Friday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Flu vaccine cuts risk of stillbirth by half.

Pregnant women who have the influenza vaccine cut their risk of having a stillborn baby by more than half, according to a major new study by the WA Health Department.

Researchers found that women who had been recently vaccinated against the flu were 51 per cent less likely to have a stillbirth than women who were unvaccinated. The study of nearly 60,000 births highlights the potentially life-saving protection the maternal vaccine may offer unborn babies as well as benefits for expectant mothers and newborns.

The West Australian reports that the study by the department’s communicable disease control directorate and Telethon Kids Institute suggested the risk of death for an unborn baby was linked to expectant mothers getting the virus.

Study author Annette Regan said the research was “particularly exciting” because it indicated vaccination could help reduce the rate of stillbirth.

“Our results are particularly exciting since they show we can get the same protection during seasonal epidemics, which occur every winter. Unfortunately, we know that about 40 percent of pregnant women go unvaccinated, missing out on these benefits.”

Over 3 million stillbirths occur worldwide each year, and in developed countries, stillbirth accounts for 70 percent of infant deaths around the time of birth.

The“flu shot, is recommended and funded for pregnant women under the National Immunisation Program. It is can be given at any time during pregnancy.

2. Woman, in 20s, stabbed to death in Brisbane.

A man has been charged with murder over the stabbing death of a woman outside a home north of Brisbane last night.

Police say they were called to a residence on Saint Ives Court following reports of a disturbance around 10.30pm.

On arrival, a woman in her 20s was located on a driveway with what appeared to be stab wounds to her face, legs, arms and chest.

An ambulance officer told 9NEWS it was a “very graphic scene”.

“It is the worst of these sorts of incidents we’ve seen in a long while,” he said.

“It is very tragic.”

A 35-year-old man was arrested at the scene and charged with murder.

3. First-grade girls plotted to kill their classmate.

Three seven-year-old girls who had plotted to kill their classmate have been suspended from their school in the US.

The three girls planned to use silica gel packets, which are commonly found in pre-packaged food products to keep moisture away, to poison another student.

“Three students in the class were planning on using the silica gel packets (These are not actually poison, but the students believed they were) from their lunchtime seaweed to poison and kill another student,” Winterberry Charter School Principal Shanna Mall reportedly wrote in an email to parents on March 22.

Police were informed but did not discipline the girls leaving it up to the school.

KUTT reports another child heard about the plan and told teachers.

Jennifer Castro, spokeswoman for the Anchorage Police Department said they were grateful to that student.

“The important lesson here is to really teach your kids if they hear something like this, something where someone intends to do harm to someone else, they should tell someone that they trust right away.”

School district psychologists talked to the girls to see if they understood what they were trying to do, whether it was a prank gone wrong or if they actually meant to hurt their classmate, school district spokeswoman Heidi Embley said.

“All of these things are being discussed, especially since it’s such a young age,” she said.

Police say the plot emerged from an ongoing feud but did not release any other details.

4. Warning to travellers to ANZAC day commemorations.

Following four separate suicide bombings in 2016 Australians considering traveling to Turkey for ANZAC Day are being urged to reconsider.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop announced upgraded travel advice for Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey yesterday.

“Terrorist groups continue to threaten further attacks, including targeting tourists and westerners,” she said.

She told The Daily Telegraph around 10,000 Australians are expected to travel to the area for Anzac Day but said there was no evidence to suggest the threat of a terrorist incident at Gallipoli.

“The overall level of advice for Turkey, including Canakkale and the Gallipoli peninsula, remains at ‘exercise a high degree of caution’.”

The warning follows the deaths of more than 80 people in four suicide bombings.

5. Trump backtracks on ‘abortion punishment’ comments.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has backtracked on comments he made about punishing women for illegal abortions.

Trump told TV network MSNBC that women who end pregnancies should face some sort of punishment if the United States made the procedure illegal.

In a clip of the interview that aired on Wednesday, Trump said even if abortions are banned, some women would still find a way to access the procedure.

In a statement issued  after the widespread criticism Trump tried to backtrack saying “this issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination.”

In a second statement Trump said “doctors and any other person” performing the abortion would be legally responsible but not the woman who “is a victim”.

6. I Give a Gonski’ campaign to be re-ignited after PM’S education funding announcement.

The ‘I Give a Gonski’ campaign, pushing the Gonski plan, where two-thirds of extra schools revenue was to have come from the federal government and a third from the states, will be stepped up in light of yesterday’s proposal from Malcolm Turnbull that the state governments take responsibility for public school funding.

Mr Turnbull said no federal government would ever walk away from supporting the non-government school sector.

But he said the future funding of government schools is “bound up in this discussion of more fundamental revenue sharing reform”.

The ‘I Give a Gonski’ campaign will be stepped up with television ads in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane in the coming week.

7. Free-range eggs agreement allows you to pick your definition of free-range.

New reforms will see eggs stocked in farms with hens up to 10,000 a hectare labelled “free range” and outdoor stocking densities placed on packaging.

An agreement at yesterday’s COAG meeting means that consumers can decide whether they want eggs from farms that keep 1500 birds a hectare or whether they are happy with 10,000.

NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello welcomed the changes.

“Consumer Affairs Ministers from across Australia have agreed for the first time to adopt a national information standard for free range egg labelling,” he said in a statement.

“Under the agreement, free range eggs must come from hens that have meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range, with a stocking density of no more than 10,000 hens per hectare.

CHOICE however say they are not happy with the reforms saying its research showed 213 million eggs were sold as free range in 2014 that didn’t meet consumers’ expectations.  CHOICE wanted free-range to be only up to 1500 birds a hectare.

“Eggs that come from hens that don’t go outside and have high stocking densities don’t meet consumers’ expectations and don’t deserve the free range label. Because of this, we are calling on consumers to boycott bad eggs that have an outdoor stocking density of up to 10,000 hens per hectare,” Spokesman Tom Godfrey told Fairfax Media. 

“While we welcome the requirement for consistent display of stocking densities on egg cartons, if a standard does not require birds to go outside then why does it matter how much space they have?”

8. India flyover collapse: At least 14 dead and 150 feared trapped.

At least 14 people have been killed and 150 are feared trapped when a flyover under construction collapsed in the Indian city of Kolkata.

Firefighters and residents were trying with their bare hands to rescue those trapped under the wreckage of the bridge.

A witness told Reuters paramedics at the scene had worked to free people from a minibus taxi that was crushed in the collapse.

“The condition is pathetic. At this moment no one has any clue how many people are trapped,” said Raichand Mohta, a police officer at the scene.

There was reportedly little sign of a coordinated rescue operation, with access for heavy lifting equipment restricted by buildings on either side of the flyover and heavy traffic.

The flyover has been under construction since 2009 and has missed several deadlines for completion.

9. Ronnie Corbett, best known for The Two Ronnies, dies aged 85.

Ronnie Corbett, best known for comedy show The Two Ronnies, has died aged 85.

His publicist released a statement “Ronnie Corbett CBE, one of the nation’s best-loved entertainers, passed away this morning, surrounded by his loving family.

“They have asked that their privacy is respected at this very sad time.”

Corbett along with Ronnie Barker was a massive comedy star in the 1970s and ’80s.

The entertainer had been suffering from ill-health for some time and had been in hospital in 2014 with gall bladder problems.

10. Baby twins reunited after 14 months apart.

Twin boys who were separated after one had a rare condition which saw him undergo a heart transplant have been reunited after 14 months.

Roman and Hunter Williams were separated after Roman was born with a rare condition meaning he needed a heart transplant.

The little boy had 16 operations before undergoing a heart transplant just before Christmas.

After the operation, Roman was placed on a life support machine and his family were warned his chances of survival were only 50 per cent.

Roman spent months recovering before he was allowed to go home to Fishburn, County, Durham, UK.

To their parents surprise just hours after they were reunited Hunter marked the occasion by taking his first steps.

Mum Zoe Pickering, 25, told The Sun “Hunter just stood up and starting walking. We couldn’t believe it.

“It was probably just to take the attention away from Roman!

She said that the family is now adjusting to life with two babies.

“I think some sibling rivalry might start now as Hunter was so used to having us to himself and having all the attention but it’s just great to have them both home.”

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