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News in 5: Dad dies from flu outbreak; Kimye baby; Childcare workers strike.

1. Flu outbreak claims life of young dad, who died on his first Father’s Day.

Ben Ihlow with wife Samantha and son Andrew. Image via crowdfunding site YouCaring.

It was Ben Ihlow's first Father's Day as a dad when he died. A week before, the 30-year-old from Bacchus Marsh in west Melbourne was fit and healthy and in the prime of his life.

He likely thought nothing of it when he caught the flu on Monday, August 28. By Friday, however, things were different. His condition had deteriorated drastically and he was admitted to hospital.

"Everyone's in shock because it was so sudden. He got sick on the Monday and just had bit of a bug," his uncle Neil Adams told Seven News.

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Ihlow leaves behind his wife, Samantha, as well as their little boy Andrew. A crowdfunding page has been set up to help support the grieving family, with more than $11,000 raised so far.

"He was a warm and generous man with a loving wife and young son who is yet to turn one," the YouCaring page reads.

The new father is the latest victim in Australia's dealy flu epidemic. According Seven News there have been more than 105,000 cases of the flu reported across the nation this year, making it the biggest outbreak in 15 years.

On Tuesday, the Immunisation Coalition confirmed there has been a 156 per cent increase in diagnosed cases of influenza in August this year, compared to the same time last year, News Corp reports.

And, according to the Department of Health, at least 73 people have died from the flu in Australia in 2017.

GPs are urging Australians to receive vaccination against the deadly flu, saying it's not too late to be immunised.

For more information on how to protect yourself from the flu, click here.

2. Childcare workers to walk off the job today demanding better pay.

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Thousands of childcare workers across Australia will walk off the job at 3.20pm, the time they say they start working for free because of low wages.

The national action on Thursday is expected to be the biggest sector walk-off in Australian history, and is the second this year after a protest in March failed to influence the federal budget, AAP reports.

United Voice assistant national secretary Helen Gibbons said early childhood educators earned $21 per hour despite required qualifications to work in the sector.

She said about 180 people leave the industry each week as they can no longer afford the cost of living.

3. Kim and Kanye are expecting third child as surrogate falls pregnant.

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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting their third child, according to reports out of the US.

On Wednesday, entertainment news website TMZ said the couple's new arrival will be born via a surrogate in January. This was backed up by celebrity news site People.

Kardashian, 36, and West, 40, have not confirmed the news.

The couple are already parents to four-year-old daughter North and one-year-old son Saint. Kardashian has previously told of wanting another baby. However, the star suffered with placenta accreta, where the placenta grows into the muscle of the uterus, in her pregnancies and has said that doctors advised her not to risk carrying a third child.

Earlier this year it was reported that the couple were looking for a surrogate to help them expand their brood.

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4. Journalist accused of possessing child pornography appears in court.

Nine Network reporter Ben McCormack has been granted more time to negotiate with prosecutors after he faced a Sydney court on two child pornography charges, AAP reports.

The A Current Affair journalist, who was suspended from the network after his April arrest, was in court on Tuesday as his lawyer asked a magistrate for three more weeks to complete negotiations with the prosecution.

"(It) requires a bit of time... then we'll be ready to roll," lawyer Sam Macedone told Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday. "I honestly hope that by the 26th of September I'll have all the information I need and I can assure you that we'll be entering a plea on that date."

McCormack, 43, has been charged with two counts of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child porn. The suspended reporter, who missed a court matter in May after checking himself into a mental health facility, was tight-lipped inside and outside court.

"Ben's fine, he's got to go now," said Mr Macedone as McCormack was whisked away in a waiting 4WD on Tuesday.

5. High Court to hand down same-sex marriage postal survey ruling today.

The High Court will decide if the postal vote will go ahead. Image via Getty.
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Marriage equality advocates and the Turnbull Government will soon find out who has won the legal battle over the same-sex marriage postal survey.

The full bench of the High Court will hand down their decision in Melbourne at 2.15pm on Thursday, during Question Time in federal parliament, AAP reports.

Two groups of same-sex marriage advocates are trying to stop the postal survey, arguing the government should not have bypassed parliament in funding it.

The government found the $122 million by using laws to make an advance payment to the Finance Minister in circumstances where there is an urgent need for spending and the situation was unforeseen.

The challengers argue the spending was neither urgent nor unforeseen, two key requirements for advancing money from the pool of funds that can be used without parliamentary approval.

The survey forms are due to be mailed from Tuesday, September 12.

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6. Man charged over gun hidden at NSW kindy.

Pistol found hidden in NSW kindy. Image via AAP.

A man has been charged after a pistol and ammunition was found hidden at a childcare centre in Sydney's southwest four years ago, AAP reports.

Officers using a firearm-detection dog found the .445 calibre Webley Mk VI revolver and 58 rounds of ammunition in the garden bed of the centre near Bankstown in September 2013.

The 30-year-old, already in custody at a jail at Nowra on NSW's south coast, was on Wednesday charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol.