Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Father charged with stabbing murder of 3-year-old son

An Adelaide father has been charged with murdering his three-year-old son, who died after being stabbed yesterday morning.

Police say that about 9am yesterday, a 36-year-old Stepney man driving a ute flagged down police and said he had injured his son, who was in the car.

SA Ambulance Services treated the boy for stab wounds and he was rushed to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital where he died, Adelaide Now reports. The boy’s father was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for a neck wound, which may have been self-inflicted.

2. Man charged over Westfield stabbing; girlfriend speaks out

A 35-year-old man, Kazem Mohammadi Payam, has been charged with fatally stabbing Nabil Naser, 40, at Westfield in Parramatta on Monday morning.

It’s been revealed that Payam’s girlfriend was Naser’s ex-wife — and she has spoken out saying Payam was was “really good and nice”, Fairfax Media reports.

She has a six-year-old son with Naser.

Mr Payam was formally refused bail in Parramatta Local Court yesterday. His lawyer said he would defend the charges.

3. Asylum seekers’ fate hangs in the balance

A group of 153 asylum seekers could be detained at sea for weeks, the ABC reports.

The Tamil asylum seekers are being held on an Australian Customs vessel while the High Court decides whether it will determine their fate.

In a High Court hearing yesterday, lawyers acting for some of the asylum seekers sought to challenge the legality of the Commonwealth’s actions, the ABC reports. The Federal government agreed in the hearing not to return the asylum seekers to Sri Lanka without giving three days’ notice.

The asylum seeker group includes children as young as two.

In other news, nine asylum seeker mothers have attempted suicide in hope their then-orphaned children would be settled in Australia.

4. Whale rescues 

The humpback whale stranded on the Gold Coast since last night is now free.

A Palm Beach resident alerted police to the whale’s presence on the beach about 7pm last night, and a Queensland police spokesman told News.com.au that Seaworld staff and the RSPCA were attending the scene.

The 15-to-20-tonne whale is reportedly stranded in only about 30 centimetres of water.

More than 20 people were in the water this morning trying to get the distressed whale, thought to be two to five years old, back out to sea.

They waited until high tide this afternoon to free the whale.

The whale rescue is the second in 24 hours. Last night, fisheries crews freed another humpback whale from a fishing net south of Byron Bay.

5. Nurse charged with murder

A registered nurse has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of assault over allegations she killed two elderly aged-care patients, Nine News reports.

The 46-year-old woman was charged in Sydney late on Tuesday over the May deaths of 82-year-old Marie Darragh and 77-year-old Isobella Spencer, police told AAP.

She was also charged with the assault of another 88-year-old woman. It is alleged the nurse, who was extradited from Victoria, killed two elderly patients with insulin overdoses and left another hospitalised.

6. Gaza Strip conflict

At least a dozen people have been killed by airstrikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, Palestinian officials say. Israeli air raids struck in more than 100 places yesterday, the ABC reports.

Israel says the homes it bombed were owned by Hamas militants, and that it was trying to stop rockets from Gaza. The events mark the most serious escalation over the Gaza Strip for two years, with no sign that either side is about to back down, the ABC reports.

The surge in violence follows outrage over the abduction and killing of three Israeli youths in the occupied West Bank last month, and a retaliatory killing of a Palestinian teenager, who was reportedly burned alive last Wednesday.

7. Germany’s incredible World Cup performance

Germany has enjoyed an incredible win in the World Cup semi-final Brazil v Germany game. Brazil conceded five goals in the first half of the game.

The final score was 7-1, a result described by one BBC commentator as “one of the most astonishing victories in football history.”

8. Woman drives car onto Brisbane runway

Police are investigating a security incident that brought Brisbane’s domestic airport to a standstill last night.

A woman drove a car through a perimeter fence and onto a runway just before 10:00pm, prompting authorities to order an emergency halt to the landing of all planes, the ABC reports.

The 37-year-old woman was treated by paramedics and taken to Royal Brisbane Hospital,the ABC reports.

9.  Teen missing in US; human trafficking suspected

A 17-year-old girl from Washington has been missing from last month — and fears are rising for her wellbeing after the girl’s mother discovered a chilling note in her journal.

The note read, “If you’re reading this, I’m either missing or dead”, the Daily Mail reports. Angelic Tracy ‘Anji’ Dean, left her family home on the evening of June 23 and has not been seen since.

Her mother, Lynda Jorgenson, believes her daughter may be a victim of sex trafficking, the Daily Mail reports.

10. Harry Potter revived by JK Rowling

Harry Potter has returned in a short story posted online by J.K. Rowling.

The story features her best-selling hero at a school reunion, approaching the age of 34.

See more on this story here.

11. Tara Moss physically attacked in street

Author and model Tara Moss has tweeted that she was physically attacked in Sydney’s CBD this afternoon.

At 12:21pm today she tweeted:

She followed up with tweets saying she was bruised but ‘fine.’

Moss also described the attacker’s appearance as “in dark casual clothing, perhaps 6ft, travelling alone.”

“Have spoken to police who will patrol the area — he fits the desc of a known perp. In the meantime be careful in Hyde Park, CBD area, folks,” she wrote.

Police are reportedly looking for the alleged attacker.

12. Queensland flooding class action launched

More than 4000 residents and businesses affected by the devastating January 2011 flood in Brisbane and Ipswich launched a class action yesterday.

The plaintiffs claim engineers failed to operate the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams properly in the lead-up to, and during, the flood — and are seeking damages for negligence and nuisance against the operators of the dams, Seqwater and Sunwater, as well as the State of Queensland.

The class action — Australia’s largest and potentially most costly, The Australian reports — is being run by high-profile law firm Maurice Blackburn and  funded by corporate litigation funder Bentham IMF.

It was filed in the NSW Supreme Court because there is no class action regime in Queensland, Fairfax Media reports.

The cost and damage suffered by the plaintiffs, many of them uninsured, means the payouts could amount to as much as $2 billion if the class action is successful, The Australian reports.

What news are you talking about today?