Tuesday afternoon'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. Deborra-Lee Furness calls for expansion of inter-country adoption.

As inter-country adoption falls to an all-time low, Australian couples are urging the federal government to open up adoption laws.

Adopt Change founder and actress, Deborra-Lee Furness is lobbying the Australian government to open us up to international adoption.

“Adoption is the most complex and highly charged emotional issue, obviously because it’s so primal and it’s about families and we want to get it right,” she said.

ABC News reports adoption in Australia can only occur with nine other nations.

Ms Furness argues opening up adoption to more countries could help reduce the number of orphans worldwide, which is currently recorded at 150 million.

“What is the alternative? You have a child that is abandoned and on their own. What do we do? We have got to do what is best for the kids, and cross-culture divides are stopping kids from getting into loving families,” she said.

The average wait for adoption approval in Australia is five years — perhaps why the nation’s adoption rates have dropped to a 25-year low.

Of the 317 children adopted in 2013-14, 114 were adopted from overseas.

2. Three dead after storm batters NSW.

Police have confirmed three people are dead in the New South Wales town of Dungog, as storms intensify across the state.

The bodies of the two men and the woman were uncovered in the town centre.

Emergency services are continuing to assist towns across the state. NSW Premier Mike Baird announced this afternoon that the special emergency services had received more than 4,500 calls.

For rolling coverage of this developing story, read the full post here.

3. Julie Bishop visits Charlie Hebdo offices in France.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has visited the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris — the site of one of the most shocking terrorist attacks in our recent history.

Earlier this year, two gunmen entered the offices of the satirical political publication and opened fire, killing 12 staff members.

Ms Bishop gifted a sketch drawn by Canberra Times cartoonist, David Pope, depicting a deceased figure and a gunman standing over the body saying “he drew first.”

Can’t sleep tonight, thoughts with my French cartooning colleagues, their families and loved ones #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/LqIMRCHPgK

— David Pope (@davpope) January 7, 2015

“We see satire as an integral part of French society,” Ms Bishop told the Charlie Hebdo staff. “Satire is controversial, it’s provocative, it offends all religions, all political parties, nothing and no-one is spared. (It) is a counter-balance against power.”

Fairfax reports the image was familiar to them.

Related content: Julie Bishop on why fashion week is about more than just clothes.

4. Asylum seekers returned to Vietnam had claims assessed at sea.

The United Nations is looking into the processes Australian authorities used to process the claims of Vietnamese asylum seekers at sea.

The Australian Navy intercepted the boat before returning it to Vietnam, and the UN is concerned it did not properly screen those on board.

UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan said individuals who sought asylum needed to be properly and individually screened for protection in an environment where they could explain their needs.

Related content: Australia is breaking United Nations rules on torture.

“We’re concerned that people may not have had access to proper procedures,” she told ABC News.

“We are concerned that the group wasn’t screened and assessed in a way that’s fair and effective, that somehow their lives may be at risk.”

An ABC source  reports the 46 asylum seekers returned safely to Vietnam, and were offloaded at the port city of Vung Tau on Friday.

5. Children as young as four diagnosed with anxiety.

Children are developing clinical anxiety, with almost one in 10 children between the ages of six and 11 meeting the criteria for a diagnosis.

However, only 18 per cent of these children are receiving help.

University of Queensland researcher, Dr Vanessa Cobham claims that books aimed at encouraging children to overcome fears, like Where the Wild Things Are, aren’t effective in helping children with anxiety, and professional help should be sought.

Related content: 8 practical ways to ease your child’s back-to-school anxiety.

She wants to diagnose children as young as four or five, to help treat the issue which will only exacerbate later in life.

Childhood anxiety can first appear as clingy behaviour in toddlers, or temperamental qualities. Later, it can manifest in anger and aggression.

“Generally speaking, we can start to think about diagnosing it from four or five years of age,” Dr Cobham told the Courier Mail.

6. RSPCA calls to end public funding for greyhound racing.

The RSPCA has pushed for an end to taxpayer-subsidised greyhound racing in the ACT.

Inquiries into the greyhound racing industry are ongoing after a Four Corners episode revealed the sport was live-baiting the race dogs.

CEO Tammy Ven Denge said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute people in the ACT at this stage, but told ABC News to believe it doesn’t happen in the state would be “naive”.

Ms Ven Deng also said she’d heard reports taxpayer funds were keeping the sport alive.

“I’ve also had new information that the greyhound industry here in the ACT would not exist if the taxpayers weren’t paying for it,” she said.

Last year the Territory Government provide funding to the ACT Greyhound Racing Club of $978,375.

“The Government’s actually keeping this industry alive in Canberra, which makes no sense,” Ms Ven Denge said.

7. Italy arrests captain and first mate at the helm of asylum seeker tragedy.

Italian authorities have arrested the captain and first mate of the boat which capsized into the Mediterranean recently, killing up to 800 refugees on board.

The disaster is being hailed as one of the worst sea accidents to have occurred in the region.

The captain and first mate were arrested on suspicion of people trafficking.

Related content: The massacre of refugees at sea is an unimaginable tragedy… and it could be prevented.

Italy’s infrastructure minister Graziano Delrio said state prosecutors had also opened a homicide investigation.

ABC News reports police interviewed the 27 survivors of the wreck, when they arrived at Port Catania in Sicily

8. AC/DC drummer admits to threatening to kill assistant.

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd plead guilty in court for threatening to kill a former security guard and assistant.

Rudd, 60, appeared in Tauranga District Court where he pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and methamphetamine and one of two counts of threatening to kill.

The second charge was withdrawn by the prosecutor, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

AC/DC played at Coachella last week, with a replacement drummer.

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au.

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