Tuesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Royal Baby due date

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have confirmed their baby is due in April next year, Kensington Palace said in an official announcement.

They also squashed rumors that it could royal twins.

The official statement read “Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in April 2015.

“The Duchess of Cambridge continues to be affected by hyperemesis gravidarum, but her condition is steadily improving.”

It comes a day before the Duchess is due to be seen in public for the first time since her pregnancy announcement. She and William are due to welcome the President of Singapore and his wife to the UK.

 2. Luke Batty inquest

An inquest into the death of murdered school boy Luke Batty has heard that his father Greg Anderson threatened him with a knife almost a year before he stabbed the 11-year-old to death.

The ABC reports that Luke Batty’s mother Rosie Batty was not aware that at the time Greg Anderson killed his son police had four arrest warrants in his name.

The inquest heard that Rosie Batty was also not aware of pornography charges laid against Anderson.

She told the inquest that on the day Luke died she felt something was not right.

“I didn’t trust the situation,” she said.

Greg Anderson was only meant to see his son at cricket on the weekend but he had turned up midweek.

She said it would have been “the third time I’ve tried to get that man arrested in front of Luke and his friends, at that bloody oval”.

“I said (to Luke), ‘will you be alright’? “He said, ‘yeah, I’ll be alright Mum’.”

The inquest continues.

3. Michelle Knight forgives Ariel Castro

In an extraordinary revelation the woman kidnapped by Ariel Castro for 11 years says she forgives him.

She has told an interview that he suffered a disease.

For more read this post here.

4. Measles alert

QLD Health have issued a measles alert after three people onboard a flight to Brisbane from Bali have tested positive to the infection.

Passengers aboard Jetstar Airlines flight JQ46, which left Denpasar on October 15 and arrived in Brisbane the next day should be alert to symptoms.

Children should receive two doses of measles vaccine at 12 months and four years of age.

For more on measles symptoms visit this site here.

5. Oscar Pistorius sentencing

As Oscar Pistorius prepares to learn his fate tonight the South African correctional services department has been forced to deny reports that it has already prepared a cell for the Paralympian.

Meanwhile his brother and sister have given an interview in the UK to ITV News saying they never doubted his version of events.

“We take things as they come. We don’t know what the outcome’s going to be so we’ll take it as it comes and deal with it together.” his sister Aimee Pistorius said.

6. $1 billion spent on offshore detention centres

A Senate estimates committee has heard that the cost of housing asylum seekers offshore was more than $1 billion this financial year.

1167 asylum seekers housed on Nauru cost $582.4 million, while the 1060 people on Manus Island – including operation costs added up to $632.3 million.

Fairfax Media reports that the government saved $2.5 billion with 164 asylum seekers arriving in Australia during this calendar year, compared with 20,711 arrivals in the previous year.

7.  Missing NSW Teenager

NSW Police have made an urgent plea for anyone with information surrounding the disappearance of a teenage girl.

16-year old Taylor Almond was last seen on Sunday 12 October 2014. 


 Police believe she may have been in the Newcastle Beach area, in NSW, over the last week.

She is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 160cm to 170cm tall with a slim build, long blonde hair and blue eyes. 

She was last seen wearing a white sleeveless shirt and blue denim shorts.

Police are encouraging anyone who may know her whereabouts to call Triple Zero (000) immediately.

 8. Nigeria free of Ebola

The World Health Organization has declared Nigeria Ebola-free  after more than six weeks without a new case of the disease.

Nigeria is now free of Ebola,” WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in the capital Abuja, Time reported. “This is a spectacular success story … It shows that Ebola can be contained but we must be clear that we have only won a battle. The war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola.”

9. Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky has made her first public speaking engagement in more than a decade saying that she had been a viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly “social media.”

Speaking at the Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia she told the audience that she was “the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet.”

She said that at the time she “was in love with Bill Clinton.”

Lewinsky says she now plans to launch a cultural revolution against cyber-bullying.

“Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too,” The Daily Mail reports she said. “I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past.”

10. Psychologically damaging our kids

We are setting our kids up for a lifetime of low self-esteem, obesity, poor co-ordination and stifled mental development say experts by wrapping them in cotton wool and not allowing them to take risks.

Sunshine Coast University psychologist Dr Rachel Sharma told the launch of National Kidsafe Day that long-term effects of “bubble-wrapped children” also included “a lack of confidence in problem solving and poor coping skills in the face of failure.” reports News Limited.

11. Hero saves man from burning house

A man has been branded a hero after walking into a burning house and saving the occupant.

The Fresno Bee reports that despite others feeling the burning home the unidentified man carried the occupant inside who had been hooked up to an oxygen tank for respiratory problems straight to safety.

The dramatic rescue was caught on camera – and (of course) uploaded to YouTube where it has gone viral.

12. Kids give back

A study has shown that 97% of parents believe it is their responsibility to teach their children about helping others.

However only 12% are aware of the amount of Australian youths living in poverty. (It is one in six!)

A new website launches today allowing Aussie kids to help others by donate to children in need.

 GIVIT Kids launches today in schools across Queensland aiming at allowing children to donate to others. GIVIT CEO, Juliette Wright, said,  “Children have an unlimited amount of love and willingness to help others. They have no prejudice and no pre-judgment. If they see someone in strife they think how can I help them?”

The website allows kids in need to request items such as school uniforms, books, clothes, personal items, care packs, sports and musical equipment.

Children will able to view the list and, with their parents’ approval, give it to the family in need.

 13. Champers is better from a wine glass

News just in time for the Spring Carnival  – with reports today that drinking champagne from a wine glass makes it taste better.

(As long as it’s the good stuff)

Frederico Lleonart, a global wine ambassador told The Telegraph that a simple wine glass emphasises the aroma and fizz in better and more complex champagnes.

“When the sparkling wine or champagne has complexity, depth and autolytic notes, such as the best cavas or champagnes, then the best option is actually to use a white wine glass in order to let the aromas express themselves better.”

14. Body-mounted cameras to record evidence in domestic violence cases

Legislation being introduced into NSW State Parliament today will allow police to use cameras to record signs of domestic abuse.  The videos will be used to record victim statements, house damage, and physical signs of abuse.

NSW Minister for Women Pru Goward welcomed the change, telling the Sydney Morning Herald: “Relying on a video-recorded statement reduces the possibility of the perpetrator intimidating the victim by trying to coerce them into withdrawing or changing their original version of events.”

Under the legislation a victim must consent to be filmed, and the alleged perpetrator will be able to access the video before a criminal trial.

Police Minister Stuart Ayres confirmed that mandatory training costing about $100,000 would be needed for police.

15. Men may ignore food… in favour of sex

Males will ignore hunger in favour of finding a partner, according to a study conducted by the University of Rochester Medical Centre and published in the journal Current Biology.

The experiment looked at microscopic roundworms — and found that males were more likely to leave their food source and go in search of a mate.

Assistant Professor Douglas Portman told The Telegraph the findings indicated men and women are are neurologically different, and biological differences play a big part in how the different sexes behave.

“These findings show that by tuning the properties of a single cell, we can change behaviour,” Prof Portman said.

“This adds to a growing body of evidence that sex-specific regulation of gene expression may play an important role in neural plasticity and, consequently, influence differences in behaviours – and in disease susceptibility – between the sexes.”

 16. Sydney teenager appears on ISIS video – declaring his support for the group

A 17-year-old Sydney boy has appeared in a chilling propaganda video for the Islamic State, threatening Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

News.com.au reports the video, posted to YouTube last night, Abdullah Elmir from Bankstown — who told his mother he was embarking on a fishing trip in June — is seen holding a rifle, surrounded by dozens of other young men.

Speaking under the name “Abu Khaled”, the boy declares war on the west in the video in a statement addressed to “the people of America … the people of Britain … and especially to the people of Australia”.

“To the leaders — to Obama, to Tony Abbott — I say this: These weapons that we have, these soldiers, we will not stop fighting. We will not put down our weapons until we reach your lands, until we take the head of every tyrant, and until the black flag is flying high in every single land,” he says in the video.

Elmir’s family told Fairfax Media in June their son had been brainwashed, and The Australian reports he is believed to have been with Islamic State for the past four months.

What news are you talking about today?

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