Cheat Sheet: Today's news in 60 seconds

Your speedy update on all the day’s big stories: Monday, March 17, 2014

Mum fakes son’s cancer to scam $28,000

A mother who allegedly lied about her son having terminal cancer in order to scam community donations amounting to $28, 000 has been arrested.  Sandy Nguyen, 28,  even managed to convince her six-year-old boy and the rest of the family that he was dying and used the money to take them all to Disneyland (see above image. 7 News). Police believe that Ms Nguyen formulated the lie that her son had a rare and aggressive form of childhood bone cancer and Leukaemia in 2012, when the local community rallied together to raise money for the boy through charity events. Midway through last year the mother of three accentuated the lie, shaving her son’s head and claiming that he only had months to live. Sheriff Captain Larry Etheridge has said that besides the Colorado woman, “we don’t have any reason to believe that anyone other than her knew the truth.” Ms Nguyen has been arrested for two felony charges: theft and criminal impersonation to gain benefit.

The final moments of Flight MH370

The search for the Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people on board, now missing more than a week, has widened to cover more than 11 countries and extensive oceans. With theories for why flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared coming in thick and fast, it's now believed that the plane could have been flown over low mountainous terrain using a dangerous flying technique. This method of flying, known as 'terrain masking' is often used by military pilots and explains why the flight has avoided detection on commercial radars since it flew off its original path. A source has told Malaysian Newspaper,the New Straits Times, that the plane may have flown through busy airways  in order to avoid looking suspicious. Other theories  also suggest that the plane may have landed on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan on a Taliban-controlled base.

Screams heard before baby fell to its death

Dolphin attacks bodyboarder

A dolphin has collided with a body boarder on the South Coast of NSW, leaving the 27-year-old male in hospital with injuries to

Scarlett Johansson defends Woody Allen

Actress Scarlett Johansson has spoken out in public for the first time about allegations of sexual abuse directed at Woody Allen. Scarlett was named among many other Hollywood celebrities in Dylan Farrow's letter to The New York Times about the abuse she allegedly suffered under the control of her father, Allen. Scarlett says "I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me." In regards to the backlash against Allen she told The Guardian, "I'm unaware that there's been a backlash. I think he'll continue to know what he knows about the situation, and I'm sure the other people involved have their own experience with it. It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork."