Thursday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. First asylum seekers granted refugee status on Nauru

The first refugees on Nauru to have been granted visas have been released from Australian immigration detention on the island.

The ABC reports 13 asylum seekers have been given refugee protection, including an Iranian family and four single adult males.

The 13 refugees have been given a five-year visa and will be given the option of settling in Cambodia, if a resettlement deal between Australia and Cambodia is signed as expected.

This comes nearly two years after asylum seekers began being sent to Nauru.

2. Student protests

Riot police have had to contain students across Australia as a day of national protests saw thousands of students marching.

In Sydney there were two arrests, while in Melbourne the police had to forcibly remove students from outside Parliament House.

For more, read this post.

3. Child bride case in court

A NSW father who allegedly arranged an illegal marriage between his 12-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old Lebanese immigrant has appeared in court charged with procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activities and being an accessory before the fact to sexual intercourse with a person under 14.

The court heard the father consented to the marriage.

“It’s a way of not committing a sin,” he told the police.

He also allegedly gave his daughter advice to not use contraceptives and, a week after the wedding, he asked the girl’s older siblings to put two single mattresses next to each other so the couple had a bed in the family home.

4. Three-year-old boy fighting for his life

A young boy struck by a car yesterday afternoon is fighting for his life in a Sydney hospital.

Nine News reports the three-year-old was following his father, who stepped onto a busy road not knowing the toddler was behind him.

He remains in a critical condition in Westmead Children’s Hospital.

5. Tony Abbott’s daughter’s scholarship

Frances Abbott, the daughter of the Prime Minister, is under fire for accepting a scholarship for a $60,000 design degree from the Whitehouse Institute of Design — where an Abbott donor sits as chairman on the board of governors.

The Guardian reports Liberal supporter Les Taylor, who donated over $12,000 to the NSW Division of the Liberal Party, sits as chairman on the board of governors.

Mr Taylor once received a gift of ‘clothing’ from the Prime Minister when he was in opposition. Mr Abbott did not declared the scholarship on his pecuniary interest register, which members of parliament are required to do.

6. Woman who did not know she was pregnant gives birth

A 25-year-old woman has given birth after some stomach pains — without ever even knowing she was pregnant.

Sarah Currin, a Brisbane woman living in the UK, told The Courier Mail she thought she had appendicitis when she was rushed to hospital.

She said she did not notice any symptoms of pregnancy, despite giving birth at 37 weeks’ gestation.

“I put on the slightest bit of weight but nothing drastic that would make me think I was pregnant,” she said.

7. Rolf Harris trial

An Australian woman who alleges she was indecently assaulted by Rolf Harris when she was 15 years old and on a tour to the UK has been cross-examined in a London court.

Harris is accused of indecently assaulting four girls between 1968 and 1986. He denies all 12 charges.

The Australian woman, Tonya Lee, faced tough questioning from Harris’ lawyer Sonia Woodley QC, who discredited the woman’s story that she developed an eating disorder on the trip to the UK as a result of Harris’s alleged attack.

The woman admitted during cross-examination that she may have been wrong, after Ms Woodley revealed the pub dinner with Harris at which the alleged assaults were supposed to have occurred was at the end of the trip not the start.

Lee broke down in tears when questioned about whether she made up the story as she was in debt and needed the money.

“That was blood money, that’s not money for frivolity or fun… I was not trying to make a quick buck,” she said.

The case continues.

8. Judge tells rape victim to forget and move on

A woman in the US says she is shocked by a judge’s suggestion she should forgive her rapist and move on.

Mandy Boadman told the court that her ex-husband drugged her and raped her. She found videos of the pair having sex on his mobile phone — videos that she does not remember making.

A jury convicted the husband of rape and five felony counts of criminal deviate conduct.

He was sentenced to eight years’ home detention.

Boardman called the sentence a “sucker punch to the gut”.

“During the reading of the sentence, the judge looked at me before he gave the final decision,” Boardman said.

“I was told that I needed to forgive my attacker and move on. I received zero justice.”

9. Man discovered living in 14-year-old girl’s closet

A man has been arrested for living in a 14-year-old girl’s closet and coming out at night to rape her.

The man from the US state of North Carolina lived in the girl’s closet for five days.

For more, read this post here.

10. Hospital pleads with parents to reconsider their trip

A Melbourne hospital has turned to social media to plead with parents to reconsider whether a trip to the hospital is absolutely necessary when a child is sick.

Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital posted the statement on the Facebook page on Monday after overcrowding blew out waiting time to six hours.

Director of Emergency Medicine Ed Oakley asked the community “to have faith in their local health services and consider visiting GPs and local hospitals where possible”.

Thec post attracted hundred of angry comments from parents – as well as over 1,000 likes.

11. Man attacks primary school students with a meat cleaver

One student is in a coma and seven others injured after a man in China attacked school children with a meat cleaver in a drug-fuelled frenzy.

Horrific CCTV footage shows the attack with 35-year-old Chen Zuihang swiping wildly at children and walking around the playground with blood smeared on his shirt.

12. Private hospitals no better off for giving birth

A study on the two-tiered hospital system in Australia has shown women are no better off giving birth in a private hospital.

The study of nearly 700,000 mothers showed that healthy mothers who choose to have their babies in private hospitals are 40 per cent more likely to experience some kind of trauma or medical problem immediately after the birth.

Scalp injuries and jaundice in newborns were some of the common problems that were found to have occurred in babies born in private hospitals.

Professor of Midwifery at the University of Western Sydney and author of the report, Hannah Dahlen, told The Sydney Morning Herald that increasing rates of inducing birth in low-risk mothers have “no advantage” and could actually be putting babies at risk.

13. Men say women lacking in ambition

A study has shown that Australian men believe businesswomen lack ambition and that’s why they fail to reach the top.

In the poll done by workplace consultant Positive Leaders, women’s “lack of ambition’’ was blamed by 19 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women as a barrier to leadership roles for women.

The survey found nearly one in 10 men believe “men perform leadership roles better’’.

Around 60 per cent of men believe women have equal career opportunities, but the “work-life juggle’’ is seen as the biggest barrier to leadership roles for women, cited by 2/3rd of men and 83 per cent of women surveyed.

14. Coup in action in Thailand

A coup is currently in action in Thailand. Sky News has reported that Thailand’s army chief has announced that the army will be taking control of the government.

According to reports, the army says its aim is to “restore order and push through political reform”.

Thailand’s army chief says the army is taking control of the government to “restore order and push through political reform”

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) May 22, 2014

The army chief declared on national television, “In order for the country to return to normal quickly the National Peace Keeping Committee comprised of the army, the Thai armed forces, the Royal Air Force and the police need to seize power as of May 22 at 4.30 pm.”

Previously, the Thailand military declared martial law, after the caretaker Prime Minister – Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan – refused to step down from his position. Australians in Thailand were told to use a “high degree of caution” in their activities, following the declaration of martial law.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that, “We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Thailand due to the possibility of civil unrest and the threat of terrorist attack. You should pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.”

What news are you talking about today?