ACT man charged with manslaughter in an alleged domestic violence incident, and today’s news.

This post deals with domestic violence and might be triggering for some readers.

A 40-year-old woman has died as a result of an alleged domestic violence incident in the ACT.

A 42-year-old man known to her has since been charged with manslaughter after the woman was injured after falling from a moving vehicle. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition last Friday, but died as a result of her injuries.

Along with the manslaughter charge, police have also confirmed the man was in breach of his bail conditions, and is expected to face charges in relation to this too.

At a press conference, Detective Acting Inspector John Callaghan said: “It is being treated as a family violence incident.”

Police have urged anyone with information about the incident or dashcam or CCTV footage of the Melba area that captured any unusual driving behaviour early Friday morning to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

A man will face the ACT Magistrates Court this morning charged with manslaughter after the death of a Melba woman. https://t.co/0T31od8eUK

— Canberra Times (@canberratimes) April 17, 2022

If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.

You can also call safe steps 24/7 Family Violence Response Line on 1800 015 188 or visit www.safesteps.org.au for further information.

The Men’s Referral Service is also available on 1300 766 491 or via online chat at www.ntv.org.au.

Feature Image: Creative Commons.

Do you find the news cycle overwhelming? Depressing? Confusing? Boring? Endless? Then you need Mamamia's news podcast The Quicky. 

Listen to tonight's episode below, which gets you up to speed on the top stories.

Three explosions have rocked a boy’s high school in Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, killing at least six people and injuring several children. Some reports suggest children are included in the death toll.

Many residents in the neighbourhood of the school belong to the Shia Hazara community, an ethnic and religious minority frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State. The Taliban have been blamed previously for attacks targeting Hazaras, who make up 10-20 per cent of the country’s 38 million population, according to The Guardian.

“Three blasts have taken place ... in a high school, there are some casualties to our Shia people,” said Khalid Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul's commander.

Zadran said Tuesday’s blasts at the school were caused by improvised explosive devices. He said there was a third blast at an English-language centre in the same area, but did not specify whether it was caused by an explosive.

The ruling Taliban say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains, with Islamic State having claimed several major attacks.

At least six killed in blasts at Kabul high school https://t.co/7c17XZSLc4 pic.twitter.com/Se9Pm9GEF5

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 19, 2022

A father lost his three sons - all his three sons - in today's bombing that targeted a boys' school in Kabul's Shia-dominated Dasht e Barchi neighborhood.

Let that sink in. pic.twitter.com/61MdtUcWZB

— Syed Zafar Mehdi (@mehdizafar) April 19, 2022

Marvel has released the first trailer for Thor: Love And Thunder, directed by Taika Waititi, and let’s just say that Chris Hemsworth is not the star we’re looking at.

Plus, Blac Chyna’s defamation trial against the Kardashians is underway and during jury selection one man told an unnecessary story about Kim Kardashian’s sex tape, leading to a response that had no place in a courtroom.

And after taking a few years away from Hollywood, Julia Roberts is back on our screens and once again making headlines. All thanks to a new New York Times profile where she makes some divisive comments about her history with romantic comedies. She also talks about living her life in the spotlight, leading us to wonder why some of her most scandalous stories have been erased.

Listen to The Spill now!

Morning all and welcome to your live news feed for Wednesday April 20.

My colleague and health and beauty writer, Erin Docherty, regularly chats with psychologists about dating and relationships. Yesterday, she rounded up five important things she's learnt about relationships from the experts. 

You can read all her golden nuggets of wisdom here. 

But first, let's get you across the top news stories you need to know this morning, Wednesday April 20.

1. COVID-19 isolation rules likely to change for 15 million Australians by the weekend. 

Business groups are calling for the easing of the seven-day isolation requirement for household contacts of people with COVID-19, with the NSW and Victorian governments looking likely to do so within days.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business NSW say the rules should be relaxed to ease staffing shortages, wanting those deemed close contacts to be allowed to work and undergo daily rapid antigen tests instead.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said with such high vaccination rates, Australians have demonstrated a capacity to live and work with the virus.

Multiple Victorian worker groups are already exempt from isolating as household close contacts, including education, emergency services, healthcare and transport staff.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age are reporting the states are poised to announce that people living with COVID-19 patients no longer need to quarantine for seven days, with the new rules to be in place by the weekend.

NSW will end isolation requirements for household contacts of COVID-positive people by the weekend as the latest Omicron wave subsides https://t.co/ocXVZKXhjv

— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) April 19, 2022

The NSW COVID and Economic Recovery Committee met last night. It's understood this discussion dominated talks.

2. NSW premier's texts to PM about transgender women leaked.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s private texts to Prime Minister Scott Morrison about the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sport have been leaked.

According to The Australian, Perrottet supports Morrison's position on women and sport, despite his treasurer Matt Kean calling for Liberal candidate Katherine Deves to be disendorsed over her controversial comments about transgender people. 

"Perrottet has texted Scott his views on this issue and it’s strongly in support of the PM’s position," an insider reportedly told the publication. 

EXCLUSIVE: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet sent a text message to Scott Morrison agreeing with his position on women competing against women in sport following the inflammatory intervention of his own Treasurer, Matt Kean, in the federal election campaign.https://t.co/bIK8wqzjs3

— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) April 19, 2022

News.com.au has confirmed that Perrottet told colleagues he did not leak the texts. 

In a statement released last night, Perrottet said that "girls and women should be free to play sport against girls and women" but there should be a "sensitive" debate about the issue. 

"I agree with most fair-minded Australians that girls and women should be free to play sport against girls and women, particularly where there might otherwise be an unfair advantage – it’s a matter of fairness and physiology," he said in the statement, according to news.com.au.

"Clearly these issues have to be debated in a sensitive way at every step, but an insensitively expressed view should never distract us from the merits of the substantive issue."

3. Labor and Liberals rule out independents deal to form government. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese have ruled out deals with independent candidates to form government in the event of a hung parliament.

The latest Newspoll has Labor on 36 percent of the primary vote with the coalition on 35 per cent, meaning almost a third of voters don't support either of the major parties ahead of the May 21 election.

It's the lowest level of combined major party support during an election campaign ever recorded by Newspoll.

The latest Newspoll shows a hit to the major parties from minor parties, with the Coalition and Labor struggling to win over voters. Political editor @Riley7News has the latest. #auspol #AusVotes2022 pic.twitter.com/iM4BQ3j9PJ

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 18, 2022

Morrison says the uncertainty created by independents would risk the livelihoods of small businesses during challenging times.

"A vote for an independent is a vote for chaos in the parliament," he told Perth radio station 6PR on Tuesday.

Albanese also ruled out deals with independents and the Greens, earlier telling a Brisbane radio station Labor would seek to form government in its own right.

Morrison and Albanese will face off for the first time this election when they meet for a leaders' debate and take questions from undecided voters tonight.

4. Melissa Caddick’s husband makes million-dollar claim for her assets.

The husband of Melissa Caddick claims he is entitled to a share in millions of dollars worth of property, jewellery, artworks and cars owned by the missing Sydney fraudster, according to a court document.

Court proceedings initiated by the corporate watchdog in November 2020 remain underway against Caddick and her company Maliver Pty Ltd in a bid to return money to duped investors.

On Tuesday, her husband, Anthony Koletti, filed a concise statement in the Federal Court as an interested party, claiming entitlement over matrimonial property including two multi-million dollar homes, $2 million of jewellery and clothes, $7 million of shares and proceeds from $360,000 of sold-off cars.

The husband of conwoman Melissa Caddick has laid claim to a number of items seized from their house before her disappearance.https://t.co/Ot3GdpxVMk

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) April 19, 2022

Koletti also sought an order that "personal property" including five John Olsen paintings, a Gucci wedding dress, a Louis Vuitton watch, and several items of white-gold jewellery be delivered to him for his "exclusive use". Also under demand were a $33,960 diamond ring set and Koletti's wedding band, valued at $26,500.

Koletti's claim was based, according to the document, on his "financial and non-financial contributions" to the marriage since he tied the knot with Caddick in December 2013.

5. UN urges four-day truce amid east Ukraine assault.

The United Nations is calling for a brief ceasefire, as thousands of Russian troops backed by artillery and rocket barrages have begun an offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said their soldiers would withstand the assault, calling it the Battle of the Donbas. But Russian forces pressed an advance across almost the entire stretch of the eastern front and, hours after its start, seized a frontline city.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a four-day humanitarian pause in the fighting over the Orthodox Easter weekend to allow civilians to leave areas of conflict and humanitarian aid to be delivered.

I am calling for an Orthodox Holy Week humanitarian pause to the war in Ukraine.

I urge all parties – and all champions of peace around the world -- to join my Easter appeal.

Save lives.

Stop the bloodshed and destruction.

Open a window for dialogue and peace. pic.twitter.com/drEWHcExnl

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 19, 2022

Ukraine said the new assault had resulted in the capture of Kreminna, an administrative centre of 18,000 people in Luhansk, one of the two Donbas provinces.

Russian forces were attacking "on all sides," authorities were trying to allow civilians to leave and it was impossible to tally the civilian dead, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in a video address overnight, "No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves."

You're all up to speed. We'll be back to bring you more of the biggest news stories throughout the day. 

- With AAP. 

Dating in 2022 is hard enough, dating after the loss of a partner comes with a whole other set of unique challenges.

The Quicky speaks to two women who've been widowed about their experiences dating after the death of a partner, how they have since helped others, and where they found the courage to once again let go and fall in love. 

READ:

• What women were talking about on Tuesday 

Feature Image: Creative Commons.