news

Wednesday's news in 5 minutes.

1. TV host loses bid for workers’ compensation after she broke her hip while jogging near her home.

ABC Catalyst host Maryanne Demasi has lost her bid for workers’ compensation after she broke her hip while jogging near her home in Sydney’s inner west two years ago.

Ms Demasi claimed she was entitled to be compensated by federal workplace insurer Comcare because she was working from home on the day she was injured reports Fairfax Media.

Comcare has paid-out in the past to public servants injured in lunch breaks or even jogging to and from work.

She was refused compensation by Comcare but appealed the case to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, however the AAT agreed that going for a run at 9.30 in the morning could not be regarded as an “ordinary recess” from work.

Stephen Frost, Tribunal Deputy President found the term, and the protections it affords under the relevant legislation, should be reserved to more structured and sanctioned breaks like lunch.

2. Pharmacist who drugged co-worker he was obsessed with on 23 occasions jailed.

Yan Chi "Anthony" Cheung, 34 laughed as he was jailed yesterday. Via Seven News.

A pharmacist who secretly drugged a colleague by slipping a mix of strong chemicals into her drinks over a year has been jailed.

Yan Chi "Anthony" Cheung, 34, was on bail while appealing his sentence of 12 months jail, which was handed down in July. He pleaded guilty to one charge of poisoning with intent to injure or cause distress or pain.

Yesterday he withdrew his appeal and laughed as he handed himself into prison guards to serve his sentence.

Cheung spiked the drinks of a married colleague 23 times after she rejected his advances.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Surry Hills pharmacist began using carefully-measured doses of antihistamine, antipsychotic and antidepressant medications to make his colleague Pamela Leung suffer after she rejected him.

ADVERTISEMENT

He would place the drugs in her coffee, at one stage in March 2016, he put 150 milligrams of Deptran (a strong antidepressant) into Ms Leung's tin of instant coffee so she poisoned herself each time she made a coffee.

While Ms Leung suffered the effects Cheung played the caring friend in their church group.

The court heard Ms Leung was left depressed, anxious and unable to trust people but she had no long-term health problems.

3. PM seeks to reassure Australians after Islamic State threat.

The Prime Minister has said the capacity of Islamic State was "much less than they proclaim them to be" after a newsletter threatened Australians would be killed.

The newsletter titled Rumiyah said “Kill them on the streets of Brunswick, Broadmeadows, Bankstown, and Bondi. Kill them at the MCG, the SCG, the Opera House, and even in their backyards,” came out yesterday.

Speaking from the Laos capital of Vientiane off the back of talks at the G20 summit in China Mr Turnbull said the capacity of ISIS was “much less than they proclaim them to be” but Australia does need to be “very alert to the actions of these loan actors.”

“Sharing of intelligence is more important than ever before” he said.

4. Australian man killed in shark attack in New Caledonia.

An Australian man kitesurfing in New Caledonia has been killed by a shark.

The 50-year-old from Western Australia was on a reef at Koumac on a catamaran at around 3.40pm local time when he fell into the water reports Fairfax Media.

The catamaran, Discovery, raised the alarm at 3.48pm and a rescue boat was dispatched.

ADVERTISEMENT

The rescue boat brought him back to the port of Koumac however the man was declared dead by a doctor at 5pm.

He has not been named.

5. Strikes to hit childcare centres.

Children at daycare centres across the country may be sent home early tomorrow after staff strike over the large pay gap between men and women.

Several childcare centres in Melbourne's north and south-east will shut soon after 3pm, while staff at a Western Sydney daycare will suspend normal activities.

Up to 500 families will be affected.

In case before the Fair Work Commission, childcare workers are arguing that the female-dominated workforce is paid less than men with similar qualifications.

Monash Caulfield Child Care Centre director Rukmini Bose-Rahman said her profession was undervalued.

"Our wages are so low because of how our service has historically been viewed in the community ... which comes from 'babysitting'," she told Fairfax Media.

6. Labor Senator Sam Dastyari apologises.

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari has apologised for the payment of a personal debt by a Chinese donor.

The Labor frontbencher admitted he asked a company with links to the Chinese Government to pay a $1,670.82 bill.

"I do accept that I should have made that payment myself … I made a mistake and I am sorry."

But Mr Dastyaru he said he had neither offered, or been asked, to hand in his resignation.

He said no donors had asked for anything in exchange for the funds.

"No one has ever asked for anything in return nor would I have done anything in return," he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

He said he had been misquoted in public comments about the South China Sea.

“I support the Labor Party position on the issue of the South China Sea and if there is an instance in which I have misspoken or been misquoted, then that is wrong.”

7. Babies born by caesarean section are 15 per cent more likely to become obese as children.

A study by Harvard University has found that babies born by caesarean section are 15 per cent more likely to become obese as children compared to those born naturally.

The study also showed that children born by c-section had a 64 per cent greater chance of becoming obese when compared with natural born siblings.

The study, involving more than 22,000 people over 16 years is the first study to show a clear link between obesity and c-sections.

Researchers say the findings may be related to differences in the gut bacteria which are set at birth. Babies born vaginally have greater exposure to their mother's vaginal and gastrointestinal bacteria which are known to be beneficial.

Dr Jorge Chavarro, associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School of Medicine said that caesareans are known to have risks to the mother and the newborn.

“Our findings particularly those that show a dramatic difference in obesity risk between those born via caesarean and their siblings born through vaginal delivery provide very compelling evidence that the association between cesarean birth and childhood obesity is real.”

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

 

00:00 / ???