Tuesday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Michael Schumacher out of hospital

Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has left hospital and is no longer in a coma.

The family of the 45-year old said he was transferred from a French hospital to a facility in Switzerland on Monday.

Schumacher was placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December. His family thanked people who had sent messages of support, saying: “We are sure it helped him.”

“Michael has left the CHU Grenoble to continue his long phase of rehabilitation. He is not in a coma anymore,” Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said in a statement.

2. Miliants seize city of Tal Afar

Sunni militants have seized the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

ISIS militants captured key cities including Mosul and Tikrit last week, but some towns were retaken. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said the “apparently systematic series of executions [of non-combatants] almost certainly amounted to war crimes”.

Overnight US Secretary of State John Kerry said that they might use drone strikes to halt the ISIS advance. “They’re not the whole answer, but they may well be one of the options that are important,” he said.

3. Bleach throwers avoid jail

Two women who threw bleach at a four-year-old girl have avoided jail time after appealing their initial six-month jail sentences.

Both women, who are now pregnant, say they did not know they hit the girl.

Sarah Louise Roan, 21 was driving when she began to throw a series of items out her window. Lauren Jackson, 22 was the one who threw the bottle of bleach.

Judge Norman Delaney quashed their sentences on Monday and placed Roan on a six-month good behaviour bond. Jackson was placed on a two-year bond for one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a six-month bond for one count of assault.

4. Rolf Harris

The trial of entertainer Rolf Harris has heard that there are “problems that cannot be pushed aside” with the prosecutions case.

As the defence team made their closing arguments counsel Simon Ray said there was “unavoidable doubt” over the truth of the allegations against Mr Harris.

“One thing is certain” he said “ Mr Harris’s reputation has effectively been trashed and will never been the same again. It may be that your own childhood memories have been altered.”

“But after all of that when you take a step back, have the prosecution come close to satisfying you so that you are sure he is guilty on any of this? You may conclude quite properly that they have fallen a long way short of that and ultimately that is the only decision that counts.”

Harris has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of indecently assaulting four girls between 1968 and 1986

5. Debt Levy

The debt levy is expected to come under a final vote in the Senate today. However two key liberal Senators are expected to oppose the levy.

Senator Ian Macdonald said yesterday he did not think it went far enough. Senator Macdonald told Fairfax Media he would ”probably” cross the floor.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi also said he said he was ”unable to support” the levy – he will abstain from voting rather than cross the floor.

6. Ex-mother-in-law arrested, an entire family missing.

An entire family in a small Alaskan town have gone missing in a case baffling FBI.

22-year old Rebecca Adams, her five-year old daughters Michelle and three-year old Jaracca Hundley have not been seen or heard from since May 27th along with Rebecca’s boyfriend Brandon Jividen, 37.

In a stranger twist Rebecca’s ex-mother—law has been arrested over the weekend.

For more read this post here.

7. Teacher and students savaged by dog

Three primary school students and a teacher were attacked by a dog in a school playground in Melbourne yesterday. The attack took place at lunchtime in the playground of Ferny Creek Primary School.

Two boys, aged 7 and 9, were taken to Dandenong hospital with bites to their legs.

A male teacher stepped in and stopped the dog attacking the children further. A seven-year old girl and the teacher were treated at the scene for bite wounds. The dog was later caught by Yarra Ranges Shire ranger after being chased from the scene.

8. US should have a female leader

Hillary Clinton has told a German magazine that the US should have a female leader, though she is not sure if that will be her.

In an interview with the magazine, Stern she said that that the US lags behind countries such as Germany, Chile and Brazil because it’s never had a woman as head of state or government. Clinton said she will do everything she can to make it happen.

Clinton, who appeared on ABC’s 7.30 last night also condemned the “outrageous sexism” that was directed at former Prime Minister Julia Gilliard during her term in office. Speaking to the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson on the 7:30 Report, the Former US Secretary of State said gender discrimination “shouldn’t be tolerated in any country”.

“I’m referring to the way her political opponents characterised her,” she continued.

“I don’t have a problem with anybody – man or woman – contesting anyone’s position, anyone’s policy, taking a person to account, but doing so in a way that I thought depersonalised the very personal, that demeaned, just didn’t seem to fit the Australia that I have come to know.

When asked about the misogyny speech delivered by Miss Gillard in 2012, Clinton said, “she just went right at it, and I respected that. I thought it was an important statement from a woman leader to make clear that this was behaviour that should not be tolerated.”

9. Knitting a prosthetic breast

A ground of kind-hearted women are working hard making ‘knitted knockers’ for women who have had mastectomies. The Age reports that Pat Wheeler, a 72-year-old grandmother of nine is just one of 500 volunteers who have made over 5000 prosthetics out of eight-ply cotton for women who’ve had mastectomies.

Knitted Knockers Australia president, breast cancer survivor Cheryl Webster told The Age says she wears a cotton prosthesis on a daily basis. The knitted knockers are Australia’s only cotton alternative to silicone.

“What we’ve noticed from experience is that a lot of older women have never worn silicone prostheses and would never consider a breast reconstruction,” Ms Webster said. “A handful of women are actually just inserting socks in their bras. There are many who simply don’t want or can’t afford surgery.”

10.Missing three-year old

Update: The three-year-old girl has been found in Hill St, Newtown, The Chronicle reports. A woman has reportedly been taken into police custody.

Previously, Mamamia wrote…

Police in Queensland are searching for a missing three-year old girl. An urgent plea for public assistance was issued on Monday evening after the girl was reported missing from a Margret St, Toowoomba residence since about 10am.

The three-year old is described as African and was wearing purple sparkly boots, with white tights, a red and black tartan dress and a pink and purple animal-print fur coat.

Police believe she is with an African woman known to the girl with a distinctive cut on her bottom lip.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

12. Woman faked pregnancies

A woman has been jailed in the UK for conning potential parents pretending to be a surrogate and then saying she miscarried their baby.

The 28-year old woman took £15,000 from couples desperate for children. Louise Pollard, 28, agreed to carry babies for two couples and pretended to inseminate herself before telling them she was pregnant on three occasions.

The court heard that Pollard then pretended she had suffered a miscarriage – leaving them ‘heartbroken’. Bristol Crown Court heard Pollard’s deception was uncovered when a pregnancy confirmation letter she sent one of her victims was found to be a forgery.

Pollard later admitted three charges of fraud by false representation relating to the faked pregnancies in March 2012, May 2012 and November 2012.

She was jailed for three years.

13. You prepare that chicken all wrong

It turns out that 2/3 of us prepare our chicken incorrectly and are potentially spreading bacteria unknowingly.

Health experts say that washing a chicken before you cook it can spread a bacteria called Campylobacter, which is responsible for the majority of food poisoning cases. Four out of every five cases of campylobacter are caused by contaminated chicken.

The bacteria commonly causes abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, although experts say it can lead to more significant health problems.

14. Screentime doesn’t harm sleep

A study by Flinders University has shown moderate technology use did not significantly interfere with a good night’s sleep.

Flinders University clinical psychologist Michael Gradisar said the study  involving tens of thousands of teenagers rejected a direct link between technology use in the bedroom and sleep.

He did tell The Advertiser that staying up all night playing them does cause problems, and screen time should be limited to about an hour before bed.

15. KFC offers compensation after refusing to serve little girl.

KFC have offerred compensation after three-year-old Victoria Wilcher was asked to leave one of the fast-food outlets in the US for ‘scaring the other diners’. Wilcher’s was attacked by three of her grandfather’s pitbull dogs earlier this year.

The company has issued a $30,000 apology to Victoria and her family, who shared the story on social media. 

KFC said in a statement:

“As soon as we learned of the report on Friday, we immediately began an investigation. This kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC. Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria’s family and are committed to assisting them. We are making a $30,000 donation to help with her medical bills. The entire KFC family is behind Victoria and her recovery.”

16. Woman and boyfriend killed at high-school reunion.

A high-school reunion has ended in tragedy after a woman and her boyfriend were shot dead by her ex-husband on Saturday afternoon. 

The couple, Lori Moore, 40, and her new boyfriend Lance Griffel, were attending her East Peoria High School reunion in an Illinois sports bar  when Moore’s ex-husband fired the shots.

Ex-husband, Jason  Moore, was subsequently shot by an off-duty FBI agent who was carrying a concealed gun and declared dead at the scene.

The two victims were pronounced dead shortly after the shooting at a local hospital.

17. Coldplay films Sydney fans for music video

Coldplay’s Sydney fans were sent into a frenzy last night, as the band tweeted that it needed 250 people for a film clip shoot.

Lead singer Chris Martin will perform in the suburb’s grungy King Street in the video clip, the Daily Telegraph reports.

But it’s not clear that the band’s call-out attracted the full group of 250 asked for: TEN News tweeted that around only 200 fans gathered for the shoot.

18. Gerard Baden-Clay “cheated on his wife and former mistress”

Gerard Baden-Clay reportedly cheated on his wife Allison and former mistress Toni McHugh with multiple women.

Ms McHugh made the claims in the Brisbane Supreme Court on day five of Baden-Clay’s trial for the alleged murder of his wife Allison, the Daily Telegraph reports.

 Ms McHugh broke down in the stand as she discussed her last meeting with 43-year-old Baden-Clay, saying she knew the women he had cheated with.

‘I knew one more than the other… the first one my understanding didn’t come into play while we were together… But the second yes we were definitely together when it happened,” she said.

He has pleaded not guilty to murdering Allison Baden-Clay in April, 2012.

19. Asylum seeker families to sue the Australian Government.

Eight families of asylum seekers are suing the government over the deaths and injuries of their loved ones in the December 2010 Christmas Island boat accident.

The Commonwealth is being sued for breaching its duty of care after 50 Iranian and Iraqi asylum seekers died when their boat, SIEV 221, was driven into the cliffs of Christmas Island due to high seas.

However, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has defended the government when speaking to the media, believing they should not be held accountable for the tragedy. 

What news are you talking about today?