Monday's news in under 5 minutes: January 19th 2015.

A round up of all the major news stories from right around the world.

1. Leila Alavi lived in a women’s refuge

Details have emerged about the life of Leila Alavi who was found dead in a shopping centre car park on Saturday morning in the Sydney suburb of Auburn.

Her ex-husband, Mokhtar Hosseiniamraei, has been charged with her murder.

Police allege that Hosseiniamraei stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors on Saturday in a fit of rage.

News Limited reports that the 26-year-old hairdresser had lived in a women’s refuge in recent months.

She had taken an AVO out against him.

In refusing bail yesterday police said “The accused has shown a propensity for anger and being unable to control that anger.”

“It is alleged that the accused has physically assaulted his wife in the past, with incidents not reported.”

 2. Baby girl crushed by father’s car

A 13-month-old baby girl has been hit by a car believed to be her father’s 4WD in the driveway of her home in Sydney’s south.

The car, a Toyota, is believed to have been driven by the little girl’s Dad who had just finished washing it and was moving it to the garage when he felt the girl beneath his front wheels.

The baby girl was flown to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead where she is believed to be in a serious but stable condition.

 3. Manus Island protests

Over 700 detainees on Manus Island have joined a hunger strike aimed at protesting the federal government’s plan to resettle them in Papua New Guinea.

The ABC report that there has been no running water in the facility for days, with the detainees being given bottled water to drink.

Doctors for Refugees convener Barri Phatarfod told The Age “My overriding concern is how desperate people must be to feel that death is a better alternative than the situation they’re in now,” she said.

“They don’t have the capacity to handle a hunger strike of even one tenth of that size,” she said.

“They have very little in the way of intravenous fluids. They have very little in the way of staff that are on all the time and they also don’t have a lot in the way of pathology to test people’s electrolytes to see whether they have kidney failure.”

One man has already lost 20 kilograms on a 78-day hunger strike.

“He’s already experiencing an element of organ failure and there are concerns that he may not survive,” she said.

4. Shots fired at US Vice President’s house

The US Secret Service has revealed that shots were fired on Saturday night near Vice President Joe Biden’s Delaware home.

The Vice President and his wife, Jill were not home at the time and no one was injured.

 5. Outrage after weekend executions

The execution of six drug traffickers has left tense relationships between Indonesia and many of the countries of origins of the executed prisoners.

The BBC reports that Brazil and Indonesia have made diplomatic moves since the executions on Saturday night.

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, a Brazilian man was arrested in 2003 after police at Jakarta airport found 13.4 kg of cocaine hidden in his hang glider. He was the first Brazilian national to be executed abroad.

The five others were from Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam and the Netherlands.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement that she was “outraged and dismayed”.

“Relations between the two countries have been affected,” said Ms Rousseff.

“The Brazilian ambassador to Jakarta has been recalled for consultations,” she added.

The Netherlands has also recalled its ambassador. Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the execution of Dutch citizen Ang Kiem Soe, 52, “an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”.

Australian drug traffickers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are thought to be next in line for the firing squad.

6. Six million gather to hear the Pope

More than six million people have gathered in Manilla to hear Pope Francis’ final Mass in the Philippines.

Braving steady rain they gathered to see the Pontiff enter Manila’s Rizal Park riding on a local version of the popemobile based on the design of a jeepney, the modified U.S. Army World War II jeep that is a common means of public transport in The Philippines.

Earlier in the day he had appeared at a university where he dispensed with his prepared remarks and instead answered a question posed to him by a 12-year-old girl.

In tears, 12-year old Glyzelle Palomar asked him why there are many children neglected by their own parents. “There are also many who became victims and many terrible things happened to them like drugs or prostitution,” she said.

“Why is God allowing something like this to happen, even to innocent children?” Palomar said through tears. “And why are there so few who are helping us?”

A visibly moved Francis said he had no answer. “Only when we are able to cry are we able to come close to responding to your question,” he said.

“Those on the margins cry. Those who have fallen by the wayside cry. Those who are discarded cry. But those who are living a life that is more or less without need, we don’t know how to cry.

“There are some realities that you can only see through eyes that have been cleansed by tears.”

He said that women were not adequately represented by society.

“Women have much to tell us in today’s society. Sometimes, we are too ‘machista’ and we don’t allow room for the woman,” he said.

“Women are capable of seeing things with a different angle from us. Women are able to pose questions that we men cannot understand.”

 7. Victoria to introduce “no jab no play”

Following in the footsteps of NSW Victoria will introduce a no jab, no play policy for childcare centres.

The laws mean that preschools and day care centres have the right to prohibit children from attending if they have not been vaccinated.

Parents must gain a conscientious objector certificate from their doctor who must give the parents counselling and make them aware of the inherent risk of failing to vaccinate their child.

The Australian reports that Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said work had already begun on the legislation.

 8. Mother of quads dies

A woman who tried for years to have children died hours after giving birth to quadruplets.

Her tragic story had made headlines around the world as donations pour in to support the four newborn babies.

For more read this post here.

 9. Germany: Anti- Islamisation rally called off

A rally in Germany by an  “anti-Islamisation” Pegida group has been called off after police received a threat against one of the organisers.

Police said the threat was “concrete” and no demonstrations would be allowed in Dresden on Monday.

Anti-Pegida rallies have attracted tens of thousands in cities such as Dresden, Leipzig, Munich and Hanover.

10. Africa: Boko-Haram kidnaps 60 including children

The BBC reports that militants from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram have kidnapped at least 60 people in neighbouring Cameroon.

Many of those kidnapped were children.

11. France: Charlie Hebdo gunman buried

Said Kouachi, who along with his brother, Cherif, killed 12 people in Paris in the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, has been buried in a secret location as there were concerns that it could become a shrine for extremists.

The French laws stated that he must be buried in the town of his last residence.

 12. Thailand: Constitution to recognise third gender

The constitution of Thailand may soon recognize a third gender.

Kamnoon Sittisamarn, the spokesperson of Constitution Drafting Committee, which is working on a new draft of the country’s constitution told CNN

“It is a human right if you were born a male or female and you want to have a sex change or lead a life of a different gender,”

“People should have [that] freedom to change sex and they should be equally protected by the Constitution and the law and treated fairly.”

The third gender will allow an individual the right to neither identify as either male or female.

India, Pakistan and Nepal already recognise a third gender.

Kamnoon Sittisamarn said “Hopefully introducing third gender will help reduce discrimination in society.”

 13. NZ theme park uses pic of woman who wet herself

A theme park in New Zealand has been embroiled in a wee controversy after a photo of a woman who wet her pants was used in their promotional material.

The Daily Mail reports that the woman was on the ‘CornEvil’ attraction, at Spookers Haunted Attraction Scream Park in Auckland.

A photo of a woman leaving with a noticeable wet patch was used.

The woman complained saying she was totally humiliated, even though her face was not used, she told The New Zealand Herald saying she was mortified.

But the theme park said they were puzzled as to why she had not contacted them, they said that visitors have ample warning that photos will be taken and the company reserve the right to publish the images as they wish, but that they would take it down if she had requested.

After the publication of the article the woman then got in touch with the park who posted a resolution on their Facebook page.

“Spookers has just been contacted by the lovely person in the cover photograph. We have talked through the way the photo has been handled, and together we have come to an arrangement that includes an agreement that the photo can continue to be used. “

14. The bigger the booty the smarter the kid

In news that will make Kim Kardashian happy scientists have concluded that women with large quantities of such fats in their bottoms and thighs were shown to produce more intelligent children.

Author, Professor Will Lassek told The Daily Mail “The fat in these areas is a depot for building a baby’s brain.”

“You need lots of fat to make a nervous system and the fats in these areas are also enriched in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) which is a particularly important component in the human brain.

‘It looks as if women have evolved to accumulate these fats and hold on to them – until a baby arrives.’

While the stubborn cells are constantly there, they are mobilised during pregnancy to allow a baby’s brain to soak up their enriching properties.”

Looks like North will make it into Harvard after all.