We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Missing two-year old sparks massive search – with a happy ending.
A massive search using the Air Wing, Search and Rescue and the Dog Squad for a two-year old girl was underway last night.
The two-year old girl and her dog wandered off from the family home on Bloomfield Road in Crossover, near Warrugal in Victoria at 7:30pm.
Leading Senior Constable Lee Thomson pleaded with the public to be on the lookout.
“She’s very young and because of the proximity to a major road with high speeds we are very concerned for her safety,” she said.
The girl was last seen wearing a T-shirt and nappy and was with a black dog, the family pet.
Around 2am this morning Victorian Police announced that the little girl had been located safe and well – and that her faithful dog had been with her through the whole ordeal saying that it “Feels like Christmas got here early.”
Online news watchers commended the police and SES for a job well done.
“Its 2.30 am and look at how many folks are awake following to make sure she was found safe ! Warms the cockles of me heart” wrote one.
2. Shoppers stuck in three-hour wait to exit car park in Sydney shopping centre.
Christmas shoppers rushing to buy some last minute gifts have described scenes of chaos yesterday with a three-hour wait to exit a shopping centre car park.
The centre, Castle Towers in Sydney’s northwest saw cars jammed trying to exit some for a mere hour and a half, others up to three hours.
One woman wrote on Facebook “Three hours stuck on the roof – you are kidding yourselves – never coming back here again.”
Some drivers resorted to leave their cars behind and catching taxis reports The Daily Telegraph.
Castle Towers centre manager Martin Ollis told 2GB they were doing their best.
“During the final days of the popular Christmas trading period the surrounding roads are busy, and Castle Towers Management is doing everything they can at this time to ensure that our customers can enter and exit the centre in a timely and safe manner.”
3. Terminally ill Pakistani student denied final visit from family by immigration department.
A 25-year-old man, dying of skin cancer, who wanted to see his family one last time, has had his request rejected by Australia’s immigration department.
The ABC reports that Hassan Asif moved to Melbourne from Pakistan in 2014 on a student visa before being diagnosed with advanced skin cancer in April.
In November that he was told he had just weeks to live and he pleaded with the immigration department to allow his family to visit him.
He told The Daily Mail that if he could speak with Immigration Minister Mr Dutton he would say: “This is my last days and I’m dying and I just want my family to be here with me.
“My mum is very sad – she cries a lot and just wants to be here with me during this time.”
However the Department of Immigration and Border Protection denied his request saying in a statement:
“The compassionate nature of the proposed visit by his mother and brother was considered, however, anyone wishing to visit Australia must satisfy Australia’s visitor visa requirements, including health, character and genuine temporary stay requirements.
“The likelihood of an applicant overstaying or seeking to remain permanently in Australia is also a matter that must be assessed. Particularly in compassionate circumstances, a decision-maker takes all of the facts of a particular case into consideration.
“In this case all of the facts have been taken into consideration and the decision maker has not issued the visa,”
The DIBP offered its sympathies and invited Mr Asif’s family to lodge new applications.
For more read this post here.
4. Dog left in crate on back of scooter in car park sparks online anger.
A man visiting a Bunnings shop in Adelaide has been shocked to see a dog trapped in a crate and tied to the back of a scooter.
Troy Gough took a photo of the dog and posted it online sparking outrage.
The incident was reported to the RSPCA who told Nine News it could be deadly for the dog.
“From a welfare perspective, we have an awful lot of concern,” RSPCA SA CEO Tim Vasudeva said.
“So if we were able to identify that person we’d give them a good talking to because you’re essentially putting that dog at risk.”
“Unless it was some sort of emergency where the dog needed to go to the vet and it was the only way they could do it on the back of a scooter, but it didn’t seem to be the case because it was parked somewhere,” Mr Vasudeva said.
5. Donald Trump takes fire at Hillary Clinton with sexist comment labeled “disgusting.”
Donald Trump while speaking at a rally has attacked Hillary Clinton referring to a bathroom break she took during a debate on Saturday which made her arrive late to the lectern after a commercial break and also stating she “got schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
“I know where she went — it’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” Mr. Trump said referring to Mrs. Clinton’s delayed arrival.
“No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting, let’s not talk, we want to be very, very straight up.”
Her delay has been attributed it to the long walk to the women’s bathroom, which was farther from the stage than the men’s room but Mr. Trump called it a “weird deal”.
He then used a Yiddish word for penis saying she “got schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
“Even a race to Obama, she was gonna beat Obama. I don’t know who would be worse, I don’t know, how could it be worse? But she was going to beat — she was favored to win — and she got schlonged, she lost, I mean she lost,”
A spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign addressed the remarks on Twitter.
6. Sea world ride stopped mid air stranding guests for more than three hours.
More than 50 guests at SeaWorld Orlando have become trapped on a ride after a carriage stopped midway up the 400ft Sky Tower.
The Sky Tower ride, an enclosed, double-decker capsule that rotates around a 122-metre tower to give passengers a 360-degree view stopped midway leaving the occupants trapped for three hours.
WKMG reported that 15 firefighters worked to finally free the passengers, though one woman experienced a possible panic attack had to be removed early after a firefighter was airlifted in to the capsule.
Twitter users saw a unique irony in the situation:
7. 60-year-old woman stuck in folding trestle table overnight.
A 60-year-old woman is recovering in hospital after she was trapped overnight in a folding trestle table at her home in on the NSW Central Coast.
News Limited reports that a neighbour called Triple-0 after noticing that the woman’s sprinklers were still on about 2pm on Sunday.
When Fire and Rescue NSW crews and NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived they found the woman trapped in the folding table.
The table had folded up on the woman the previous night and she had become entangled and was unable to call for help.
8. Eight-year old cancer patients pleads for Bald Barbie for Christmas.
An eight-year old girl who was bullied at school when she lost her hair after having chemotherapy is the subject of a change petition asking for toy manufacturer Mattel to bring ‘‘Ella’ chemotherapy Barbie to Australia.
Jordyn Millier’s petition says “the kids at school called me ugly, that I looked “like a boy in a dress”.
“But it’s not my fault I got cancer at 5. All I wanted was to feel pretty but I had no hair.”
“Mum said kids in cancer wards in America were given bald Barbies to play with which made them happy” she writes.
“I want the same to happen in Australia. I think it would help a lot of sick and sad kids.”
“Please help me get my Christmas wish.” She pleads.
Mattel’s chemotherapy Barbie is a free doll the company donates to hospitals to help younger children come to terms with the side effects of their chemotherapy.
You can sign Jordan’s petition here.
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