Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Adelaide Hills Fire

350 firefighters have worked through the night to try and bring the Mount Lofty ranges fire in South Australia under control – before temperatures in the area hit 38 degrees today.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said that 12 homes have been lost, though it may be as many as 30 as damage assessment teams move into affected areas.

He said that falling branches were presenting a hazard in the area and pleaded with people to listen to the advice of local authorities.

“The overarching advice we have is listen to the advice of the authorities.”

22 people have so far sustained minor injuries.

For immediate up to date information please visit the CFS website.
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2. One punch victim remains in critical condition

Irish tourist Patrick Lyttle remains in a critical condition in a Sydney hospital after being punched in a one-punch assault allegedly by his brother, Barry Lyttle.

Patrick Lyttle, 31 is reported to have been involved in a verbal dispute with his older brother, Barry, aged 32, when his brother punched him causing Patrick to fall on a footpath and suffer a serious head injury.

Barry Lyttle did not request bail when he appeared in court yesterday. He was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and would have faced a minimum four years in jail, however, police said he blew a low-range reading of less than 0.079.

Fairfax Media report that he will apply for bail in court today.

3. Prince Andrew’s sex slave

A woman who claims that she was kept as a teenage sex slave for billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and was “available on demand” to many of his friends, including Prince Andrew, has spoken to the British media.

The woman, Virginia Roberts, aged 31, who now lives on the Central Coast of NSW told The Daily Mail “I was a paedophile’s top girl, being trained up for a British prince,”

“I was totally under Jeffrey’s spell. I was his personal sex slave.”

Ms Roberts says she was just 15 when she was abused by Epstein and it continued for four years.

She claims she was paid $15,000 by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew in a  “dungeon”.

Buckingham Palace has denied the allegations.

In a statement the palace said, “It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with (the woman). The allegations made are false and without any ­foundation.”

4. PM in Bagdad

The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

The Australian reports that after his high level talks he hosted a BBQ for Australian airforce crews in Iraq fighting Islamic State rebels.

5. Was ice a catalyst for the crashing of AirAsia flight QZ8501?

Five major parts of the AirAsia plane which crashed into the Java Sea last week have now been found off the island of Borneo.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency has said that weather was the “triggering factor” in the crash of the plane with icing likely causing engine damage reports The Jakarta Post.

“The most probable weather phenomenon was icing which can cause engine damage due to a cooling process. This is just one of the possibilities that occurred based on the analysis of existing meteorological data,” the report said.

6. Seven-year old-girl’s miraculous survival

A seven-year-old girl has amazingly survived a plane crash that killed three other members of her family and a cousin.

Sailor Gutzler walked more than a kilometer for help after the light aircraft came down in a heavily wooded part of the US state of Kentucky.

For more read this post here.

7. Parents warned over playground

Parents have been warned after hundreds of hand made wire tacks were found in a Melbourne playground.

The bike track, playground and lawns of Edinburgh Gardens had been deliberately strewn with over 600 of the home made devices.

Council removed hundreds of them over the weekend with a high-powered magnet reports Fairfax Media.

Yarra Council has erected signs in the area warning locals of the hazard.

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

8. Townsville murder: Woman, 36, charged with murder over death of 71 yo woman

By ABC

A 36-year-old woman has been charged over the death of an elderly woman in Townsville in north Queensland last week.

The body of a 71-year-old woman was discovered by police inside her Heatley home on Friday, following reports of a violent disturbance.

Police have not released any details about how she died, except to say they were waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination.

The investigation earlier focused on the elderly woman’s abandoned car, which police said had been taken from her home and later found on Caroline Street in the suburb of Aitkendale.

The 36-year-old woman will appear in the Townsville Magistrates court on Monday.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

9. Police search for father in Shoalhaven River

Police are searching for a father who disappeared in the Shoalhaven River in NSW while trying to rescue his children from the river’s rapids.

The 38-year-old man from Corrimal and his two children were swimming at a rapid-like section of the river near a campground west of Nowra, on Saturday morning when they got into difficulty.

The father helped one of his children to safety but was pulled under water while he rescued the second.

A canoeist pulled the other child to safety, but police and SES have so far been unable to find their father.

Police said that the two children had been floating down the river rapids on an inflatable mattress.

10. Man charged with animal cruelty

A man has been charged after tying his three dogs to a trailer in a car park near the Hawkesbury River Bridge, NSW and allegedly leaving his pets without access to water for six hours.

Police say that the 82-year-old man allegedly tied his three dogs to the trailer  on Saturday and went to sleep in the car. Six hours later two of the dogs were distressed and the third dog had died.

The two surviving dogs were taken to a vet clinic for treatment.

Police say that upon investigation they saw that the man had left water out for the dogs, but allegedly the container was too small and deep for the dogs to get their heads into it.

 11. Dying man forced to look for work

A dying man has been told by Centrelink that he needs to look for work if he wants to receive the Newstart allowance.

The Newcastle Herald reports that John Grayson was diagnosed with a rare stage 3 malignant brain tumour on Christmas Eve.

He was looking for work before his diagnosis, and despite being told he has only two years to live has to now continue the search if he wishes to receive the Newstart allowance.

He told The Newcastle Herald that “[Newstart appointments] are very time costly, which I have so little of. I’d much rather be visiting friends and relatives before I die,” he said.

“The idea of a terminally ill person having to go out and look for a job feels like a kick in the groin.”

It seems that as the 33-year-old is still physically healthy he is now classified as disabled and does not qualify for the Disability Support Pension (DSP).

“I was at Centrelink with my mother and they said because you are [physically] healthy you don’t qualify for the DSP via cancer, you are going to have to look at mental health.

“I hope Scott Morrison in his new capacity [as social services minister] can perhaps rework some empathy into the DSP requirements for the terminally ill,” Mr Grayson said.

 12. Now THIS is a treehouse

A treehouse that comes complete with 12-foot ceilings, running water, a full kitchen, a bathroom and a 10-foot by 10-foot loft with a queen bed has been told by a local planning authority to scale back.

The treehouse, which featured on the channel, Animal Planet, has breached regulations as the owners already have a guesthouse on their land according to The Sacramento Bee.

The owners have been told that the kitchen, which has a stovetop, oven and wine refrigerator, and the bed must come out.

E.J. Ivaldi, the county’s deputy planning director, told the Sacramento Bee “What the county approved was a residential accessory structure. For the purpose of them being able to do a TV show, they were allowed to build a kitchen with the understanding that the kitchen would come out.”

13. Second born? You have to read this.

A study has shown that second and subsequent children can be influenced by their elder sibling’s education achievements. The research by the University of Essex looked at how younger brothers and sisters were influenced by how well their older sibling performed in school tests.

According to The Daily Mail the data showed that having an older brother or sister boosted a child’s learning.

Birgitta Rabe from the Univerisity of Essex said “The older sibling’s achievement may have a direct effect on the younger sibling’s school grades if the older sibling teaches the younger sibling or helps with homework; the younger sibling imitates the older sibling, for example in their work style, or conversely tries to be different, for example to avoid competition the older sibling passes on important information about educational choices or school and teachers to the younger sibling.”

14.#Breaking: Sydney CBD shooting

A man shot overnight in the Sydney CBD has been identified as convicted killer Michael Ibrahim, brother of Kings Cross nightclub identity John Ibrahim.

Michael Ibrahim is out on parole after being jailed for the killing of Robin Nassour in 2006.

News Limited reports that Ibrahim was rushed to hospital after being shot on the footpath outside office building at 151 Macquarie St last night.

Officers have been reported to have arrested another man in his 30s several hours later.