Saturday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up the news headlines from Australia and around the world. 

1. IS claims that their American hostage, Kayla Mueller, was killed by an air strike from Jordan.

Islamic State (IS) militants claim that a female American hostage has been killed by air strikes over Syria.

US officials are investigating reports that the woman is 26-year-old aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was taken hostage in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013.

Jordanian air forces bombarded the militant group heavily for two days during which time the female hostage was trapped beneath rubble in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of IS, ABC News reports.

The White House said it was “deeply concerned” in a statement released yesterday, but that it had yet to verify reports that the female was in fact Mueller.

Ms Mueller, a graduate of North Arizona University, has a long record of volunteering abroad and first went to the Turkish/Syrian border to work with refugees in 2012.

If her death is confirmed, Ms Mueller would be the fourth American to die while in IS captivity following the beheading of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig.

Read more here: ISIS just changed the game again. In the most horrific way.

2. Ministers back secret ballot for vote over Tony Abbott’s future as Prime Minister.

By Melissa Clarke and Eliza Borrello for ABC News.

Pressure is mounting on Tony Abbott to allow his party colleagues a secret ballot on whether he should be ousted as Prime Minister.

A motion to spill the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister’s positions will be debated in the Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday.

Whether a vote takes place – and whether it is a secret ballot or a show of hands – is up to Mr Abbott, the Liberal Party leader.

Read more: It’s on: Liberals call for a spill of leadership positions.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he wanted conventions to be respected.

“The precedent is that it’s a secret ballot and I’d expect that it will be a secret ballot on this occasion,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program.

But he was clear what his position would be.

“I will be voting no against the spill,” he said.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz also backed a secret ballot.

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

3. Father told to choose between his wife and his baby who has Down syndrome.

New father Samuel Forrest has told of how his wife gave him an ultimatum when she gave birth to their son, Leo, who has Down Syndrome. The New Zealand man’s wife told him that if he chose to keep his newborn son, she wanted a divorce.

Mr Forrest said he was unaware of the practice in Armenia, where Leo was born and where his mother Ruzan Badalyan is from.

“What happens when a baby like this is bor, they will tell you that you don’t have to keep them,” he said.

“My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back.”

However, after meeting his son Leo, Mr Forrest decided to keep him.

“They took me in see him and I looked at this guy and I said, he’s beautiful — he’s perfect and I’m absolutely keeping him,” he said.

One week after Leo’s birth, Ms Badalyan filed for divorce from Mr Forrest.

Mr Forrest has since started a crowdfunding page called Bring Leo Home.

Further reading: Could this be the real reason why Gammy’s parents abandoned him?

4. Italian couch-surfing host drugged and raped 16-year-old Australian girl.

There are concerns about the safety of the website Couchsurfing.com after an Italian policeman who posed as an amiable host has been charged with drugging and raping a 16-year-old Australian girl.

There are also fears that the man, identified as 35-year-old Dino Maglio, may have done the same to up to 15 other women.

The convicted will stand trial in Padua near Venice on charges of “raping a minor with the aggravating circumstances of having administered a narcotic without her knowledge,” ABC News reports.

The safety of Couchsurfing.com, a social networking site used to put travellers in touch with hosts who are willing to host them and act as tour guide for free in their hometowns, is under question again with as this latest case comes to light. This is not the first time the site has been criticised for traveller’s safety concerns.

5. Atheist billboard causes a stir in Sydney.

Sydney Atheists, a group of people who reject religion, have put up a billboard on the M4 motorway that reads, “Have you escaped religion? We have!”

The provocative billboard, which was erected on Wednesday this week, was not designed to offend but to provoke thought and conversation the organisation’s president Steve Marton told news.com.au.

“This world suffers so much at the hands of religion; it doesn’t make any sense to believe these stories. It’s just fantasy,” he said.

According to Mr Marton, Sydney Atheists is a group largely made up of people who had “suffered” at the hand of organised religion and had “escaped” the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Mormon and Jewish faiths.

The group states that their goal is to “promote a positive representation of atheism and to enforce the separation of church and state.”