Cheat sheet: Thursday's news in 60 seconds.

Your speedy update on all the day’s stories, Thursday, June 12 2014

1. Claudia Burkill, 8, the first to beat brain cancer.

Claudia Burkill is an 8 year-old from Market Rasen, England. She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer 3 years ago and, today, she is the first person in the world to beat the illness. Burkill was diagnosed with metastatic pineoblastoma, a malignant brain tumour, at the age of 5. A number of times the family was told Burkill had a matter of weeks to live and planned her funeral. 

But on the weekend, something they weren't expecting happened.

“Claudia is cancer-free and no longer classed as terminally ill,” Mrs Burkill wrote on her daughter’s Facebook page. “A miracle has happened, it really has. I just can’t stop shaking.”

Each year only 4 cases of metastatic pineoblastoma are diagnosed and the survival rate is less than 5 % worldwide.

In June 2011, after Burkill started vomiting, her parents sought a second opinion on her condition when they weren't satisfied with the diagnosis as a virus. The Queens Medical Centre Nottingham doctors found the tumour in the centre of her brain. Burkill has to undergo 44 sessions of an experimental Italian radiotherapy treatment.

“We had lived with a terminal diagnosis with death believed to be imminent for a crazy 694 days,” Mrs Burkill wrote. “Today is the very first day in a very long time that I can look into the eyes of our four stunning children and “know” that I don’t have to plan the funeral of one of them in the very near future. The mere joy of being alive today far surpasses any other single day in my life so far. There are no signs of any tumour, any leptomeningeal spread or any recurrent disease, anywhere.

2. Retail chain under fire for promoting bullying.

The retailer Cotton On is facing social media backlash after releasing a range of clothing with the phrase “You can’t sit with us” printed on it.

The slogan was printed on items including girls’ T-shirts, bags and clutches.

The New Zealand Herald reports that members of the public turned to social media to express their outrage at the use of the slogan, saying it promoted bullying.

“Really, Cotton On? I know it’s a quote from Mean Girls and I know it is meant to be cute, but don’t we have enough trouble with bullying?” one post said.

Several people wrote on the company’s Facebook page that they were boycotting the store because of its use of the term – with one girl pointing out that she had been told this regularly at high school. The phrase is thought to be from the 2004 movie Mean Girls.

Cotton On has since withdrawn the items from sale.

3. A witness says "I heard screams" in Baden-Clay trial.

The 20th witness to give evidence in the Baden-Clay trial is Fiona White who was a neighbour at the time Allison disappeared. White told the juror that at 9pm or 10pm, when she put her dog out she heard a scream.

"I heard in the distance a loud scream, I heard screaming twice,’’ she said. "It was straight one after the other. From what I remember I would say it was a female. It was like… someone falling off a cliff, a push, high-pitched, it happened twice."

Yesterday, the jury heard taped interview from 2 of the couple's children.

Former real estate agent Gerard Baden-Clay has pleaded not guilty to the murdering his wife Allison in 2012.

4. Tell-tale breast cancer warning sign uncovered.

A new study has found that women with at least 15 moles on their left arm were 35 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those with none.

The study published in the online journal Public Library Of Science Medicine found that sex hormones played a role in the link.

It found that women with six or more moles had higher blood levels of the hormones oestrogen and testosterone than women who were mole-free.

Researchers said that this was significant as some breast cancers are fuelled by sex hormones.

In a separate study of almost 90,000 US women, published online in the British journal BMJ, a link between red meat and breast cancer has been identified. The study showed that women who ate one serving of chicken, fish, nuts or legumes instead of one serving of red meat were 14 per cent less likely to be diagnosed.

5. Shoppers given a quiet room for children with autism.

In an Australian first a Melbourne shopping centre has built a “quiet room” for people with autism to retreat when they experience a sensory overload.

Northland Shopping Centre has built the ‘quiet room’, which provides a calming sensory space for people with autism. It features two curtained cubicles for privacy, sensory-friendly furniture like beanbags, a soft rocking chair and some toys specifically made for children on the spectrum.

The areas can also be used by adults with the disorder who may need a quiet space.

6. The leader of the free world gets some interesting presents.

US President Barack Obama has everything a man could wish for. So when it is customary to present the US President with a gift on an official visit, the question is what do you get the man who has everything?

Well, PM Tony Abbott is giving Obama a custom-built Malibu surfboard in Air Force One colours. But a US State Department documents lists the gifts given to Obama over the years (and probably stored somewhere to gather dust). News Corp reports the gifts are:

A green and white 2GB iPod Shuffle, Sherrin Match Football, Western Bulldogs AFL jersey and a wooden trinket box from former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

A gold-painted box containing a book, magnifying glass, and full-version of the Star Spangled Banner in custom ink and calligraphy from former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

One bag of coffee, one candle, six steak knives, four Christmas mugs, a tea set and a record by Stevie Wonder from the Sultan of Brunei. He also gave two ceramic mugs with stars and stripes, a cutting board, a pottery vase, Christmas wreath and a hanging stained glass sign reading ‘‘Obama 2012”.

• A red white and blue basketball signed by China’s Vice President Xi Jinping.
• A custom-made Dunlop tennis table plus paddles from UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
• A framed cross-stitch of Michelle and Barack from Brazillian President Dilma Rousseff.
• A giant silver coffee bean from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon.
• A wooden coyote in a display box, a Coca-Cola bottle decorated with beads and a box full of booze from Mexican President Felipe de Jesus Caldero´n Hinojosa.
• A sabre with 34 inch blade, silver filigree handle and sheath from the President of Mongolia.
• A wooden mask carved into shape of a jaguar head from the President of El Salvador.
• Silver statues of two wild goats and a clock hanging from a tree in a desert scene from the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
• A bamboo bicycle handmade in the Philippines from the Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr.

And the best gift givers are apparently the French: classic Lacoste polo shirts, elegant lighters, glass goblets, a silver fountain pen, leather wallets and tote bags.