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Monday's news in just two minutes.

Announcing the new cabinet, the Prime Minister said: I was appalled by the events of last week”.

 

1. Two asylum seekers have reportedly drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of Christmas Island today.

According to The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the boat  capsized at around 8:00am. At least 93 people have been rescued from the water by customs staff.

In a statement, Home Affairs Minister Jason Claire said:”The people will undergo initial health, security and identity checks and their reasons for travel will be established… HMAS Maitland and air assets remain in the area to continue the search effort.”

More to come.

2. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a significant ministerial reshuffle. The announcement comes in the wake of last week’s non-spill, after which Simon Crean was sacked, Chris Bowen, Kim Carr and Martin Ferguson resigned from their ministries and parliamentary secretary Richard Marles, chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon and whips, Ed Husic and Janelle Saffin quit.

The reshuffled frontbench is as follows:

Anthony Albanese Minster for regional development and local government, taking over from Simon Crean. He’ll continue his existing role as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Albanese will be supported by Catherine King as Minister for Regional Services, Local Communities and Territories, and as Minister for Road Safety.

Tony Burke adds Arts to his portfolio and he’ll be assisted by Michael Danby as his Parliamentary Secretary.

Craig Emerson is now the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research and will continue his work as the Minister for Trade. He’ll be supported by two junior ministers – Don Farrell, as Minister for Science and Research and Sharon Bird as Minister for Higher Education and Skills.

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Greg Combet is now the Minister for Climate Change. The Department of Climate Change will be merged with the Industry Department and will become the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Andrew Leigh will be Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Gary Gray joins the Cabinet as Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Tourism and Minister for Small Business and Jan McLucas is appointed Minister for Human Services. Matt Thistlethwaite becomes Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Shayne Neumann MP will be Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General and Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing.

This is the sixth cabinet announcement in three years.

Leila McKinnon with her husband David.

3. Channel Nine personality Leila McKinnon has opened up the miscarriage she suffered in 2011.  Speaking to the Australian Women’s Weekly, the 40-year-old said she had been trying to have a baby with her husband David Gyngell for almost 10 years – five of which were spent trying IVF. The 40-year-old said she choose to fly to the UK to cover the Royal Wedding just two days after she suffered her miscarriage. “I was upset, but chose to move on… I knew there would come a time when I would have to deal with everything, but right then, I just wanted to keep going.”

In October last year, Leila and David welcomed their son Ted.

4. Federal Cabinet minister Anthony Albanese – who is one of the main backers of Kevin Rudd – is refusing to resign in the wake of last week’s attempted leadership coup. He told Sky News: “I believe it is certainly in the Labor Party’s interest collectively that I continue to do the job that I’ve done both as a minister and particularly as Leader of the House.” The man who called the spill, Simon Crean, was sacked by Prime Minister late last week.

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5. The new pontiff Pope Francis reportedly called the local newsagent in his hometown to cancel his newspaper subscription. The person who took the call – Daniel Del Regno – thought the call was a joke. “Seriously, it’s Jorge Bergoglio. I’m calling you from Rome,” he said.

The PM poses with Kyle Sandilands.

6. The first interview Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave in the wake of last week’s spill was with Kyle Sandilands from the Kyle and Jackie O show. Following the radio interview on Friday, Kyle visited Gillard’s Sydney residence Kirribilli House to take part in an Easter egg hunt for a children’s charity. Kyle dressed in an adult-sized bunny suit and posed for photos with the Prime Minister.

7. A 12-year-old Indian girl living in the UK has reportedly has a higher IQ than Albert Einstein. Neha Ramu recorded an IQ of 162 when she sat the MENSA IQ test – which is also a higher score than Stephen Hawking’s. A spokesperson for Mensa said: “Neha scored 162 on the Cattell IIIB test, putting her within the top one per cent of people in the country.”

8. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he wants to invest $12 million in gun control advertisements. The campaign will be aimed at members of the US senate and will encourage background checks for gun sales.