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News in 5: Mum of 7yo terror victim speaks; 'Yes' vote tipped to win; Barbie gets a hijab.

1. Grieving Sydney mother opens up about returning home after son’s death in Barcelona terror attack.

On the afternoon of August 17, 2017, a van plowed through a crowd of pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain.

Thirteen people were killed and at least 130 others were injured. Among the deceased was seven-year-old Julian Cadman, an Australian boy who was visiting Barcelona with his mother, Jumarie Cadman.

Julian was supposed to be a page boy in his cousin's wedding. But he never got to wear the shoes and shirt his mother had purchased for the occasion.

For the first time, 43-year-old Jumarie has opened up about life without her little boy, telling The Daily Telegraph that she misses her son "every hour".

Jumarie spent three weeks in a Barcelona hospital after the attack, where she underwent three rounds of surgery to fix her shattered legs, pelvis and face. She returned to Sydney in September and was only released from hospital two weeks ago.

But still, she says, it took her three tries until she was able to walk through the door to her own home.

"My husband had to take me back to hospital twice and I finally managed it the third time, going in through the back garden," she told The Daily Telegraph.

"The hardest was going into Julian's playroom; his bedroom."

Despite trying to take things "one day at a time", Jumarie - who still uses a wheelchair due to her injuries - knows her life will never be the same without her son.

"I had routines, I loved being a mum, but it's all gone," she said.

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"I just want Julian back, I don't know why I survived and he didn't."

To read her full interview with The Daily Telegraph, click here.

2. Government insiders predict a 'yes' vote win ahead of today's official same-sex postal survey results.

At 10am AEDT today, Australia will know how the country voted in the national same-sex marriage postal survey.

But The Courier-Mail reports that senior Turnbull Government insiders have already predicted that a 'yes' majority will win.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will officially release the results later this morning, and will also publish a statement on the "quality and integrity" of the statistical data.

A count of responses (Yes, No and Response Not Clear) will also be released, with votes divided by Federal Electoral Division, State/Territory and National. A count of the eligible Australians who did not participate in the survey will also be released.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to address the Australian public shortly after the official results have been revealed during a media conference that will be broadcast by all major television networks.

If a 'yes' majority were to win, it's expected the Senate will be asked to allow draft laws to be introduced as early as Thursday. It's hoped same-sex couples will be allowed to legally marry by Christmas.

3. Australian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo avoids a conviction after she was caught driving under the influence of drugs.

Kate DeAraugo performing in 2007 in Melbourne. (Image via Getty Image.)
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Australian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo has been spared convictions for drug driving, possessing the illegal drug ice and carrying weapons.

DeAraugo, once a member of pop group the Young Divas, was given a 12-month community correction order and disqualified from driving for six months, AAP reports.

The 32-year-old was sentenced at Bendigo on Friday after pleading guilty to eight offences in October.

DeAraugo was charged with possessing a drug of dependence, namely ice, and drug driving at Shepparton on June 15.

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She was also charged with two counts of possessing a controlled weapon, being a large-bladed knife and tomahawk.

The singer also breached her bail by not obeying an 11pm to 7am curfew, when she was found at a BP store at Kyabram, about 100 kilometres from her Bendigo home. Prosecutors withdrew a trafficking charge.

It was not her first brush with the law, having faced traffic and drug charges in Sydney in 2015.

The fallen "idol" shot to fame after winning the TV talent show in 2005, defeating favourite Emily Williams and third-placed "Wasabi" singer Lee Harding.

DeAraugo then joined girl band Young Divas with Williams, Paulini Curuenavuli, and Ricki-Lee Coulter, releasing two albums and two top-10 singles.

Since then DeAraugo has famously lost half her body weight, tried working as a secretary and wrote a book detailing her fall from grace into drug addiction.

4. The boy, 8, found trapped in a hot car had been 'hiding' from his mum.

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An eight-year-old boy rushed to hospital in a critical condition had hid himself in the back of his mother's van in Melbourne and spent several hours inside the vehicle before he was found.

The youngster was found "unresponsive" by his mother about 2.45pm on Monday as the temperature soared to more than 30C, AAP reports.

"The boy's mother dropped her children at primary school in the morning, however, didn't realise one of the kids had climbed into the rear of the car and hid himself," Victoria Police spokeswoman Leonie Johnson said on Tuesday.

"She has driven to work and parked her car without knowing he was in there."

After she made the shocking discovery, emergency services rushed to Maddox Road at suburban Newport and took the child to the Royal Children's Hospital, which late on Tuesday afternoon confirmed his condition had improved to serious.

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Police initially called in the homicide squad, but have since confirmed they are treating the incident as an accident.

Victoria's Health Minister Jill Hennessy offered a general warning to parents on Tuesday.

"Get your children out of the car, do not leave them there, whatever inconvenience that involves, it's a price worth paying," she said.

"It can be really inconvenient to get them in and out of baby seats, parents are really busy, but a child left in a car can easily die."

5. An Australian company is developing a vaccine that could treat one of the most common forms of breast cancer.

detect breast cancer
Image via Getty.
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An Australian company is in the process of developing a vaccine that could treat one of the most common forms of breast cancer, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The vaccine - which could one day be used to prevent cancer and is being funded by an Armadale-based company - stimulates the body's own immune system to fight the cancer.

It's believed the vaccine will be able to help the one in four Australian women with HER2-positive breast cancers. It could also be used in HER2 gastric cancer patients, with trials in Europe showing the vaccine is safe for use on humans.

Professor Ursula Wiedermann, the co-inventor of the vaccine and a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna, said the vaccine would most likely be used in combination with chemotherapy, radiation and Herceptin.

It's hoped patients with newly diagnosed HER2 positive cancers would be able to receive the vaccine before receiving any other treatment, to stimulate their immune system to fight the cancer.

6. Barbie is going to be wearing a hijab for the very first time.

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The maker of Barbie says it will sell a doll modelled after Ibtihaj Muhammad, an American fencer who competed in last year's Olympics while wearing a hijab, AAP reports.

Mattel Inc says the doll will be available online next autumn. The doll is part of the Barbie "Shero" line that honours women who break boundaries. Past dolls have included gymnast Gabby Douglas and "Selma" director Ava DuVernay.

Muhammad said on Twitter that she was "proud" that young people will be able to play with "a Barbie who chooses to wear hijab!"

Muhammad, the first American to compete at the Olympics while wearing a hijab, won a bronze medal in fencing at the 2016 Rio Games.