1. A CANADIAN man has confessed on Facebook to killing his wife, his sister and his daughter.
Canadian news outlets say that Randy Janzen killed his adult daughter because, he said, she suffered from terrible migraines.
“I just could not see my little girl hurt for one more second,” he wrote, “I took a gun and shot her in the head and now she is migraine free.”
He then shot his wife, ‘because a mother should never have hear the news her baby has died’ and his sister, ‘because I did not want her to have to live with this shame I have caused.’
“Now my family is pain free and in heaven,’ he added, before burning himself alive.
In other news you may have missed…
2. IN a move described as the ‘mother of all insults’, Treasurer Joe Hockey has been slammed for announcing that new parents will no longer be able to ‘double-dip’ on paid parental leave.
According to new figures, some 80,000 new parents have taken paid leave from both their employer, and under the new government scheme, costing the taxpayer up to $1 billion a year.
In what may have been a case of the worst timing ever, Hockey announced on Mother’s Day that the loophole will be closed as part of the Budget tomorrow.
The Sydney Morning Herald says half of all new mothers will lose some or all of their government payments, because they already have access to a workplace scheme.
Paid parental leave payments are worth up to $11,500 a year.
3. SPEAKING of tomorrow’s budget: you think you’re in debt? You’re not in debt. Australia is in debt. Economists are predicting the treasurer, Joe Hockey, to announce a $40 billion – that’s billion with a b – deficit in tomorrow’s budget, and guess who is going to have to pay for that?
You.
One major development for women: stay-at-home parents with a family income more than $65,000 will no longer be able to claim childcare subsidies. Prime Minister Abbott says the move is designed to encourage women to return to the workforce. To help them, the government is also planning to put 10,000 shift worker families into a two-year trial for nannies, at a cost of $246 million.
Families who refuse to immunise their kids will no longer get child care tax breaks.
The rules around who gets the age pension are going to be ‘tightened’ which you can take to mean that some people are going to get cut. Under the current system, couples can have up to a $1 million in savings, plus the family home, before the pension cuts out. The government will bring that number down to $820,000.
They aren’t just going after oldies. Big global companies like Apple and Facebook will have to deal with new laws to make it tougher to move their profits off-shore, so they don’t have to pay much tax at all.
4. HOW much money can your family earn before you’re described as rich?
According to Tony Abbott a family income of $185,000 a year is no longer ‘especially high.’
In a statement that left many people floored, Mr Abbott said an income of $185,000 a year would not give you ‘a particularly lavish life by any means.’
It all depends how you live, of course.
An income of $185,000 a year is going to allow you to pay the mortgage, the private school fees for two kids, and take an overseas trip, after which, it’s true, you’ll probably have nothing left.
But the fact that you have money and you spend it – does that really mean you’re struggling?
5. SO, who is rich?
Well, there’s Judith and Kerr Neilson of Sydney, who are currently going through a divorce.
If news reports are correct, the couple have a $3.3 billion fortune to divide.
Kerr, 70, came to Australia 50 years ago, to work as an investment banker. Judith has established herself as a philanthropist and fine art collector. The Telegraph says the divorce settlement will be one of Australia’s largest, but let’s not forget Eileen and Alan Bond.
6. THERE has been a terrible development in the case of the 11-month-old boy named Angel who was found in a dumpster in Nebraska last week.
The boy’s mother, Jesus Martinez-Marinero, 45, has been found dead, her body dumped in a ditch, while his brother, Josue, 5, has apparently been thrown off a bridge, into a river.
His body has not been found.
Police have arrested Jesus’s older brother, Roberto, who is 25.
7. SHOULD cats left to wander at night be killed?
Some people seem to think so, and have taken matters into their own hands.
According to a story in today’s NT News, a black cat has died after being shot with a bow and arrow which prompted an Australian army soldier to post this note on Facebook:
‘People, If your cat is out of your yard or out at night it is up to no good. It will kill natural wildlife. It will sleep on my bonnet. It will make dogs bark at 3am … Lock them up or lose them.”
It referred to the black cat shot through the head with a bow and arrow. The Army is investigating.
8. POPULAR television host Tracy Grimshaw, 54, is recovering from a horror horse-riding accident on her property.
In a post released yesterday, Tracy said: “Thank you for the overwhelming care and wishes since my accident. Feeling slowly better. Thank God was wearing helmet.’
The horse Tracy was riding was apparently spooked by a lawnmower. It took off down the driveway, bucking her like a rodeo horse, before throwing Tracy off. She landed on the drive. It’s not clear when Tracy will return to hosting duties at A Current Affair.
9. ANYONE who has ever tried to dress a tiny newborn knows what a struggle it can be, and despite being royal, Kate is no better at it than the rest of us mere mortals.
New reports suggest that when baby Princess Charlotte was introduced to the world last week, her bonnet was on backward.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish boutique that sold the hat has told People: “Yes, she is wearing it backwards. The part that surrounds the face should be on the neck.”
Something similar happened when Prince George was born, and William popped him into a car seat that was forward-facing, instead of rearward facing.
NAIL salon workers are being exposed to chemicals that cause birth defects and cancer.
The New York Times says the ingredients that make the polish chip-resistant and quick to dry can cause health problems for workers exposed to them all day long.
The Times says ‘respiratory and skin ailments among nail salon workers is widely acknowledged’ but some chemicals also cause cancer, while ‘others have been linked to abnormal fetal development, miscarriages and other harm to reproductive health; low birth-weight babies and of multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.’
10. TINA Fey has stripped down to the kind of underwear that few women want to admit that they wear under their fancy evening dresses.
The occasion was Tina’s last appearance on Dave Letterman’s show, before he retires.
Tina says she wanted Dave to see exactly the lengths to which women go to look svelte, stripping down to beige Spanx, a full-body-suck-in suit, and a mighty, over-the-shoulder boulder-holder (big bra.)
“It’s very hard work,” Fey said of the effort to dress up. “I don’t know if you’re aware of the contraptions [it takes] — it’s almost medical.”
