Tuesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Muslim teenager attacked in Melbourne

A young Muslim girl wearing a hijab has been bashed in Wantirna South in Melbourne in what has been described as a racially motivated attack.

The high school student was walking when she was set upon by a group of teenagers.

The Knox Leader reports that the teen was punched to the ground and kicked, but didn’t tell the police because she feared ­reprisals.

2. Same-Sex marriage

A legal challenge to the ACT’s marriage equality laws will begin in the High Court this morning.

The Commonwealth will ask the court to consider eight legal questions as it argues the new law is inconsistent with the federal Marriage Act.

But the ACT will defend its legislation, maintaining there is scope for states and territories to legalise marriage between same-sex couples.

3. Mother arrested

Hundreds of people have protested over child abuse in France after a mother confessed to drowning her 15-month-old daughter in the English Channel because she was “incompatible” with her love life.

Fabienne Kabou faces life in prison. She was arrested after 10 days on the run.

4. School funding

The Federal Government has backed down on its decision to axe Labor’s Gonski reforms, pledging now to fund the plan for four years.

Yesterday the PM announced school funding deals struck by the previous Labor government with four states and the ACT would be honoured. The Government also announced “in-principle” agreements with Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory that will see $1.2 billion in extra education funding delivered.

5. Methanol poisoning

A seventeen-year-old girl on a schoolies trip to Bali has been airlifted to Darwin after drinking cocktails laced with methanol. Her father has put out a warning to all young people travelling to Indonesia. For more on this read this post: “Seventeen-year-old Jasmine Baker poisoned”

6. Backyard drowning

Another backyard drowning yesterday with a one-year old girl dying in a backyard swimming pool at Woodroffe, in the Northern Territory.

7. Emergency Operator Inquest

In the UK an inquest into a choking death has heard that the emergency operator complained ‘Jeez, stop giving me information’ after taking a call about a baby who was choking on a shepherd’s pie. The call handler admitted to the inquest that she failed to appreciate how serious the emergency was.

8. Children’s book to talk periods

A powerful new Australian children’s book is breaking the long held taboo of menstruation and menarche (a girl’s first menstrual bleed). Cycling to Grandma’s House is written by Jac Torres-Gomez the founder of The Crimson Movement.

9. Eating diamonds

A jewel thief in Brisbane has eaten two large diamond rings when he was cornered in a shopping centre. The man had been posing as a customer and tried to make a run for it. He was chased and cornered when he ate the rings. He was been refused bail until the rings make an appearance.

10. Racial discrimination apology

A WA school was forced to apologise over a racial discrimination complaint lodged by a family whose child was told their hair was “untidy”.

The child’s mother argued “because of her child’s mixed cultural heritage, the child had naturally curly hair”. She pulled the student out of the school before lodging the complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission.

11. Amazon Drones

Amazon, the online retailer, has announced plans to deliver packages to customers’ doorsteps using aerial drones which will carry products to users within 30 minutes of an order being placed.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos told CBS television’s “60 Minutes” programme: “These are effectively drones, but there’s no reason that they can’t be used as delivery vehicles.”

In brief:

A surfing instructor who was savagely king-hit in Bali has woken up after a fortnight in an induced coma.

Labor has voted with the Greens to block the Government’s bid to bring back Temporary Protection Visas.The Coalition will now have to wait six months to reintroduce the October regulation which brought back TPVs.

Scientists have discovered that messy children are more likely to be better at learning.

What news are you talking about today?