Thursday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Schapelle Corby

UPDATE: Schapelle Corby’s former lawyer Kerry Smith-Douglas has suggested Corby would probably celebrate her parole victory by smoking a “big marijuana joint”.

In an interview with Today’s Karl Stefanovic, Smith Douglas said: “She’ll probably pop a cork of champagne and then roll up a big marijuana joint the size of a cigar and kick back and enjoy herself.”

Stefanovic replied to the comment saying: “You haven’t been smoking this morning have you?”

Smith-Douglas represented Corby for four years until

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzclxyDKPgc

Schapelle Corby could walk free from jail within a week after Indonesian officials announced they would sign off on her parole tomorrow.

The Indonesian Justice Minister, Amir Syamsuddin has told reporters in Jakarta that Corby will not be receiving any special treatment and that he will finalise all the applications tomorrow.

Meanwhile the Customs officer who arrested her nine years ago has told News Limited that his opinion has not wavered since the day he saw 4kg of marijuana in Corby’s boogie board bag at Bali Airport.

“Actually I am disappointed if Corby gets parole. People on drugs cases should be given punishment as high as possible,” Mr Winata said.

2. Gittany sentencing

Murderer Simon Gittany has appeared in court at his sentencing hearing.

In a shock move a new witness was presented who claimed that Gittany had “frequently threatened Lisa Harnum with death if she ever left him”.

For more on this – and to hear from Gittany’s current girlfriend 24 year-old Rachelle Louise for the first time read this post here “ Day one of Gittany sentencing.”

3. Arrests over the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman

The NYPD have arrested four suspected drug dealers over the death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The New York Post reports that police raided a Manhattan address around 7:30pm Tuesday (local time) after a tip-off, and arrested three men and a woman.

The results of Hoffman’s autopsy are expected to be released later today

4. NSW police search for pedophile

Detectives from the New South Wales Child Abuse Squad are hunting for a man they believe is responsible for two sexual attacks on children more than six months apart.

Last month two sisters, aged two and six, were indecently and sexually assaulted by a man in a public toilet in Guildford in Sydney’s west.

Police have linked this attack with one last May last year where a man indecently assaulted one young girl and assaulted two others in a stairwell during school time at Haberfield Primary School in Sydney’s inner-west.

Police released separate identification images after each assault (pictured right) – but they are believed to be the same man. Police are looking for this man to assist their enquiries into both incidents.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

5. Dylan Farrow’s brother speaks

Dylan Farrow’s brother has come out publicly defending his father following Dylan Farrows accusations that she suffered sexual molestation at the hands of Woody Allen.

Moses Farrow has accusing their mother Mia of poisoning them against their father.

“Of course Woody did not molest my sister,” says Moses, who is estranged from Mia Farrow and remains close to Allen and his wife Soon-Yi.

“My mother drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister,” Moses told People Magazine.

6. Police condemn Rev-head Dad

Police have condemned the actions of a rev-head father who allows his seven and 12-year-old sons to hoon in a car and has uploaded the vision to YouTube as “irresponsible and reckless”.

But the Dad, Sam Surace has told the Herald Sun “This is not bad parenting. It’s just a bit of fun.”

He said he allowed his sons to drive cars by themselves only on private property and to do the burnouts.

7. ANZ late fees deemed illegal

In a Federal court yesterday ANZ was found to have illegally overcharged clients with late fees and may now have to pay tens of millions of dollars to 43,500 customers.

Federal Court Justice Michelle Gordon deemed the credit card late fees (of $20 to $35)”extravagant, exorbitant and unconscionable” penalties but upheld the bank’s right to charge for honour, dishonour, over-limit and non-payment fees.

Telecommunications firms such as Telstra may now also face possible claims from consumers aggrieved by paying late fees over many years.

8. Family speak out

The devastated parents of a 15-month old toddler who died after becoming entangled in a blind cord in their Sydney home have pleaded for other parents to check their child’s cots for any signs of danger.

“Words cannot express the absolute devastation we are feeling at the loss of our baby girl, Eden,” they said in a statement.

“It is absolutely unfathomable that a tragedy like this could happen … We encourage every parent to check their child’s cot for even the slightest danger.

For more information on blind cord safety see this fact sheet.

9. Could this have prevented their deaths?

Reports today that the deaths of Noelene Bischoff and her daughter Yvana had a one in a million chance of occuring.

Early indications in their autopsies have shown scombroid food poisoning, coupled with asthma suffered by the pair as well as mother Noelene’s migraine medication, may have caused their deaths.

But it seems had the fish they ate been stored in a colder area the scombroid food poisoning may not have occurred.

Food Safety Information Council executive officer Juliana Madden told News Limited the toxin, which was through naturally occurring bacteria that converted the amino acid histidine into toxic histamine, could be passed from one piece of infected fish to another.

“If you didn’t wash your hands it could spread like that too,” she said. “With this, cooking, smoking and freezing doesn’t help get rid of the toxins.”

10. Sexual harassment lawsuit

In the US global financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay nearly $1.5 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit that alleged the company created a hostile work environment for female mortgage bankers at its office in Ohio.

The money will be divided among 16 women who worked at the bank’s call centre.

11. Chemical castration for pedophiles

Macedonia’s parliament has adopted a bill imposing chemical castration on repeat offenders convicted of sexually abusing children.

However the child protection group which campaigned for the procedure to be imposed on pedophiles, said the penalty should be mandatory even for first-time offenders.

12. Woman jailed for trolling herself

A woman in the UK has been jailed after setting up fake Facebook profiles and sending send hundreds of abusive messages to herself.

Amoungst many of the accounts were ones she pretended were from her father and his wife.

After she made complaints to police officers they arrested her stepmother and issued warnings to her father. Two other members of her extended family received warnings.

However the forgeries were  soon spotted.

Sentencing her to 20 months in prison the Judge described her as ‘wicked’. He also banned her from having access to computer equipment.

 What news are you talking about today?