1. Tragic festival death

Georgina Bartter a 19-year old student from Sydney has died at a festival, Harbourlife, over the weekend after taking what has been reported to be ‘one-and-a-half’ pills.

The 19-year old was unconscious and convulsing at the festival and tragically died from organ failure in hospital after being rushed by ambulance to St Vincent’s Hospital. She was accompanied to hospital by two friends.

A witness reports that the young woman collapsed on the dance floor “She was dancing next to us when she collapsed on the dance floor. I thought she was pretty hammered but then she just dropped to the floor” reports The Daily Mail.

Dr Gordian Fulde, the head of St Vincent’s Emergency Department told News Limited that doctors with “above world class” equipment and expertise worked desperately to save the teenager.

Superintendent Mark Walton, commander of the Sydney City Command told Fairfax Media no one ever knew what was in any drug.

“Young women, young men, they want to know the contents of everything that they eat, they’ll look at food labels, they’ll look at cosmetics, they’re very particular about things, yet some of them – 78 at least yesterday – turned up with the intent to consume some of those products.

“They have no idea what’s contained in them. It’s risky behaviour that we really should be trying to move away from.”

78 people were arrested at the dance party for drug offences.

 2. PM to meet Barack Obama

The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has arrived in China and will today meet with the US President ahead of an APEC Summit of World Leaders.

Tony Abbott and President Obama will also give a rare joint press conference.

It marks the beginning of a whirlwind week for the Prime Minister who will also meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin and China’s premier Li Keqiang

Mr Abbott will then travel to Myanmar for security talks before hosting the G20 in Brisbane.

 3. Lesbian couple marry in Russia

A lesbian couple have married in Russia – exploiting a loophole in the country where gay marriage is illegal.

The women – who both wore wedding gowns married legally as one of the women was born male but is now transgender and undergoing hormone therapy.

A local politician has condemned the union reports the BBC.

“It’s an insult against thousands of Russian families. I intend to call for its annulment,” said Vitaliy Milonov.

 4. Remembrance Sunday

The Queen has led commemorations for Remembrance Sunday by laying a wreath at the Cenotaph in London’s Whitehall after a two-minute silence at 11am.

Hundreds of services have been held across Britain and through Europe 100 years after the First World War broke out.

 5. Berlin Wall 25 years

Germany is marking 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The anniversary celebrations started with a church service and ceremonies for the at least 389 victims of the border.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has said the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago “has shown us that dreams can come true”.

Thousands of people have gathered to commemorate the occasion.

 6. Childcare colleges failing our kids

The Australian reports that dozens of childcare colleges are producing poorly trained graduates who are ill equipped to care for kids.

The childcare workers are said to be unable to even change a nappy, cannot speak English and are in no way trained to supervise children.

After a series of complaints the Australian Skills Quality audited one in four of Australia’s 289 training colleges and found 80% to be substandard.

Australian Childcare Alliance president Gwynn Bridge told The Australian that recent graduates were not “safe or suitable’’ to care for children.

7. Dad saves step-daughter

A Father has been praised for his heroic efforts after saving his five-year old daughter from an abduction attempt.

A man had broken into their home and was in the process of kidnapping the little girl when her step-father confronted him in their front garden.

For more read this post here.

8. School leavers accused of force-feeding alcohol to a duck.

Several QLD school leavers from Ryan Catholic College in Townsville have been accused of force-feeding alcohol to a duck in a schoolies prank labeled cruel.

News Limited reports that one former student confessed to the prank on Facebook which he said was meant to be a joke.

The school principal,David McNeale said there was no evidence students from his school were involved.

“We were then made aware on Friday afternoon of a Facebook post showing the duck to be unwell, possibly from alcohol.

“If there is evidence that any inappropriate action towards the duck took place by our students, there will be strong and immediate action taken by the college,” he said

 9. Call to name babies after Anzac veterans

The South Australian Veteran Affairs Minister is calling for parents to name their babies after a World War I hero.

The Advertiser reports that he is set to lobby Federal Veterans’ Affairs Minister Michael Ronaldson to back the campaign.

Mr Hamilton-Smith wants families to post photos of the babies on his ministerial Facebook page.

10. Ovarian cancer national action plan

A new national plan for ovarian cancer research launched yesterday in Melbourne aims to change the way the disease is treated.

Alison Amos, the chief executive of Ovarian Cancer Australia told Fairfax Media “It’s a disease where there isn’t very much hope at this point in time,” she said.

“Women deserve and are demanding better than this. This is an urgent need; women are being diagnosed today and tomorrow and are still being offered treatment options that haven’t changed in two decades. That’s not good enough.”

The new plan aims to link the latest research to funding and practice.

Ovarian Cancer Australia say the plan will hopefully improve the quality of life of women diagnosed with the disease and survival rates for these women so that “maybe one day, a diagnosis of ovarian cancer is not seen as a death sentence, in a similar way to how we’ve made strides in other cancers”.

 11. Re-thinking on premature babies guidelines

The Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network have plans to introduce a risk matrix to determine whether premature babies should be allowed to live or die.

In the past parents and doctors have relied on the gestational age of the baby – babies born between 23 and 25 weeks considered to be on the borderline of viability.

The new method – similar to that in place in the US  will take into account several factors including birth weight, gender, multiple birth status, provision of corticosteroids and other factors to predict mortality reports Fairfax Media.

 12. Body badge signs

A study has shown that over 1/3 of men and women are striving to achieve ‘body badge’ signs such the ‘thigh-gap’ and the bikini bridge – and worryingly 1/3 believe they are signs of a healthy body.

Over half of men and women surveyed for a British study have tried, or know someone who has tried, to achieve a ‘body badge’ look.

The Daily Mail reports that methods used by those who took part in the research include: ‘starved and hit the gym’, ‘workouts and starving’, ‘crash diet’ and ‘extreme diets’.

 13. Will the pill be redundant due to IVF?

The professor who invented the pill has told a UK Newspaper that he believes more fertile women will turn to IVF to start families making the pill redundant as women freeze their eggs and men their sperm.

Professor Carl Djerassi has told The Telegraph that as soon as 2050 it will be standard practice to freeze eggs and sperm and then be sterilized and to just have sex purely for fun.

“’I predict that many of these women will be fertilized by IVF methods because of the advances in genetic screening. And once that happens then IVF will start to become a normal non-coital method of having children” he said.

“For them, the separation between sex and reproductions will be 100 per cent.”
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 14. Wayne Goss has passed away.

Former Queensland Premier, Wayne Goss, passed away overnight, aged 63.

Mr Goss’s election as Premier in 1989 ended the 32 year reign of the Bjelke-Petersen National Party Government.

Mr Goss led a cultural change in politics in the State, which had been heavily damaged by allegations of corruption in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

The Goss Government introduced a range of important reforms in Queensland, including the abolition of the electoral gerrymander, lifting street march bans and protecting Fraser Island.

Mr Goss’s term as Premier ended in 1996 after a by-election handed government to the National Party.

Mr Goss passed away in his home early this morning after the reoccurrence of a brain tumour. He leaves behind a wife and two children who have released a statement saying, “As a family we mourn the man we love; as Queenslanders we join with so many others in gratitude for everything Wayne did for our community and our state.”