Saturday's news in under two minutes

1. Twelve children rescued from incestuous community in rural NSW

It has emerged that twelve children have been removed from a property in south-west NSW where they had been living in an incestuous community.

The children were removed from the community of roughly 40 people in September, following a ruling by the Children’s Court. Of the twelve children removed from the property, only one has parents who are not related.

2. Asylum seekers rescued

Twenty seven asylum seekers, who were camping on a Christmas Island beach after their boat sank, have been found by Australian personnel. According to The Guardian, the group were Rohingya people, from Burma and they had been camped on the beach for over three days.

3. Woman dies after being burned alive in a suburban Sydney street

Parwinder Kaur was found by neighbours in the front yard of her home in Sydney’s north-west. It is currently believed that the woman was doused in petrol and set alight, however, police are investigating whether the incident was the result of self-harm.

4. Search continues for missing Sydney schoolgirls

Police are appealing for anyone with information about the whereabouts of two Sydney schoolgirls to please come to the police, rather than circulating it around the community. 13-year-old Teagan Lloyd and Skye Keenan have been missing since Wednesday, when they failed to show up for school.

Police currently believe that the girls are in the Quakers Hill/Mount Druitt area, after they were seen at the home of an acquaintance early yesterday morning.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or contact their local police.

5. Britain experiences its worst storm surge in over 60 years

15,000 people living between Northumberland and Kent have been ordered to evacuate their coastal homes after high tides and storms caused significant flooding and coastline erosion. The greatest level of damage occurred in the village of Hemsby, in Norfolk, where three coastline houses collapsed into the sea.

6. Tributes pour in for the late Nelson Mandela

The funeral of former South African President Nelson Mandela will take place on December 15 at his childhood home in Qunu.

Tributes have continued to flood in following Mandela’s death. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, President Obama said:

We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never discount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice.

For now, let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived — a man who took history in his hands, and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice

May God Bless his memory and keep him in peace.

7. Socceroos draw ‘death group’

Australian soccer fans have woken up to bad news after the Socceroos drew a particularly tough group for the 2014 World Cup. Australia has been placed in Group B alongside top teams Spain and Chile, as well as the Netherlands. The FIFA World Cup will be hosted by Brazil in June next year.

8. Australia celebrates its first same-sex marriage

West Australian Labor MP Stephen Dawson married his partner of ten years, Dennis Liddelow, in a ceremony in Canberra at midnight; the exact time that the Australian Capital Territory’s Marriage Equality Law came into effect.

Canberra expects to see over 40 couples marry this weekend, before the High Court determines its constitutional validity on Thursday.

Read more about Canberra’s same-sex marriage weekend by clicking the link.