Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Gordonvale domestic murders: man allegedly killed wife and mother-in-law.

A 43-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his wife and mother-in-law in the suburb of Gordonvale near Cairns on Monday afternoon.

Balwinder Ghuman also injured his 17-year-old daughter. She suffered minor wounds to her face and his 72-year-old father-in-law is being treated in hospital for serious injuries.

Detective Superintendent Ray Rohweder said the girl was trying to stop the attack.

“At this stage we certainly believe the younger female was trying to assist her mother,” he said.

“It’s horrific, it really is. The emergency service workers… turned up there yesterday afternoon… to what can only be described as a horrific blood-soaked scene.”

Manjinder Ghuman, 43, was stabbed in the family home and her 66-year-old mother was attacked in the yard of a property across the street.

Reports say an argument about alcohol triggered the attack.

A neighbour, Reece Coutts, told The Courier Mail he saw a knife and a pool of blood on a driveway opposite his home.

“It wasn’t pretty at all. A man was on the ground, laughing, while police were talking to him,” he said.

Det Sup Rohweder pleaded with anyone who believed they were in danger or anyone who believed they could harm others to seek help immediately.

“I mean we have children without a mother and grandmother, we have a grandfather without a wife and daughter — so it’s just a terrible, terrible situation.”

Graham Booysen, who worked at Cornetts IGA supermarket with Mrs Ghuman, told Nine News how the tragedy had shaken town.

“Manjinder has worked here for 10 years,” he said. “Everyone loved her.”

Balwinder Ghuman is expected to appear in Cairns Magistrate’s Court today to face two counts of murder and one each of attempted murder, wounding and wilful damage.

For domestic violence support 24/7, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). 

2. Father reveals shocking injuries to toddler before death from a brain injury.

The father of a two-year-old, who died from a brain injury after allegedly falling from a paddleboard, has released photos showing the extent of the injuries before he died.

The father of Darcy Atkinson has released the previously unseen photos to local newspaper The Express Advocate. The images, which the paper chose not to show, as they are too graphic, show horrific bruising over the toddler’s body.

“[There was] severe bruising, especially to his brain, to the point where Darcy was almost dead,” Peter Atkinson told the newspaper.

The little boy was found to have died while being cared for by his mother’s flatmate.

Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon last year found that Darcy had died from a brain injury at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead on December 7, 2012, after ingesting water the previous day while in the care of Adam Taylor and Nicole Warne.

Mr Atkinson told The Daily Mail that his son was covered in bruises before he died.

“He had bruises on his ears, his temples and his forehead, and a massive bog on the back of his head.

“He had what I now know is called tram line marks on his hands and feet and the back of his legs.

“I didn’t know how these injuries could have happened.”

In handing down his findings last year, Mr Dillon said there were four or five possible explanations for what caused Darcy’s death. He accepted that one of them could have been that Darcy had hit his head while paddle-boarding at Avoca lagoon with Mr Taylor in the morning of December 6.

At the inquest, Intensive Care Unit clinical consultant Dr Barry Wilkins said there was no doubt in my mind “that Darcy had been assaulted physically at some stage in the day before he presented.”

Mr Atkinson says he is speaking out because someone knows something and he wants answers.

3. Doctors overhaul way kids are treated for common ailments.

Doctors from 14 medical colleges have reviewed the evidence for 61 of the most commonly sought medical treatments in a bid to rein in health costs and improve medical practice and have made calls for changes to the way common ailments like ear infections are treated.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has said that antibiotics should not be used to treat ear infections.

“Regardless of whether one or both eardrums are red or bulging, antibiotics do not reduce pain in 24 hours.”

Instead, parents should use paracetamol or ibuprofen to control the pain, antibiotics should only be given if the child has a fever, is vomiting or lethargic.

The recommendations also suggest leaving a fever – rather than treating it with paracetamol or ibuprofen — to bring down their temperature.

“The benefits of fever in slowing growth and replication of bacteria and viruses are well documented,” says the Australian College of Nursing.

Medicine should only be used to reduce fever if the child is uncomfortable or distressed, the college says.

Doctors are also being told to stop prescribing antibiotics for upper respiratory infections and to refuse chest X-rays for uncomplicated bronchitis cases, reports News Limited.

4.  Political party call for mobile phones to be banned by law at schools.

A new political party wants to ban mobile phones in school classrooms.

The “School Discipline Party” who are hoping to run in the Senate say they are “united in their concern about the quality of school discipline in a number of our public schools.”

As a part of their key policies they say they want to ban mobile phones in classrooms as well as have students have to “earn the right” to advance to the next grade.

“If students know there are no consequences for a year of minimal work and maximum class disruption, some will take advantage. But if they know that the principal has the power to hold them back while their friends move to the next grade, everything changes,” they write.

They also call for the ability for principals to have the power to exclude “extreme” students once they turn 15.

The party is still in the early stages – petitioning for members so they meet the necessary 500 party members for Federal party registration prior to the next Senate election.

5. Woman sues massage centre after rape.

A woman is suing a massage centre operator after she was raped in one of the stores.

The 23-year-old woman is suing Max Therapy Holdings, which operates 23 Max Therapy franchise stores in Melbourne, reports The Herald Sun.

A writ filed in the County Court claims the alleged assault occurred at the Max Therapy at the Westfield Knox shopping centre.

The woman says that the company has failed to investigate previous complaints about the same male employee.

The man has pleaded guilty to rape and indecent assault.

The woman’s statement says: “On 18 February 2013, Plaintiff attended the premises for a massage and was sexually assaulted by an employee and/or a male person engaged by the Defendant to provide massage therapy.”

The woman claims Max Therapy was negligent by failing to take reasonable care to prevent the assault, failing to hire qualified therapists, adequate supervision, training, proper screening of therapists or investigate previous complaints about the same male employee.

The woman says she has suffered mental, nervous and physical injuries, including chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, nervous shock, anxiety depression, irritable behaviour, exaggerated startled response, sleep disturbance, female sexual arousal disorder, anger, fatigue, muscle tension and mood disturbance.

She is seeking unspecified damages for loss of earnings and non-economic loss.

6. Lawyer aware of $200,000 contract on his head.

A criminal lawyer and cafe owner Joseph “Pino” Acquaro, gunned down in a Melbourne street in the early hours of yesterday, knew there was a price on his head.

Fairfax Media reports that police had informed Mr Acquaro suspected a senior Mafia figure had put a $200,000 contract on his life.

Mr Acquaro was killed outside his Brunswick East cafe in what police say was a drive-by shooting.

Detective Inspector ­Michael Hughes of the Homicide Squad said Mr Acquaro, 55, had closed his café, Gelobar, on Lygon St about 12:40am and was walking to his car when he was repeatedly shot.

“We have an early report that a witness has heard a car travelling down that street [St Phillip St] away from Lygon St at reasonably high speed,” said Det Insp Hughes.

The Australian reports the police are investigating whether the Calabrian mafia is behind the assassination.

7. Scott Morrison rules out income tax cuts.

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has all but ruled out income tax cuts in this year’s budget.

Mr Morrison told a business summit in Melbourne that the Government could not afford to provide cuts to both company and personal taxes in the budget, given the state of the federal finances, and argued this was something that could be achieved “within budget after budget after budget”.

“I think there’s an expectation that every single one of those boxes is able to be ticked in one budget, but I think that’s unrealistic.

“We are in the situation we’re in because of the state of the budget that we inherited and the size of the deficit that has become entrenched, and we have to fight our way out of it and work our way out of it and are doing that by just ensuring that you don’t bring on, wherever possible, new expenditures on the books, and you manage the cost base as tightly as you possibly can.”

The Government has been working on a tax reform package but since ruling out an increase in the Goods and Services Tax (GST), its options have narrowed.

Mr Morrison said tax reform would now be delivered primarily through cutting spending.

“The best way to drive income tax cuts ultimately, is off growth,” he said. “So our focus is very much on ‘let’s drive growth’.”

The ABC reports the Government has sought advice and is contemplating bringing back the House of Representatives, without the Senate, a week early and delivering the budget on May 3.

8. Shootout in Brussels linked to Paris attacks.

A major police operation is underway in Brussels after shots fired in a raid related to the Paris terror attacks.

The city has been sealed off and armed police are patrolling the streets.

Four police officers were hurt when one or more gunmen opened fire during the raid.

Speaking at a news conference in the Ivory Coast, Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that both French and Belgian police officers were involved in the operation.

The raid took place at a dental office in the Forest area of the city, not far from the Molenbeek neighbourhood where several people involved in the Paris attacks had been living.

9. Pope Francis approves sainthood for Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa of Kolkata will be elevated to sainthood at a ceremony on September 4.

The Pope gave the final approval after clearing the way for the nun, who dedicated her life to helping the poor, to become a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church in December.

The Nobel peace laureate was dubbed the “saint of the gutters” after founding the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata of India in the 1950s to help poor, sick and orphaned people which spread throughout the world.

The church defines saints as those believed to have been holy enough during their lives to now be in heaven and can intercede with God to perform miracles.

She has been credited in the church with two miracles, both involving the healing of sick people.

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