Sunday's news in under 5 minutes.

Boko Haram says missing school girls have converted, married

Despite the Nigerian Government’s claims that a deal had been reached with Boko Haram, the leader of the Nigeria’s Islamic extremist group has released a new video, dashing hopes for the release of 219 kidnapped girls. 

In his video message, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau denies reports of a truce with the government and rules out any future agreement. He claims the school girls have converted to Islam and have been ‘married off’.

“The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off,” he said, laughing.

Bushfires in the Blue Mountains still being contained.

200 firefighters are still working to contain fires in the Blue Mountains that flared up yesterday. One home was destroyed and another is seriously damaged.

Shane Fitzsimmons, the New South Wales Royal Fire Service Commissioner, said firefighters were not expecting the fires to be this severe.

“They spoke very much about firefighting conditions, fire behaviour, in this area the likes of which they haven’t seen in 40 years,” he said. “This fire will be requiring work now for days.”

One firefighter has been transported to hospital with smoke inhalation, and another local resident has been treated for chest pains.

Rob Rogers from the NSW Rural Fire Service has tweeted that the fires are being treated as suspicious, and fire instructors have been assigned to investigate further.

number of suspicious fires from yesterday currently being investigated. Pls report suspicious activity near bushland to @nswpolice #nswfire

— Rob Rogers (@robrfs) November 1, 2014

Police still searching for leads in William Tyrell case.

The search for missing three-year-old William Tyrell has entered its sixth week. The little boy whose innocent face, cheeky grin and Spiderman costume has haunted the country since vanishing, has still not been found.

William was last seen  playing ‘chasies’ with his sister at his grandmother’s house in Kendall, NSW. Since then, police, SES teams, lifesavers, and volunteers have all been involved in the rescue mission to find him.

Superintendent Paul Fehon had now admitted police have no new leads in the case, but the investigation is still ongoing. “You can’t led a three-year-old boy just go missing and not continue with the investigation,” Fehon told News Limited.   

 ISIS reveal how to be “good wives of Jihads”.

ISIS’s media wing, The Zora Foundation, have released a list on how to be a good Jihadi wife. The organisation’s slogan is “preparing for the honour of jihad” and aims to assist women in understanding how they can contribute to ISIS’ success.

Charlie Winter, a researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, told The Independent this is likely the first time an official instructional on how to be a good Jihadi wife has been given by a media organisation. Youtube videos outline how simple ‘feminine manual labour’ tasks like cooking and nursing fighters can keep militants happy.

“The video talks about nursing and administering first aid, the cooking and preparation of food, the books of God, sharia science and the preparation of women for their contribution to jihad — essentially getting others to go out there,” Mr Winter said.  

 Campaign to change loom bands.

A six-year old Melbourne schoolgirl, Edith Coote, has started a campaign to encourage the makers of Loom Bands to make them bio-degradable after learning that her favourite toy is made from synthetic rubber that could kill turtles, fish and sea birds.

She has started her own campaign on Change.org, where she writes, “I’m 6 years old, and I love Loom Bands… I would love Mr Cheong Choon Ng to use his engineering genius to come up with an alternative material to make Loom Bands out of. One that biodegrades when kids have finished playing with them and thrown them away, or lost them.

If you love Loom Bands and turtles, please sign my petition. If enough of us Loom Band fans sign, Choon Ng and the team at Rainbow Loom will listen to us.” Her petition can be found here.

Man rides on dead whale while sharks circle.

Yesterday, the Channel 7 news helicopter flying over the sea near Rottnest Island witnessed a man climb out of his boat and onto a floating dead whale carcass, while tiger sharks circled in the water below. The man apparently sat on the carcass for a short time before men in another boat removed him and took him back to his own boat.

WA Today quotes Tony Capelutti, from the Department of Fisheries Shark Response Unit, as saying, “I don’t know why he did that but if it was for some kind of adrenaline rush it was very unwise.” “He has not committed any offence as far as the Fisheries Act is concerned but it is a risky situation and risky behaviour.”  

Incredible pictures have emerged of a Perth man on top of a dead whale carcass as sharks circled below. #9News pic.twitter.com/KPl6r1QJUP — Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) November 1, 2014