Monday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Bali mother and daughter deaths

Investigators in Indonesia are looking into the meals consumed by Sunshine Coast mother and daughter Noelene and Yvana Bischoff. The pair, described as being like ‘best friends’ died within hours of each other on Saturday in Bali. Reports are focusing on the dinner they had eaten that night in their hotel and the possibility that the fish was toxic.

The food bill for this meal shows local mahi mahi fish, chicken curry and a vegetarian pizza was consumed. They drank juices and no alcohol. An autopsy on both women will be carried out in Indonesia this week.

2. Baby forceps death

The parents of a baby girl who died after her skull was crushed during a forceps delivery are suing their obstetrician.

The baby girl, named Olivia Marie, survived for five days after being left brain damaged and with a fractured skull and severed spinal cord. For more read this post here. ” Family allege forceps killed daughter”

3. Cowards punch leaves second teen in coma

On the weekend a ‘cowards punch’ has left another teenager in a coma after his skull was fractured during an altercation. 19-year-old Alexander McEwen was punched by a stranger in the drive-through of Penrith McDonald’s.

Police said they found 13 vials of steroids at the Kingswood home of his alleged attacker, Corey Beard, who publicised a love of boxing, ultimate fighting knockouts and ‘‘world extreme fighting’’ online.

Magistrate Anthony Marsden told Parramatta bail court the alleged attack in Penrith was another ‘‘regrettable’’ incident ‘‘involving violence between young men’’, before granting strict conditional bail.

4. Liberal senator’s abortion claims

Cory Bernardi, one of Tony Abbott’s backbenchers has accused some women of using abortion as “an abhorrent form of birth control” and labelled those who advocate pro-choice as “pro-death.”

He has has made the comments in his new book, The Conservative Revolution.

It is “horrendous and unacceptable” that the abortion “death industry despatches 80,000 to 100,000 unborn children [in Australia] every year,” Senator Bernardi writes.

“The political pressure from the left has ushered us into a morbid new world. It is not enough to stop the trend. What is needed is a reversal back to sanity and reason.”

5. Gym shorts unacceptable

A woman in Darwin has been told that her gym shorts ‘belong in a strip club’. Physiotherapist Maja Lukic, 25 told the NT News that she was wearing a pair of Puma gym shorts and a tank top when she was stopped by a manager mid-workout and told her outfit was unacceptable.

The business owner defended his actions saying that Ms Lukic’s gym shorts belonged in a strip club.

He said that the Club’s dress code also meant clients could not wear crop tops or expose their torsos.

6. “Breast is best obsession led to my wife’s death”

In the UK a father who’s wife committed suicide from post-natal depression when their baby was just ten weeks old has blamed the obsession with ‘breast is best’.

He has said that the hospital never referred her for any kind of mental health help, only help with breastfeeding.

‘The hospital seemed only to focus on the breastfeeding issue, not the mental health one. That’s the breastfeeding lobby for you.

‘I questioned why no one had suggested that she bottle-feed the baby. The midwife said that unless Joe or I specifically asked for advice on bottle-feeding, then they weren’t allowed to raise the subject.

Tragically her struggles caused her to take her own life.

He has set up a foundation to help women with post-natal depression.

If you or anyone you know need help call Lifeline on 13 11 14

7. ‘Offensive’ or not?

This food ad has been deemed so offensive to Sydney women that it has been banned.

One of the complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau was that the ‘woman’s body and private parts are objectified as something for people (probably men) to consume’.

The board said: ‘Although the advertiser intended the image to be a humorous depiction, the close up image of the woman’s bottom and the portrayal of her bottom as a burger likened the woman to a piece of meat or object for consumption and objectified women.’

You can view the picture here.

8. Mums bring births forward

With changes to the education system in South Australia meaning only one intake into the first year of school mothers are coming forward saying they are deliberately trying to induce their babies births earlier in order to make the cutoff date.

The new policy means that South Australian children who turn five before May 1 will be eligible to start in Term 1, but children who turn five after that date will have to wait until 2015 to start their schooling.

Whyalla mother Natarsha Gibson told The Advertiser that her daughter was due on April 24 but she was induced on April 29 in the hope she would deliver on April 30 so she would make the school cut- off. Her labour was protracted though and Heidi arrived at 7am on May 1. This means when Heidi turns five in 2017, she would start school in the following year.

9. Morrissey’s controversial comments

Smiths singer Morrissey has caused controversy by saying that he he sees ‘no difference’ between eating animals and paedophilia.

The incredible suggestion was shared in a Q&A session on his fan site – True To You.

‘They are both rape, violence, murder. If I’m introduced to anyone who eats beings, I walk away.”

He then went on to compare animal abattoirs to Auschwitz.

10. Torah to defy social media ban

Olympic gold medallist Torah Bright has said she will defy the Australian Olympic Committee’s ban on social media at the upcoming Sochi Games. She said the organisation’s “trivial policies” infringed on her sport and freedom of speech.

The 27-year-old snowboarder, tipped as one of the nation’s best hopes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, told The Australian that only she would control how she used social media. “Let me enjoy the sport of snowboarding and share it with the world,” she said.

11. This is the Pope calling

Pope Francis has made another one of his cold calls to wish a group of nuns in a Spanish convent Happy New Year. Only he got their answering machine, instead.

“What are the nuns doing that they can’t answer the phone?” Francis asked in the message he left.

In Brief:

Leyton Hewitt has amazed fans with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer in the final of the Brisbane International.

Parts of the US are bracing for a rare ‘polar vortex’. Temperatures not seen in years are likely to set records in the coming days across the US Midwest, Northeast and South.

What news are you talking about today?