1. A popular Brisbane designer has been charged with the murder of her husband just days before Christmas.
Popular Brisbane graphic designer Katie Ann Corben, 36, has been charged with fatally stabbing her husband in the chest just five days before Christmas.
The Courier Mail reports Jarred Castel, 35, was allegedly killed during an altercation between the pair at their upmarket Chapel Hill home at around 9pm on December 20.
When emergency services arrived at the scene, they found the couple's four-year-old son inside the home.
Police believe he did not witness the incident. Further details of the incident have not yet been made public.
Late last year, Corben faced Brisbane Magistrates Court over allegations she murdered her husband. She has been remanded in custody and is due to face court again next month.
Now, according to The Courier Mail, Corben's thriving design business has been shut down, leaving her customers in the lurch as she awaits her fate.
Through the boutique online company, Adverbium Design, Corben sold custom-made enamel pins and clothing charms. Messages shared on the label's social media pages have declared the brand is taking a "short break" from taking orders.
"Sorry, trades closed for now," a message on the brand's Instagram page reads.
The brand's website also appears to have been shut down.
Many of Corben's designs feature cartoon monsters and animals, and business had been thriving since she set up shop in February 2017.
"I'm young at heart, so my work is intended for both little kids and big kids like me," she shared online last year.
"I love seeing my pins end up all over the world, making people happy!"
This week, the first images of Corben and her late husband appeared online, showing the couple and their young son smiling at a family gathering.
2. A grandmother has been struck and killed by a garbage truck while out walking with her young grandson on Sydney's northern beaches.
A grandmother pushing her grandson in a pram has been crushed and killed by a garbage truck on Sydney's northern beaches while the toddler escaped unharmed, AAP reports.
The 58-year-old woman was walking near Pittwater Road in Dee Why when she was struck before midday on Thursday, police said.
The young boy, aged about two, was located in a pram nearby and was not injured.
"The family is very distressed understandably," NSW police Inspector Ellen Kaserman told reporters in Dee Why on Thursday.
"Fortunately the infant was not injured and has been reunited with his parents."
A Careflight helicopter had to make an emergency landing on the busy road and paramedics treated the woman who'd sustained critical injuries, but she died at the scene.
Aaron Sault, who witnessed the crash, described the grandmother's heroic actions to save the child.
"She managed to get the child out of the way safe and put herself at risk," Mr Sault told Network Ten on Thursday.
"I could see that somebody was unconscious behind the truck... I had a bit of hope that she was going to be okay.
"But the moment they put up the tent around her you knew it was a tragic accident."
The truck driver, who was "very distressed," has participated in mandatory drug and alcohol testing and will be interviewed about the incident today, Insp Kaserman said.
3. A Gold Coast doctor has revealed that children as young as nine are being admitted to hospital for treatment for eating disorders.
Professor Peter Jones of Bond University, a practising paediatrician at Gold Coast University Hospital, has revealed that in recent years, children as young as nine are being admitted to hospital for treatment for eating disorders.
Speaking to The Courier Mail, Professor Jones said cases of juvenile patients with eating disorders have doubled since the hospital first opened its doors in 2013, with some so sick they need to be fed via a nasogastric tube.
"It's very unusual to not have a couple of children (in at any one time), and now it's up to five or six of those children filling up these acute beds, being monitored, having blood tests and those sorts of things,” he told The Courier Mail.
He also added that the number of male patients had increased from about two per cent of patients, to 10 and even 20 per cent of total cases.
"We do see a number of boys who are coming in with eating disorders that we weren't seeing before," he said.
He believed the rise of eating disorder cases were linked to low self esteem, and that treatment often involved improving their emotional wellbeing, a process that could take much longer than relieving the physical symptoms.
Dr Peta Stapleton of Bond University's School of Psychology told The Courier Mail children who are top performers at school are at risk of succumbing to eating disorders.
"Children who are worriers or anxious, who might be shy or over-achievers, are the ones who are at risk," she said.
If you or someone you know is in need of help please call the the Butterfly Foundation’s National Helpline on 1800 334 673.
4. Police blast 'selfish' drivers who text and drive, after over 1200 people were caught using their phones behind the wheel in just one day.
One of NSW's top cops says despite numerous warnings and the obvious dangers, "selfish" drivers are still texting when behind the wheel.
According to AAP, highway officers issued 1215 infringement notices on Wednesday to people using their mobile phones while driving.
"For anyone to take their eyes and concentration off the road and onto a phone while driving shows a complete disregard for personal safety and the safety of everyone else on the road," Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said in a statement on Thursday.
"Despite the numerous warnings and obvious dangers to drivers and innocent road users, the message not to text and drive is just not getting through."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian earlier this week revealed cameras will soon be used to catch drivers using their phones.
The move is part of a plan to improve road safety given 2017 was the state's highest road toll in almost a decade, with 392 deaths.
5. Um, apparently magpies hold the key to understanding how your social life can actually make you smarter.
The demands of a busy social life will make you smarter and increase the chance of raising a healthy baby, if you're a West Australian magpie, a study has found.
According to AAP, a series of intelligence tests on wild suburban Perth magpies has found birds that nest in larger groups are smarter than those from smaller families.
In female birds, higher intelligence also increases the chances of successful reproduction.
The joint University of WA and University of Essex study conducted tests with 56 magpies from 14 groups, ranging in number from three to 12 birds.
The magpies completed four tasks designed to test the theory of social intelligence, or social brain hypothesis, which suggests the balancing act of forming and maintaining relationships, anticipating other's actions and keeping track of who knows who drives cognitive evolution.
Lead researcher Ben Ashton says the magpies' test results suggest social environment plays a key role in the development of cognition.
"They also suggest a positive relationship between female cognitive performance and reproductive success, indicating there is the potential for natural selection to act on cognition," Dr Ashton said.
The magpies completed puzzle tasks including foraging for cheese hidden in a transparent cylinder and in different coloured containers to test associative learning, and a memory task where food was hidden in the same place many times.
Dr Ashton says differences in energy intake and task attention can also affect cognitive performance, so the study took into account body weight, foraging efficiency and the magpies' enthusiasm, or lack of, towards the task.
The study is one of the first to conduct large-scale cognitive tests on wild populations and find a strong link between cognition, group size and reproductive success.
6. Mystery surrounds the death of 16 horses while returning to Melbourne after competing in a polo tournament in Tasmania.
It's still not clear how 16 horses died while returning to Melbourne from a polo tournament in Tasmania.
The horses were reported dead last Monday after being shipped in a truck to Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania. According to The Mercury, 18 horses were travelling together and two are still fighting for survival.
The animals had also been on the road in Victoria but it wasn't clear when they died, an Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman told AAP.
The ABC reported the animals were from the Willo Polo club in NSW and competed at the Barnbougle Polo event in Tasmania on January 20.
A representative from Willo Polo told the broadcaster the investigation was "in the hands of authorities" and the club was "hoping to find out what happened".
The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment is investigating, with the assistance of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
"What I know is I saw 18 healthy horses on my truck just before departure in Tasmania, and an hour after leaving the boat in Melbourne I discovered 16 of them were dead and cold," owner Andrew Williams said in a statement.
"I didn't change anything. Yes, it was a warm night. I have asked for answers, but have received nothing.
"I am a farmer, a polo player and a breeder of ponies. They are the reason I can feed my family. To have that taken away is gut-wrenching. It is with the legal team now and hopefully they will receive the answers I deserve."