Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Eight-year-old girl attacked

An eight-year-old girl has been attacked in the grounds of her Melbourne primary school.

She was attacked at Glenferrie Primary School last Thursday just after 3.30pm.

Due to the shocking nature of the incident, the young girl and her parents took more than two days to report it to the police.

Detective Senior Sergeant Alexia Bieser has said that the girl was headed towards the bathroom when she was grabbed by the man and dragged 150m.

“He tried to punch her, had kicked her and sworn at her,” Detective Bieser said.

“He had undone the zip of her top but she was able to get away from him.”

The police have released an image of the man who is described as fair-skinned, aged in his 20s, has blue eyes and short, cropped blonde hair on one side.

He was wearing black pants, a black hooded jumper and Van sneakers with red stripes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

2. Treasurer launches defamation action

Treasurer Joe Hockey has launched defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media, over a May 5 article with a headline saying “Treasurer For Sale”.

The Fairfax Media article alleged that members of the North Sydney Forum, a campaign fund-raising body, were granted meetings with Mr Hockey, including in private boardrooms, in return for annual fees of up to $22,000.

At the time, Mr Hockey said he found the stories “offensive and repugnant” and said the matter was in the hands of his lawyers.

3. PM cancels trip to Deakin University

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne have cancelled a scheduled trip today to Deakin University today after concerns over their safety.

They had been scheduled to attend the official opening of a carbon fibre research facility at the university.

For more on this, read this post here.

4. Maternal depression study

A Murdoch Children’s Research Institute study has found that maternal depression is greater four years after the birth of a woman’s first baby than at any other time.

The study, published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, looked at 1,500 mothers and found that 10 per cent of women reported symptoms of depression a year after the birth of their first child – but this increased to 15 per cent four years after the birth.

Lead author Hannah Woolhouse said, ”This is one of the first large studies to report the prevalence over time of maternal depression in first-time mothers from pregnancy to four years postpartum.”

5. Rolf Harris trial

An Australian woman has given evidence at the trial of Rolf Harris. Tonya Lee from NSW told the court in London that her life changed in 1986 when, as a 15-year-old, she was chosen to tour Britain to perform.

She alleges he indecently assaulted her in a pub in London.

She says she went on to develop anorexia, bulimia and became an alcoholic after the alleged assault. She is the only woman who has been named in the case.

She also placed blame on celebrity publicist Max Markson – who helped negotiate a sale of her story to magazine Woman’s Day and Channel Nine. She branded him a “charlatan”. But says she regrets selling her story.

Ms Lee admitted in court that she lied to the police when they asked her if she had been offered money for her story.

From News Limited: “You looked in their (police) eye and said a bare-faced lie,” barrister Sonia Woodley QC acting for Harris told the court to which Ms Lee replied, “Yes”.

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

6. Woman faces court over sexual relationship with 13-year-old boy

A Melbourne woman has faced court over a sexual relationship she had when she was 22 with a 13-year-old boy, which resulted in three daughters.

For more, read this post here.

7. Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius will start a month of psychiatric evaluations from next Monday, judge Thokozile Masipa ruled yesterday.

The judge announced that he must present himself at 9am on Monday and every weekday at a psychiatric hospital.

Pistorius will be treated as an outpatient.

She postponed court proceedings until June 30.

8. Thailand’s martial law

Thailand’s acting PM has issued a plea to the army to act peacefully and within the constitution following its imposition of martial law.

Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan also said he had asked for new elections to be called in August.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has said its current travel advice for Australians in Thailand is to show a “high degree of caution”.

9. Wife of MH370 steward gives birth

The wife of a steward on board the missing flight MH370 has given birth to a baby boy, 73 days after his father, Mohd Hazrin went missing together with 238 others on board.

The baby’s mother, 34-year-old Intan Maizura Othman, posted a photo of the boy named Mohammed on Facebook, resulting in over 63,000 ‘likes’ in the first three hours.

10. Aussie kids don’t exercise enough

A landmark survey of 15,000 people has found that Australian children are among the least active in the world.

The study, which compared the physical activity of children from 15 countries, found the majority of five- to 17-year-old Australians do not meet exercise guidelines and more than 70 per cent spend more than two hours a day watching an electronic screen.

Nine per cent of the five- to 17-year-olds meet the guidelines of 60 minutes of exercise each day but three-quarter of children aged two to four spend more than one hour in front of a television or computer daily.

11. Brisbane mum charged with child cruelty

A Brisbane mother has been charged after the police found her two sons, ages two and four, in “squalid conditions” and wearing only faeces-filled nappies.

It is alleged she had left the children alone overnight, when a neighbour spotted her returning to her home in a taxi at 10am.

The Courier Mail reports that the police allegedly found a dead possum in the children’s outdoor play area, faeces smeared onto the walls, floors littered with empty food packets, rubbish and soiled nappies, beds without linen and described the children’s bedrooms as having an “overpowering’’ bad smell.

The woman has been charged with leaving her boys unattended without making provision for their care and child cruelty on May 3-4.

12. Adam Goodes racially vilified

Australian of the Year Adam Goodes has been racially vilified by an opposition fan during an AFL match for the second time in 12 months.

The fan made the offending remarks during Sydney’s 50-point win over Essendon on Friday night.

Bombers chief operating officer Xavier Campbell said his club had terminated the offending fan’s membership.

“As a club, we do not accept appalling behaviour of this nature – no matter your race, religion or gender, football is a game of inclusion,” Campbell said.

“It is extremely disappointing incidents of this nature are still occurring.”

13. History’s most expensive divorce settlement

The ‘most expensive divorce in history’ has been settled with a Swiss court ordering a Russian billionaire to pay more than $4.5 billion to his ex-wife in settlement.

Dmitry Rybolovlev, known as the “fertilizer king” who made his fortune from potash mining, must pay 4,020,555,987 Swiss francs ($4,509,375,184) to ex-wife Elena Rybolovleva of Geneva.

Both are aged 47.

The judgment also granted his ex-wife property worth 130.5 million francs ($146 million) in Gstaad, where the couple owned two chalets.

It awarded his ex-wife two other pieces of real estate in Geneva where the couple once lived together but listed no value for either address.

Rybolovlev is ranked 147th on the Forbes list of billionaires with an estimated fortune of $8.8 billion.

14. Mums urged to be ‘selfish’

A celebrity lifestyle guru known to her fans as the ‘Skinny Rich Coach’ has written a book urging parents to say no to their children.

Olga Levancuka wrote a previous book, “How to be Selfish” in 2012. This time she is writing about parenting.

“The more you give in, the less respect you’ll receive from your children and the more things and stuff they’ll expect to get away with,” she writes.

“Don’t waste your time over-praising. Don’t call your kid ‘good girl’. Let children get on with their own discoveries, while you get on with your life. Don’t we have enough ‘failures’ from trying to please our parents?”

She also urges mothers to have “you-time” and for them to do their own thing, while their child gets on with an activity alone.

“Finally, stop sacrificing your happiness for your child’s satisfaction. Such ‘Samaritan’ acts are a double-edged sword in disguise,” she says.

15. US actor arrested after allegedly shooting his wife dead

US film and TV actor Michael Jace has been arrested for allegedly shooting his wife dead, the police said.

Jace, 51, was detained “for the killing of his wife of nine years, April,” said Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective Lyman Doster, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The Daily Mail reports the actor, who is most famous for the police drama series The Shield, called 911 on Monday and allegedly confessed: “I shot my wife.”

The LAPD was treating the shooting as a murder related to domestic violence, detective Doster said.

 Two children were in the house at the time of the killing.

16. Murder trial suspended due to court staff having sex

A judge in Italy has suspended a murder trial because two court staff were having sex during the hearing, the Daily Mail reports.

Judge Anna Ivaldi asked the prosecutor to stop speaking after she spotted the couple having sex in an office beside the court, where they apparently had hoped the smoked glass they were behind would mask their activity.

Another member of staff said one of the pair is thought to be married, the Daily Mail reports.

The interuption came during the trial of Yassin Mahmod, who’s accused of murdering a tramp in the Italian port city of Genoa last year.

What news are you talking about today?