one woman had died.

The last major eruption of Mount Ontake was in 1979.


Scott Morrison calls forced marriages in Australia an ‘assault on values’.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has spoken out against forced marriage, after authorities on Friday stopped a 14-year-old girl from travelling to Lebanon for her arranged marriage.

Morrison said, “Where children are involved (aranged marriage) is an abomination”.

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“I can confirm that an adult male and a female minor were prevented from boarding a flight at Sydney International Airport.

“The prevention from boarding was not counter-terror related.”

The Australian Federal Police are currently investigating the matter. They are not yet concerned that ISIL was in any way related.

Coalition largely supportive of Medibank privatisation.

The government is planning to issue a prospectus to potential investors keen to register their interest in shares with Medibank Private.

This will be the next stage in the government’s plans to distance themselves from the health insurance market.

“Medibank Private is already performing very well as a business, but there are obviously some restrictions that come with being government owned and we believe that in private ownership, that Medibank private will be able to perform even better,” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said.
Pre-registration of interest is open from now until October 15. Medibank Private is expected to be listed on the Australian share market in December.


Another AFL Grand Final win for Hawthorn.

Hawthorn have won their first back-to-back premiership in over 25 years, beating the Sydney Swans by 63 points at the MCG last night.

The score at full time was 21.11 (137) to 11.8 (74).

“We played four quarters of really tough foooty. We’ve got great character, our boys. It’s a fitting reward for this group, fitting premiers I think,” Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson told Channel Seven reporters.