news

Friday's news in 5 minutes.

1. One Nation candidate claims photo of Syrian boy washed up on beach is “fake”.

One Nation candidate Peter Rogers claims Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned when his boat upturned off a Turkish coast, is “alive and well”.

The photo of Aylan washed up on a beach shocked the world when it was captured and published in September, 2015. It was taken after a family’s boat capsized minutes after leaving Turkey and seen as a symbol of the plight of refugees fleeing Syria.

However, Mr Rogers, the party’s Queensland candidate for the seat of Mulgrave, has claimed the drowned boy’s story is “fake”, calling it “a lie that changed the world”.

“The whole photo thing was fabricated, as it turns out this kid was alive and well,” he wrote in a blog post.

Despite giving no evidence to support his claims the story is fake, Mr Rogers said the story was “made up” and led then Prime Minister Tony Abbott to “bring in tens of thousands of refugees”.

He points to “holes” in Aylan’s father’s story in a lengthy post that also claims the Port Arthur massacre was a “fabricated incident”.

“The greatest social changes that happen in Australia are founded on total lies and a fabricated incident. Look at Port Arthur.”

Mamamia is not suggesting the story or photo were fake.

2. Granddaughter and friend in court over elderly Adelaide man’s murder.

Two young women accused of murdering Adelaide grandfather Robert Whitwell are set to face court in Adelaide today.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bernadette Burns, 21, and friend Brittney Dwyer, 19, are charged with murdering the 81-year-old man, who is Dwyer’s grandfather.

Dwyer has pleaded guilty to the murder. Burns has not yet answered to the charge and is expected to in court today, AAP reports.

Another friend of Dwyer’s, Shelby Holmes, has been accused of watching Mr Whitwell’s home in the lead-up to the murder with the intention of later robbing him of $30,000.

Mr Whitwell’s body was found inside his unlocked Craigmore home in Adelaide’s north last August after neighbours spotted an uncollected newspaper in the driveway.

3. Man charged with culpable driving after killing police officer.

A truck driver has been charged over the fatal crash in Melbourne that killed of a female police officer aboard a motorcycle on her way to work yesterday.

The 26-year-old man from Ferntree Gully will face charges of culpable driving and dangerous driving causing death when he appears in a Melbourne Magistrates Court, AAP reports.

Police say the truck failed to stop at the intersection of Boronia Road and the EastLink on-ramp in Wantirna just before 9am on Thursday, ploughing into the police officer’s stationary motorbike.

The woman, aged in her 40s, was trapped under the truck and died at the scene despite efforts of emergency services.

4. Tower of Terror reopens at Dreamworld.

Dreamworld has reopened two more of its nine thrill rides, including the Tower of Terror, for the first time since the tragic accident at the theme park that killed four people.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tower of Terror and the Tail Spin reopened on Thursday after passing a number of independent safety reviews.

Four of Dreamworld’s former ‘Big Nine’ rides have already re-opened, meaning just three high-intensity rides remain closed after the park was shut for more than a month following the incident in October on the now-closed Thunder River Rapids ride.

The park’s owners at Ardent Leisure have previously said they expect all of the theme park’s rides to be operating by the end of the month.

Reports the park was struggling to attract guests were confirmed by the latest trade update for the park revealed earlier this month.

It showed profits had dropped $3.6 million, or 63 per cent, between its reopening and December 31, against the same period in 2015, AAP reports.

5. Youth riot ends with six arrests.

A riot at a Victorian youth justice centre has ended after police stormed the facility and arrested six inmates.

Victoria Police were called to the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre just before 2pm on Thursday after the teens were reportedly threatening staff and damanging buildings.

The situation came to a head shortly before 6.30pm when heavily armed riot police stormed the facility.

ADVERTISEMENT

A police spokeswoman told AAP six youths had been arrested and will be interviewed.

No one was injured during the arrest, she said.

The incident comes just days after a riot at the Parkville youth detention centre, and months after other riots damaged facilities at both centres.

6. Photo of “medium rare” chicken strips goes viral.

A photo of “medium rare” chicken strips has gone viral after a woman posted her meal on Facebook last week.

Morgan Jane Gibbs posted an image of the clearly raw chicken to social media, telling followers “They’re so good can’t believe ive neever tried it like this before.”

“Can’t wait to dig into this with my homemade salad and veges. #healthy #newyearsresolution #clean #cleaneating.”

Her friends and fellow Facebook users were shocked, applauded and confused by the meal.

As it turns out, the woman was pranking her friends and mocking clean-eating, and inspired another woman, Dokota Jean, to copy her post word for word, attracting the scrutiny of thousands of Facebook and Twitter users.

So where did the image of the chicken come from? Well, it’s actually a real dish called chicken tataki, served at in Japan’s Shizuoka district and featured in a blog post.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au