Update:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed within the United States.

This is the first known case in which a citizen fell ill and was diagnosed domestically.

The case is thought to be in the state of Texas.

More to come.

1. Australia could begin military action this weekend

News Limited reports that Australian military forces could begin military action in Iraq this Sunday.

An exclusive report says that RAAF super hornets and other air support combat are on standby for deployment into Iraq.

The PM’s office has not confirmed a date for military action to begin.

2. Young women reject politics due to sexism

A study has shown that young women are turning their backs on dreams of politics as they feel sexism will affect their career path.

The study showed that only 1% of young women dream of a future in politics.

33% said it would be easier to get their dream job if they were male.

50% of young women surveyed said that sexism affects their career path, and more than 75% have been the subject of sexist comments.

The study by Plan International showed that the only dream jobs they felt being female had an advantage was being a mother or an athlete.

When asked to name a role model, the most popular was former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

3. Attempted baby snatching

A mother has told of her horror when a man tried to snatch her baby on a popular jogging route in Sydney’s west.

Dahlia Jones, 41, wrote on her Facebook page that the man, dressed in jeans with a blue scarf around his face tried to grab her pram while her baby was asleep.

For more, read this post here.

4. Peta Credlin backs burqa ban for parliament

Fairfax Media reports that the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Peta Credlin, has told Liberal National MP George Christensen she is sympathetic to a burqa ban in Parliament House – but only on security grounds, as she supported people’s right to wear the burqa in public

It is reported that she urged Mr Christensen to make his ban about security in parliament.

 5. Nauru allegations of sexual assault

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young will today move a motion to request all incident reports logged at the Nauru detention centre relating to the misconduct of centre staff as well as requesting all complaints of sexual assault and child abuse made to case workers in the past 12 months.

It follows reports yesterday that 33 cases of sexual abuse involving children in detention centres in Australia have emerged.

Fairfax Media reports that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday that they were of a “generalised nature”.

“They do not provide details of the identities of the alleged victims or perpetrators or the dates and times of when events allegedly took place,” Mr Morrison said.

6.  Homebirth advocate linked to deaths

A coronial inquest has heard that home birth advocate Lisa Barrett was due to be questioned about her role in the deaths of three babies who died during home births in South Australia when she flew to Perth to assist in the  birth of twins in July 2011.

One of the twin boys died.

In an inquest into the deaths of three homebirth babies that opened in WA yesterday the counsel assisting WA Coroner Sarah Linton, said that Lisa Barrett assisted in the birth of one of the babies known as Baby P.

Baby P’s death was at first considered a stillbirth and so was not referred to the coroner.

However a doctor has said that if he had been born in hospital his heart may have responded more rapidly, and he may have survived.

Lisa Barrett will give evidence to the inquest today via video link about her role in Baby P’s birth.

The Australian reports that the women who hired Barrett knew she was not a registered midwife but believed her to be fully qualified.

 7. Protests continue in Hong Kong

Dramatic scenes continue in Hong Kong with thousands of pro-democracy protesters defy appeals to disperse before today’s local holidays – China’s National Day.

CNN reports that today also brings the deadline that demonstrators set for the Chinese government to meet their demands to let Hong Kong residents elect their own leader.

Yesterday China blocked Instagram which was helping demonstrators spread images of their protests.

There are fears that today’s deadline will spark unrest in the mostly peaceful protest.

CNN reports that Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California tweeted: “I see no way the Chinese government can tolerate what is happening in HK. Greatly fear this will end badly.”

8. Counter terrorism raids

Yesterday’s counter terrorism raids in Melbourne which saw a 23-year old man arrested and charged with making funds available to a terrorist organization came after an eight- month investigation by the FBI.

Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan told a press conference yesterday that the man from Seabrook allegedly provided $12,000 in funds to support a US citizen fighting in Syria.

 9. Chloe Valentine inquest

The inquest into Family SA’s handling of 21 child abuse notification regarding Chloe Valentine has heard that her mother was once so “grossly, paralytically intoxicated” that she had wandered off without Chloe and a 15-year old girl had to take the toddler home with her and alert police.

Ashlee Polkinghorne, Chloe’s mother and her former partner, Benjamin McPartland, are serving four-year minimum jail terms over the death of Chloe’s who was forced to repeatedly ride a motorbike until she died.

 10. Cigarette smoking toddler

Disturbing scenes on the site Live Leak with footage of a toddler forced to hold a cigarette by adults.

The vision shows the young boy holding the cigarette until it burns down to the end and mimicking the adults off camera.

He tries to hand it back at times but they laugh and encourage him to continue to hold it. The boy does not actually smoke the cigarette and appears unhappy at times.

It is thought that the vision has originated from Eastern Europe.

 11. Young girls mimicking mother’s body image woes

A study has shown that young girls from the age of seven are learning disordered thinking about their bodies by watching their mother’s reaction to her own body.

The survey found 1/3 of mothers admitted their daughters had mimicked their negative actions or words about their own bodies.

The girls had seen their mum’s sucking their stomachs, pinching their thighs and checking for wrinkles.

The findings commissioned by Dove and reported in The Telegraph showed that women had on the whole not given much thought to how their own words and actions regarding their bodies could affect their daughters.

 12. Michael Phelps arrested

US Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps has been arrested and charged with DUI reports TMZ.

It is not the first time he has faced controversy – in 2009 a photograph surfaced showing him with a water pipe used to smoke tobacco or marijuana.

He is the latest in a long list of swimmers facing drug or alcohol charges including Scott Miller and Geoff Huegill.

 13. Thailand to make tourists wear electronic bands

Thailand is considering a controversial plan to make every tourist wear electronic monitoring tags in the wake of the deaths of two British tourists.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said the devices could be used to help identify and locate tourists who get lost or into trouble.

“When tourists check in to a hotel they will be given a wristband with a serial number that matches their ID and shows the contact details of the resort they are staying in, so that if they’re out partying late and, for example, get drunk or lost, they can be easily assisted,” The Daily Mail reports he said.

14. Time outs more harm than good

Time outs – a technique used by many parents to discipline children have been shown to do more harm than good.

Scientists have shown through brain scans that the method can change your child’s brain in similar ways to smacking.

“Children have a profound need for connection. Decades of research in attachment parenting demonstrate that, particularly in times of distress, we need to be near and be soothed by the people who care for us.,” wrote Dr. Daniel J. Siegel and Dr. Tina Payne Bryson in Time Magazine. 

“But when children lose emotional control, parents often put them in their room or by themselves in the ‘naughty chair,’ meaning that in this moment of emotional distress they have to suffer alone.”
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