Thursday 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. A man drugged his girlfriend so he could play video games.

A 23-year-old man has confessed to drugging his girlfriend so he could continue to play video games with a mate.

German news source The Local reports the woman returned from work and wanted “peace and quiet” but her boyfriend wanted to keep playing video games — so he decided to add “four or five” drops of a sedative into her tea.

The woman slept until noon the next day, after which her boyfriend confessed to giving her the drugs.

A court has ordered him to pay a $746 fine.

The couple is no longer together.

2. A naturopath has been charged with child abuse after a baby nearly died following treatment.

A naturopath has been charged by police after providing advice to a mother who nearly starved her eight-month-old baby to death.

According to SBS and news.com.au, the mother reportedly sought treatment for her son’s eczema, but ended up nearly starving him to death after the naturopath allegedly advised her to cease all medical and dermatological treatments for the child.

Related content: A GP sheds light on the deadly and emotional cost of the “wellness” industry.

The little boy lost a kilogram over a period of two months while seeing the naturopath and was eventually hospitalised “on the brink of death”, according to police.

The mother was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, while the naturopath will face charges of grievous bodily harm and aiding and abetting to provide for a child causing danger of death, according to news.com.au.

She will appear in court on July 27.

3. Little boy gets “fake fine” from police.

Fun-loving police in Nova Scotia have given a fake ticket to a toddler who parked his “motorcycle” in an illegal zone.

“Remember, you cannot park your motorcycle in the circle by the ferry terminal, we caught this ruthless biker there yesterday,” Halifax police wrote on their Facebook page, alongside a photo of the boy.

Three-year-old Declan Tramley was riding his plastic motorbike around the Halifax ferry terminal when the police pulled him over.

“His dad approached Currie and told him he loves police, and they conspired to give him a ticket for fun,” Police sergeant Pierre Bourdages told ABC News.

The adorable image has since been shared more than 5,000 times on Facebook.

4. Nearly half of Aussie women are drinking during pregnancy.

A new study has found 40 per cent of expectant mothers continue to drink alcohol.

However, of the nations surveyed, Australia showed the lowest rate of women drinking while pregnant.

Ireland recorded the largest number of pregnant drinkers at a whopping 82 per cent, followed by the UK (75 per cent) and New Zealand (56 per cent).

Fairfax Media reports the study did not find a link between socioeconomic status and drinking while pregnant, but found caucasian women and smokers were the most likely groups.

The National Health and Medical Council of Australia states that pregnant women, women trying to conceive and breastfeeding mothers should not consume alcohol.

Read more: Women jailed for drinking while pregnant. 

5. Study: less than 1 in 100,000 women die during an abortion.

A study in the United States has confirmed that the risk of dying during an abortion is extremely unlikely.

The research released by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that of the 16.1 million legal abortions performed between 1998 and 20101, only 108 resulted in the death of the mother.

This equates to 0.7 deaths per 100,000 procedures, Huffington Post reports.

6. Elderly woman targeted by scam gives $43,000 to con artist.

Quick, alert your loved ones: A phone scam in which callers claim to be debt collectors from the Australian Taxation Office is targeting elderly people.

Police have issued an alert after a 75-year-old woman recently fell victim to the scam in Queensland.

According to the Queensland Police Service, a man with an “aggressive tone” called the woman, saying she owed over $9,000 in debt.

The man, who claimed to be ‘Andrew Watson’, said the woman needed to pay the money or an arrest warrant would be issued. He proceeded to guide the woman through the process of depositing money into his bank account.

Over the course of 11 days, the woman was conned into giving the man over $43,000.

The woman contacted police who are now investigating the case.

Authorities have urged people — particularly elderly people — to be on the lookout for the scam, and are urging people to contact the organisation from which the caller or emailer claims to be, and never provide credit card, bank details, or personal documents to people via email or phone.

For more information on scams, visit the ScamWatch website.

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