Thursday afternoon's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. “Person of interest” in William Tyrrell disappearance refused bail over unrelated child sex charges.

A 63-year-old man who was investigated over the disappearance of a three-year-old William Tyrell has been denied bail over child sex abuse charges dating back to the 1980s.

William Spedding was arrested yesterday in Bonny Hills and appeared today at Port Macquarie Local Court, the Daily Telegraph reports.

He was charged yesterday with five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and two counts of common assault dating back to 1987.

Read more: William Spedding has been arrested over historic child sex offence allegations.

The charges relate to alleged assaults on two girls, aged three and six at Campbelltown in 1987.

Magistrate Thomas Hodgson remanded him in custody until his next court appearance on June 18.

Police earlier named Mr Spedding a “person of interest” in relation to the disappearance of William Tyrrell who was last seen at his grandmother’s home at Kendall, near Port Macquarie.

He has strenuously denied having anything to do with the missing toddler.

Mr Spedding’s wife Margaret supported her husband in court, but did not make any comment.

2. A survey reveals more than a quarter of workers over 50 experienced age discrimination in past two years.

More than a quarter of Australians aged over 50 have experienced discrimination in the past two years, a survey shows.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission survey found 27 per cent of more than 2,000 workers questioned had been discriminated against on the basis of their age, the ABC reports.

Age discrimination commissioner Susan Ryan said older workers were told their skills were outdated and it was not worth retraining them because of their age.

“They’ve been told that they are too slow, that they don’t learn new things fast enough, that they can’t keep up with the younger workers and so on,” she said.

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey said the survey “states the bleeding obvious” and that age discrimination was far too prevalent.

3. Cop charged for allegedly leaking secret police info about Ben Cousins to his journalist girlfriend.

A police officer has been charged and stood down for allegedly disclosing official police secrets about troubled former footballer Ben Cousins to his girlfriend, a Channel 7 journalist.

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Brown said after Cousins was arrested over an alleged low-speed chase last month, reporter Monique Dirksz and a cameraman were the only media present when he left Fremantle Police Station about 2am, Perth Now reports.

“We thought that was suspicious so we conducted an investigation into that and that resulted in our Internal Affairs branch several weeks ago standing down one of our police officers, a first class constable, who works in the metropolitan area,” he said.

“On Tuesday this week … we charged him with disclosing official secrets. What we will allege there is that the police officer, who was in a relationship with that particular journalist, has divulged information that it was not in the remit of their work role to divulge and that gave an advantage to that particular journalist.”

The 29-year-old constable was charged with four counts of disclosing official secrets between March 11 and 17 and will face court in Perth next month.

4. An Islamic centre in Melbourne attended by several local accused terrorists has shut down.

An Islamic centre in Melbourne that was attended by three men charged with terrorism-related offences this week has announced it is closing its doors due to “constant harassment”.

According to the Al-Furqan Islamic Centre’s website, the centre said it had come under a lot of pressure following the charges, the ABC reports.

“This statement is to announce that, effective immediately, Al-Furqan Islamic Centre is ceasing its activities and closing its doors,” the statement read.

“This decision has not been taken lightly.

“We believe that given the constant harassment, pressure and false accusations levelled against the centre – particularly by media and politicians – this is the best course of action for the protection of the local community, its members, and the broader Muslim community that is often implicated in these insidious campaigns.”

Three men charged this week in relation to an alleged Anzac Day attack plot and two others released pending further enquiries had links to the controversial centre in Springvale South.

5. An American woman believed to have a brain tumour was actually carrying her embryonic twin inside her brain.

A surgeon tasked with removing a tumour from an American woman’s brain discovers it was in fact an embryonic twin with “bone, hair and teeth”.

Yamini Karanam, 26, began experiencing difficulties last year and sought medical help, News.com.au reports.

During keyhole surgery, Dr Hrayr Shahinian discovered what Ms Karanam called her “evil twin sister who’s been torturing me for the past 26 years”.

The surgeon said he had taken out up to 8000 brain tumours and this was the second time he had discovered an embryonic twin.

For more, click here.

6. Jockey who suffered a wardrobe malfunction gives competitors an eyeful.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Blake Shinn accidentally mooned his rivals after his pants fell down during a race at Canterbury today.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Shinn’s dacks dropped as he dashed down the straight, finishing second on Miss Royale, just ahead of the aptly named Modesty.

“I was more worried about winning the race. They (the pants) went just after the start and there was nothing I could do,” Shinn said.

“I think a lot of people are going to have a bit of fun with this, but they can’t say I wasn’t focused and went to the line.”

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au.

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