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Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

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

1. Turia Pitt’s champion performance in her first ironman triathlon.

Turia Pitt has once again defied the odds with an amazing performance in one of Australia’s toughest ironman events.

Pitt finished her first ironman triathlon an hour ahead of her predicted time in the event held yesterday in Port Macquarie.

Five years ago she suffered burns to 65 per cent of her body in a bushfire while competing in a West Australian ultra-marathon.

Ms Pitt was told afterwards that she would never run again, but yesterday she amazed even herself with her performance in the 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run in Port Macquarie.

The 28-year-old was among 1400 other athletes to participate, she finished in 13 hours, 24 minutes and 41 seconds. She expected to finish in 14½ hours.

Her partner Michael Hoskin told The Daily Telegraph “She couldn’t walk five years ago — look at her now,”

“It has brought a tear to my eye and I don’t normally cry. It has been an amazing journey. It’s the indomitable spirit of the human being.”

She told Fairfax Media she felt more like her again.

“Now that I’m back running and playing sports and swimming I feel more like me,” she said.

“What will get me through is just thinking about things in my life that I’m grateful for.

“Grateful to be able to experience the day, grateful for [my partner] Michael, for my mum, for this beautiful country we live in and grateful that I’m still alive and can still experience the day.”

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2. Court asked to ban a woman from having children at her home after suicide pact fears.

A woman, being held in custody awaiting trial on two charges of aggravated assault over allegations she held a pillow over a baby’s face and assaulted a toddler in Adelaide has been flagged as being danger to other young people in the community and prosecutors will ask for her to be banned from having children in her home.

The Advertiser reports that prosecutors will move to place an intervention order on Jasmine Emily Crewdson, 22.

“There are very live and ongoing concerns in relation to Ms Crewdson being released into the community, not only for her own safety, but for the safety of young people under the age of 18 or other young adults over the age of 18,” prosecutor Tracey Nelson has told the District Court.

The court heard Crewdson was involved in suicide pacts with a woman, living at Crewdson’s home who has the mental age of a person under 18.

Crewdson was also previously accused of “encouraging” another young woman, 18, to take her own life in a 2013 suicide pact but those were charges were dropped.

“We are asking that she reside alone at that bail address,” Ms Nelson told the court.

“We are asking that she be required to be present and allow police or correctional services into the premises for checking compliance with not having children under 18 in her company.”

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Her bail application will be considered next week She is listed to face trial in December.

3. No budget relief for those earning under $80,000.

The Treasurer has told Fairfax Media that this week’s budget will not produce a “better off/worse off”‘ comparison.”

He has indicated that would be no increase in the overall tax burden, no “reckless spending” and that confidence in public finances would be maintained.

Company tax will be cut but those earning under $80,000 a year will see no relief.

“People shouldn’t expect measures to produce a next-day ‘better off/worse off”‘ comparison, he said. “The Australian people are looking for a lot more than that and the economy needs a lot more than that.”

Fairfax Media reports that about 300,000 middle-income earners will be forced from the 32.5 per cent tax bracket into the 37 per cent range over the next two years as their incomes top the $80,000 threshold because of wage rises and inflation, so-called bracket creep.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government was “committed to doing as much as we can sensibly afford to ensure the average wage earner doesn’t move into the … second highest tax bracket”.

Low- and middle-income earners, such as women who have missed work to raise children, will have their retirement incomes boosted in Tuesday’s federal budget using the proceeds of the curbs on superannuation tax concessions for the well-off.

The Australian Financial Review reports that women who have missed work to raise children will be able to access government top-ups into their super accounts under a revamped super system. Other measures include giving people who have missed work to raise children or because of illness the ability to make top-up payments themselves.

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The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull told Sky News the budget would be about “substantial tax reform, or tax changes.”

“This is not Tony Abbott’s plan, this is the plan of the Turnbull Government,” Mr Turnbull said.

“It is a plan to ensure jobs and growth and a sustainable tax system, and the restoration of the budget to balance, bringing those deficits down in a managed and measured way so that we … live within our means.”

The budget is expected to increase tobacco taxes, to reduce superannuation tax concessions for the well-off, bring about a $5 billion dental plan, additional funding for corporate regulator ASIC and there will be an additional $1.2 billion for school funding.

4. Woman caught in crossfire of Sydney shooting was on her way to the gym.

A woman shot on Friday during the execution of underworld figure Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad is believed to have been on her way to the gym.

Police said that the 32-year-old was wearing gym clothes and sitting on a separate table to those involved in the shooting when she was shot in the leg at Bankstown Shopping Centre in Sydney.

New South Wales police said: “Initial inquiries have led police to confirm the woman injured in the incident was an innocent bystander, and was sitting at a coffee table nearby when she was shot in the leg.

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“She is believed to not be linked in any way to those involved in the shooting.”

Police are now hunting for the alleged shooter in Victoria.

5. Madeleine McCann’s mother’s secret vigil.

Madeleine McCann’s mother has made a vigil to the place where she lost her daughter nine years ago,

Kate McCann travelled to Praia da Luz in the Algarve in Portugal in secret, reports The Mirror. 

Tomorrow it will be the ninth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

“Kate went back last month. She didn’t make a fuss. She likes to stroll along the beach and relive the memories of them together,” a friend told The Mirror.

Mrs McCann’s return to Portugal comes as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the force are pursuing a ‘final lead’ with the line of inquiry pursuing the idea that Maddie was taken by a gang of thieves during a failed robbery.

6. Malia Obama to attend Harvard, but taking a gap year.

The White House has announced Malia Obama will attend Harvard University but the 17-year-old will not be attending school this year

In a statement on Sunday, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama announced that Malia “will take a gap year before beginning school.”

“This means she will attend Harvard in the fall of 2017 as a member of the class of 2021.”

 

7. Starbucks sued for $5 million over using too much ice.

Starbucks is being sued for $5 million over the amount of ice the coffee giant puts in its iced drinks.

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According to The Telegraph, disgruntled customer, Stacy Pincus filed a 29-page complaint in Chicago last week.

Pincus alleges that Starbucks customers are being misled because the company’s iced drinks contain just over half the drink they are paying for.

“A Starbucks customer who orders a Venti cold drink receives only 14 fluid ounces of that drink – just over half the advertised amount, and just over half the amount for which they are paying,” the complaint reads.

Pincus said in the complaint that a customer who orders a Venti iced coffee will only receive about 14 fluid ounces of iced coffee even though they are expected to receive 24 fluid ounces as Starbucks advertises.

“In essence, Starbucks is advertising the size of its cold drink cups on its menu, rather than the amount of fluid a customer will receive when they purchase a cold drink — and deceiving its customers in the process,”

The lawsuit she filed is a class action on behalf of anyone who has ordered an iced-beverage from a Starbucks shop in the last 10 years.

Starbucks has dismissed the lawsuit. In a statement to TMZ the company said staff would happily remake a drink for any unsatisfied customer.

“Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage,” Starbucks said in a response, according to TMZ.

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