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Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

Teenage Mum charged with newborn’s murder

 

 

 

 

1. Teenage mum charged

A teenager who kept her pregnancy a secret from her religious family and hid her child’s birth has been charged with the newborn’s murder.

The girl, who cannot be named, is accused of killing the baby girl days after she was born on February 26 and then placing the baby’s body under a tree on a nature strip just metres away from a primary school.

The newborn girl was found on March 6. Paramedics were called but the baby was dead.

She has been released on bail.

2. North Korea won’t rule out nuclear test

North Korea has announced it “would not rule out” a new nuclear test.

“(We) would not rule out a new form of a nuclear test aimed at strengthening our nuclear deterrence,” Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency. “The US had better ponder over this and stop acting rashly.”

Last week, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, violating United Nations resolutions that prohibits Pyongyang from conducting such tests.

3. Police try to identify dead woman found in Brisbane

Do you recognise this jewellery?

The police in Brisbane are calling on the public to assist in their efforts to identify a woman found dead on the banks of the Brisbane river on Friday.

They have released images of her jewellery in the hopes someone will recognise it.

The woman is described as being “aged in her late teens or early 20s with a slim build and approximately 165cm tall”.

Detective Acting Inspector Tod Reid said, “Being a Monday and the start of a new week, someone may notice that a family member has not come home from a long weekend, or a workmate doesn’t show up or someone isn’t present in class.”

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Anyone with information is urged to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

4. Climate change report

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report due out today has heard that the Earth is warming so rapidly that unless humans can arrest the trend, we risk becoming ”extinct” as a species.

Helen Berry, associate dean in the Faculty of Health at the University of Canberra, has said that the rate of change has never been as fast as it is today.

5. Mum killed son because he was gay

A mother is the US is standing trial for the murder of her four-year-old son.

The motive prosecutors have given for the murder is that the mother thought the boy was gay.

For more, read this post here “Four-year-old boy killed for ‘being gay’”.

6. Parents putting kids at risk online

The National Children’s Commissioner Megan Mitchell has urged parents to be cautious when posting pictures of their children online.

Fairfax Media cite an example where a man from Melbourne posted a picture of his naked toddler in the bath on Facebook. The man was stunned when 3,000 strangers ‘liked’ the image – he had thought it could only be seen by friends and family.

7. Search for MH370

The search for MH370 will resume today

The search for missing plane MH370 will today involve a specialist device from the US Navy which listens for acoustic emissions from the flight data recorders.

An Australian Navy vessel has been equipped with two new devices to help locate the flight data recorders from MH370.

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Meanwhile, Chinese relatives of those missing have held a press conference in Kuala Lumpur holding up banners that read, “We want evidence, truth, dignity” in Chinese and “Hand us the murderer. Give us our relatives” in English.

8. Baby sling warning

A warning on baby slings has been released, with reports that 1 in 20 babies carried in slings have been injured or narrowly escaped danger as parents don’t know how to position their infants correctly.

A coroner’s report handed down last week delivered a verdict which placed blame on the incorrect use of a sling in a baby’s death.

Three children have suffocated in a baby sling in Australia since 2010, while 14 babies have died this way in the US in the past two decades.

For more information on correct usage, go here.

9. Mother says test for gifted kids flawed

Mother says the testing for gifted and talented kids is flawed

A Sydney mother has told of how her “far superior” son has been let down by a test used to determine whether kids are gifted.

Her 11-year-old son and his twin sister sat the NSW Department of Education Communities’ Opportunity Class Placement Test (OC Test) for a spot in the gifted and talented program.

She is taking the NSW Education department to court after her son missed out on a spot.

She says he was placed equal with his twin sister in the test when external testing has shown he is smarter than his sister who is “average”.

She told News Limited that the department’s assessment that both her children had exactly the same ability in maths was “offensive”.

10. More homework for our kids

A Victorian state parliamentary inquiry will hear that an increasingly crowded curriculum will drive up the amount of homework our kids have.

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The Australian Education Union has said that with schools increasingly teaching social issues, such as how to drive and sex and drug education, there will be an increasing reliance on homework.

The Herald Sun also points to NAPLAN testing as placing further pressure on external schoolwork.

11. No more playing to win

No more playing to win for junior football

Big changes for junior football with the AFL introducing new rules which will see junior sides no longer playing to win.

An AFL guide for the conduct of players aged five to 12, titled “This is Our Game’’, spells out the match-day regulations for under-9 and under-10 players.

“No premiership points, no finals, no ladders, no match result (no score) and no names of players published,’’ it says.

Representative teams will not be allowed at under-11 level, under-9 and under-10 teams will be reduced from 18 to as few as 12 players.

 12. Same-sex marriage recognised in UK Consulates

After same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales on Saturday, the Attorney-General has confirmed that same-sex couples will be able to use British laws to marry in Australian cities from June.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a spokesman for Attorney-General George Brandis said the Australian government had ”informed the British High Commission that it has no objections to officers from the British High Commission solemnising same-sex marriages on consular grounds… if at least one person of the marrying couple is a British national.”

However, these marriages would not be recognised as marriages in Australia.

What news are you talking about today?