Thursday's news in under 5 minutes: 15th January 2015.

A roundup of all the major news stories in Australia and around the world.

1. Bali suitcase murder

A pregnant American teenager on trial in Bali for the murder of her mother has appeared in court.

Heather Mack, who is seven months pregnant, and the father of her unborn baby, Tommy Schaefer, are accused of the murder of Sheila von Wiese Mack at the St Regis Resort in Nusa Dua on August 12 last year when the mother and daughter were on holiday.

Prosecutors have charged them with premeditated murder, which carries a possible death penalty.

For more read this post here.

 2. Man arrested over car chase that killed Sydney toddler Tateolena Tauaifaga

By ABC

A man suspected of leading police on a car chase that ended in the death of a Sydney toddler has been arrested.

Christopher Chandler, 22, was allegedly driving a stolen car that ploughed through the fence of a home at Constitution Hill on Thursday evening.

Tateolena Tauaifaga, aged 17 months, was struck as she played in her backyard, and later died.

Police later appealed for public help to find Chandler after the incident, but warned members of the public not to approach him.

They have now arrested a man at a home at Gorokan, on the New South Wales central coast, who they said matched Chandler’s description.

“Police have arrested a 22-year-old man wanted for the theft of a car from Kingsford last week,” a NSW Police statement said.

“About 4.50pm … specialist police have attended a home in Gorokan and arrested the man.

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

 3. Two dead after suspected synthetic cannabis poisoning.

Two men have died in Queensland from suspected synthetic cannabis poisoning.

A 33-year-old man died in Mackay on Tuesday and a 41-year-old man died yesterday afternoon after using the synthetic drug.

Police are investigating where the substance came from, yesterday they raided an adult shop and removed boxes.

The Courier Mail reports that the drug has been sold as “Full Moon tea”.

Police have said that the men were not known to each other.

4. AMA urges PM to prevent rebate cut.

By ABC

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has launched a last ditch bid to stop the Federal Government cutting the Medicare rebate for short GP visits.

AMA president Brian Owler has written to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, urging him to personally intervene and halt the regulation before it starts next Monday.

Doctors’ groups have been furiously campaigning against the Government’s pre-Christmas move to cut the rebate paid to doctors by $20 for consultations less than 10 minutes.

In a sternly worded letter, Associate Professor Owler warned Mr Abbott practices would not be able to absorb the cuts and costs would be passed on to patients.

“The level of anger and disbelief within the general practitioner community … is unprecedented,” the letter said.

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

5. Alex McKinnon recovering

Wonderful news on footballer Alex McKinnon who was injured last year in an NRL game playing for Newcastle against Melbourne.

The 22-year-old has stood for the first time – and looked into the eyes of his fiancé Teigan Power.

In a statement he said “I remain on the Gold Coast, where I have been for approximately three months as I continue rehabilitation at Making Strides,”

“I am in the final stages of my current rehabilitation program on the Gold Coast.

“When aided to stand up out of my chair, I am now able to stand for a short amount of time with assistance.”

6. Charlie Hebdo sold out

Charlie Hebdo has increased their print run after the first two million sold out within minutes.

“The editor decided this morning to increase the print run to five million,” said Veronique Faujour, head of press distribution firm MLP.

An edition of the magazine has sold for almost £100,000 on Ebay.

 7. Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for French attacks

Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch have claimed responsibility for the massacre at Charlie Hebdo last week releasing an online video saying it was “vengeance for the prophet.”

The video, entitled “A message regarding the Blessed Battle of Paris’, was released via the Al-Malahem Media arm of the group.

Nasr al-Ansi, a commandeer in the AQAP branch said France belongs to the “party of Satan” and warned of more “tragedies and terror.” He claimed the al-Qaeda branch “chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation”.

Al-Ansi also called for Muslim youth to “rise up” and described the Paris shooting as ” a new turning point in the history of confrontation”.

 8. QZ8501 fuselage found

A Singapore navy ship has found the fuselage of AirAsia plane QZ8501 local media has reported.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post that he hoped locating the main wreckage of the Airbus A320-200 aeroplane could help bring “some form of closure” to families of victims.

“Chief of Navy RADM Lai Chung Han just informed me that one of SAF’s ships, the MV Swift Rescue, has located the fuselage of the AirAsia plane in the Java Sea,” Dr Ng said on Facebook.

“Images taken by the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) show part of the wing and words on the fuselage. We have informed BASARNAS, the Indonesian search authority, who can now begin recovery operations.”

 9. Diplomat’s husband sex charges

Australia’s ambassador to Spain has returned from her post as her husband faces child sex charges which The Australian reports allegedly occurred at the Madrid embassy.

Jane Hardy’s husband was arrested on September 20 by AFP officers.

71-year-old Vytas Kapociunas was charged with one count of sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia.

Last month, police laid two further charges of sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to The Australian the girl’s mother claims he had kissed her daughter on the lips and groin.

During a police interview Mr Kapociunas reportedly admitted meeting the girl on three occasions and had “physical contact with her, including kissing” but denies committing any child sex offences.

10. Family Feud offends cyclists

Network Ten’s Family Feud has put the cycling world in a spin by broadcasting offensive questions on their Tuesday night show.

Host, Grant Denyer posed the brain-wringer “What is something annoying that a cyclist might do?”

Now if you ARE a cyclist, or your beloved is.. you might want to skip to the next item because we won’t want to cause you to cry in your cappuccino.

“Taking driving lane”, “cut you off”, “everything” and “wear lycra” were among the winning answers.

EVERYTHING. Gosh. Harsh, Grant, harsh.

Australian Cycle Alliance president Edward Hore told Fairfax Media he was shocked by the question.

The Facebook page for the show was flooded with lycra wearing posters furious at the implication behind the question.

One wrote, “The producers of Family Feud should hang their heads in shame. The next time a cyclist gets killed on the road you’ll have to live with knowledge that your partly responsible for the death of a fellow human.”

The producers, themselves obviously avid motorists, released this statement.

“Network Ten apologises if the response to a question in Family Feud last night caused any offence,”

“The results are determined by a survey of 100 Australians and we understand they are not necessarily reflective of all Australians.”

But cylists are not amused.

11. Schools and parents should teach kids as young as seven about drugs

A leading drug educator has called for children as young as seven to be taught about the dangers of drugs.

The Herald Sun reports that Australian Drug Foundation national policy manager Geoff Munro said education about the risks of drugs should begin at the age of seven or eight.

“It’s important parents talk to their children around issues of ice and other drugs; parents are influential in their children’s attitudes,’’ he said.

“Evidence says that if ­parents warn their children against using illegal drugs they are likely to do so.’’

12. Publisher bans mentions of pigs, sausages or pork related words

The Oxford University Press in the UK has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children’s books.

The publisher has apparently been concerned about offending Jews and Muslims.

A letter has emerged from Oxford University Press which says that prohibited in the commissioned book was “Pigs plus sausages, or anything else which could be perceived as pork.”

Muslim Labour MP Khalid Mahmood told The Telegraph ” That’s absolute utter nonsense. And when people go too far, that brings the whole discussion into disrepute.”

The publisher confirmed their decree saying

“OUP’s commitment to its mission of academic and educational excellence is absolute.

“Our materials are sold in nearly 200 countries, and as such, and without compromising our commitment in any way, we encourage some authors of educational materials respectfully to consider cultural differences and sensitivities.”

 13. Craving a book.. Read this first and we will tell you why.

A study has shown that concurrent with the rise of smart phones and devices so too has there been a rise in people valuing books.

The British Library has concluded that the digital age can be directly linked to a 10% rise in visitors to the library.

“The more screen-based our lives, it seems, the greater the perceived value of real human encounters and physical artifacts: activity in each realm feeds interest in the other,” a report for the library detailed.

Now, off you go, fulfill that desire, but come back we will be waiting.

14. Government backflips on Medicare.

By ABC NEWS

Health Minister Sussan Ley has announced the Government will shelve plans to cut the Medicare rebate for short doctor visits.

The rebate for GP consultations less than 10 minutes was due to be cut by around $20 from next Monday.

However, the move was set to be struck down by the Senate.

More to come.

A version of this post originally appeared on the ABC website and has been republished with permission.

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