news

Tuesday's news in 5 minutes.

https://twitter.com/mattliddy/status/7980981654255206411. Salim Mehajer arrested in Ibiza after fight with taxi driver.

Controversial property developer Salim Mehajer has been arrested while on the party island of Ibiza after having an argument with a taxi driver over food spilled inside the car.

A Current Affair reports the arrest took place on Friday evening when Mehajer and two of his friends got into a taxi and spilled takeaway food inside the car.

The driver became annoyed and a heated argument erupted that was only stopped when police arrived and intervened.

The subsequent detainment of Mehajer was caught on video.

The footage shows Mr Mehajer and his friends being frisked by Spanish police and put in the back of a police car.

According to A Current Affair, the 30-year-old allegedly attempted to kick the driver before he was ejected from the taxi with his friends.

Last night Mehajer arrived back in Sydney and said he was never put in jail during the arrest.

Mehajer left Sydney in September posting on his Instagram page that he was leaving the country with an image of a ship on Sydney Harbour with the caption, “Goodbye Australia”.

“Will be taking off to pursue my dream challenges,” he wrote, adding: “I’ll be back.”

Mehajer made headlines earlier this year when footage of hurling abuse at his estranged wife Aysha Learmonth was made public.

2. IVF clinics making false and misleading claims about success rates.

For many heartbroken parents IVF is a lifeline but their hopes are being raised unfairly when clinics make false claims about their success rates.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has described the practice as a “race to the bottom” that targets vulnerable people.

Several major IVF clinics and some smaller ones have been asked to change claims on their websites about their success rates following an investigation.

Commissioner Sarah Court said the ACCC reviewed the websites of Australia’s 34 IVF providers they found that some IVF clinics had been advertising success rates of up to 90 per cent within two cycles for women in their 30s. The data excluded clients who had unsuccessful cycles or who had moved clinics after failed attempts, Fairfax Media reports.

She told Fairfax Media many people paying for IVF were “vulnerable and desperate” to have a baby and this was “particularly egregious” behaviour.

Other IVF clinics were using data on the creation of embryos in laboratories rather than live birth rates.

3. Lifetime visa ban for refugees in doubt.

Labor, Greens and crossbench senators will oppose the government’s proposed lifetime visa ban on refugees who arrive post-2013 by boat.

Yesterday’s announcement of a deal with the US allowing resettlement of offshore detainees in the US has been welcomed by all sides of politics. But Fairfax Media reports but the Prime Minister’s hopes of imposing an Australian lifetime visa ban on any of those refugees ever returning will not succeed.

Labor voted against the legislation in the lower house.

Mr Turnbull said, “Last week Bill Shorten abandoned the national interest when he voted against the legislation to strengthen the integrity of our nation’s borders.”

ADVERTISEMENT

4. Police investigating death of five-year-old boy in foster care.

NSW Police are investigating the death of a five-year-old boy who died while in foster care, in the same group home where abused teen ‘Girl X’ died of a drug overdose.

The Daily Telegraph reports boy died on March 26 last year.

His case was being managed by Uniting Care.

NSW Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard told The Daily Telegraph he was “very concerned and saddened” by the death of the boy. A FACS review was undertaken and finished in December that year.

The NSW Ombudsman is “conducting a review of the circumstances of (the boy’s) death” too.

Last night’s Four Corners exposed how the residential care system is failing our children.

One child protection worker told Four Corners people would be shocked by what takes place.

“I walked in there and I just thought ‘wow’. I didn’t even know kids lived like this. I just couldn’t believe this was happening in Australia,” the worker said.

5. Preschoolers to get classes in racial prejudice.

Preschool children across Australia are being given racial prejudice classes in an attempt to help educators “handle challenging or confronting questions about racial differences” while also “tackling racial prejudice”.

The Building Belonging program, for use in primary schools and preschool and childcare centres is linked to the Early Years Learning Framework, which requires preschools to “encourage cultural competency”.

ADVERTISEMENT

A part of the program gives teachers answers to questions children may pose such as “Why are there black people?” and “Why did Ned call me an Abo?”.

Children are encouraged to play on laminated mats of different skin tone colours, to be decorated with play dough, sing songs celebrating the “colours of Australia”, “white and tan and brown”, and paint in different skin colours.

The Daily Telegraph reports teachers are also encouraged to use everyday items, “such as tomatoes and rainbows to prompt discussion of racial and cultural issues” and that the program encourages children to make friends with someone from another racial background.

Victoria’s Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was “wrong” for authorities to “force a discussion about people’s race on three-year-olds kids.”

“My youngest son is at preschool. He is not bothered by other kids’ racial background, and I doubt any kid his age ­notices such things,” he said.

6. Man predicted New Zealand earthquake and blamed it on the “Supermoon.”

A man predicted the earthquake would strike New Zealand a week before it hit, killing two people.

Nigel Antony Gray posted a Facebook status on November 6 warning of the threat of a huge earthquake in the South Pacific region.

He claimed the “Supermoon” would trigger the quake.

He wrote: “Heads Up: On 14th November and a couple of days either side of that date, watch for a major earthquake, and quite possible in South Pacific area.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“The reason for this is that 14th of Nov will be a “super moon” largest for this century (ie. moon closest to Earth on this date than it has been for a long time).

“This means it will be a period of increased gravitational pull from the moon.

“There was a recent large earthquake in Italy and as when one plate shifts it places stress on other plates, the chances of a big quake are higher for something down this end of the globe.”

But earthquake expert Mark Quigley from the University of Melbourne told the ABC it wasn’t quite possible to predict an earthquake.

“The plate tectonic setting of this earthquake, and the occurrence of several strong earthquakes in this region over the last few years, provide ample explanations for its occurrence,” he said.

7. Oscar Pistorius moved to prison with better disabled facilities.

Former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has been moved to a prison with better disabled facilities.

The Department of Correctional Services said Pistorius was transferred from Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria to the nearby Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, which recently installed bath tubs during upgrades for disabled inmates.

The request to be moved was made by Pistorius who is serving a six-year prison term for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013.

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