news

Monday's news in 5 minutes.

1. One-year-old drowns after being found floating in a backyard pool in Sydney.

A one-year-old girl has drowned in a pool at a home in Sydney’s southwest.

The girl was found floating in the pool at Raby about 4.15pm on Sunday, according to police.

The toddler was rushed to Campbelltown Hospital by ambulance, but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

2. Bombing at an Egyptian church kills 25 people.

At least 25 people were killed in a bomb blast at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral.

Another 49 people were injured during the attack at Sunday Mass, in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious group in years.

The attack came two days after a bomb elsewhere in Cairo killed six policemen, an assault claimed by a shadowy group that authorities say is linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Islamic militants have targeted Christians in the past, including a New Year’s Day bombing at a church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in 2011 that killed at least 21 people.

3. New women’s cancer test could catch disease earlier.

Women could soon be routinely tested for cancer-causing genes to reduce the risk of fatality from breast and ovarian cancer.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will conduct a world-first trial, which will see 10,000 healthy Australian women screened to find out how many carry the cancer-predisposing genes.

The screening process could allow more women to undergo preventative surgery, such as the Angelina Jolie, who underwent a double mastectomy and hysterectomy after discovering she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and 65 per cent chance of ovarian cancer.

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Australian women are now only screened after they or someone in their family is diagnosed, but according to the Herald Sun, about half of those with the two most common mutations don’t have a family history.

Screening conducted on women without any history of the disease has the potential to catch the cancers earlier.

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes increase the lifetime risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer up to 85 and 65 per cent respectively.

4. Police hunt for gunman who aimed shotgun at officers.

Police have warned NSW residents to lock their doors and windows and not leave keys in cars while they hunt for a gunman holed up in bushland on the NSW north coast.

The man sped off following a random breath test check on the Pacific Hwy at North Macksville and has  allegedly pointed a shotgun at police and later firing a shot during a high speed chase.

The gunman is believed to be David Bell, 37, wanted on interstate warrants.

The van was chased up a dirt road near Valla, about 35km south of Coffs Harbour, and a roadblock set up.

A short time later, the van approached the roadblock and the driver once more aimed the shotgun at police.

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The driver then smashed through the electric gate of a Urunga property. About 10 police cars and dozens of SWAT police descended on the 24ha property.

5. Trump dismisses reports Russia intervened in US election.

President-elect Donald Trump has rejected reported US intelligence findings that Russia intervened in the presidential election on his behalf through targeted hacking.

“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it,” Mr Trump said in the interview with Fox News Sunday.

Intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that their Russian counterparts directed the hacking of Democratic Party organisations and leaders to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a senior US intelligence official told Reuters.

Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the US election

6. Horror  start to holidays as six people die on QLD roads at the weekend.

A 25 year-old man was impaled in a car crash near Gympie, with emergency services taking 90 minutes to rescue the man from his vehicle.

He was airlifted to hospital, where he is in a stable condition.

This comes after six people died in accidents on Queensland roads at the weekend, marking a horror start to the Christmas holiday period.

Three pedestrians, a motorcyclist, a truck driver and a car driver lost their lives in separate incidents since Friday. It was the official start of the state’s annual Christmas road safety campaign.

A motorcyclist is also in a critical condition after coming off his bike just outside Boonah, south of Ipswich, on Sunday morning.

A 36-year-old truck driver was killed on Friday night after his B-double rolled onto its side at Eight Mile Plains.

On Sunday morning a man was hit by a car as he got off a bus in Brisbane’s south. An 81-year-old woman was killed on Friday night after a car reversed into a parked car which then hit a group of pedestrians in Gladstone.

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The third pedestrian was killed around 1am on Saturday. A 37-year-old man was struck by a car in Hervey Bay.

A 44-year-old motorcyclist died after losing control and crashing his bike into a power pole in Diddillibah on Saturday night.

The rider’s death came just hours after a man died when his car collided with a tree at Durong, near, Kingaroy.

Meanwhile, two motorcyclists have died in separate crashes on Victoria’s roads on Sunday.

A male motorcyclist died after a collision with a four-wheel drive near the Victorian-NSW border, while another was killed in a crash at Diamond Creek.

7. Year 12 students learn their fate as results are released.

Those Victorian students who didn’t find out their ATAR early, have learned their fate this morning.

An embarrassing technical glitch led to more than 2000 students seeing their results five days ahead of schedule.

From  7am the 44,600 students were able to their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, which is a major part of determining which university course they are accepted into.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au

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