Friday'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. Possible inquest into button batteries following death of one-year-old Isabella Rees.

A Victorian state coroner is considering holding an inquest into the death of a one-year-old girl who swallowed a lithium button battery.

In February 2015, Isabella Rees died when a battery became lodged in her oesophagus, making her sick.

Her parents took her to hospital several times over two weeks but were turned away, the Coroners Court heard on Thursday, according to The Age.

Fifteen days after visiting the hospital she was found her in her cot, saturated in her own blood.

Her mother, Allison has since launched an awareness campaign to warn other parents of the dangers and push for stronger product safety laws to protect children from the lethal batteries.

Lithium batteries are used in many ordinary household objects including car keys, remote controls and musical birthday cards and burn through the flesh when swallowed.

“What we would give to have another chance to hear your voice, to feel your kiss and to see you grow,” the family wrote in Isabella’s tribute in the Herald Sun.

“Our hearts are broken”.

2. Woman and baby die after plunging from Melbourne high-rise.

The husband of a woman who fell to her death holding their four-month-old baby on one of Melbourne’s busiest street corners is inconsolable.

In an apparent murder-suicide, the 31-year-old woman plunged from an apartment balcony on Bourke and Swanston St in Docklands at around 10am on Thursday morning.

According to 7 News, she fell from the sixth-storey into an internal courtyard.

Witnesses say they heard ‘gut-wrenching’ scream.

The woman’s husband and father of the baby was unable to assist police after he became overcome with shock and grief, requiring medical treatment, the Herald Sun reported.

3. New footage released of Lindt Cafe seige shows police opening fire.

Footage has been released of the moment tactical operations officers burst into Sydney’s Lindt Cafe, shooting siege gunman Man Haron Monis.

The clip was played at the inquest investigating whether the deaths could have been avoided.

According to News.com.au, an officer can be seen using his weapon to shatter the cafe’s thick glass door before charging in with his team close behind him.

At least two officers are seen firing into the cafe foyer before entering the cafe itself an shooting Monis.

Mother of three Katrina Dawson also died, hit by seven fragments of a police bullet.

4. Search for missing Melbourne mum Karen Ristevski ramps up.

Melbourne woman Karen Ristevski has been missing since June 29. Yesterday police ramped up their search to find her, and revealed that CCTV footage at her house in Avondale Heights did not show her leaving at all that day.

Borce Ristevski told police he had not seen Karen since she left their house around 10am on the morning of June 29.

The 47-year-old boutique owner’s family fronted a press conference yesterday that was promptly shut down after one journalist asked Karen’s husband, Borce Ristevski if he had killed her, according to the Daily Mail.

“Did you kill Karen, Borce,” the journalist asked point blank as Karen’s 21-year-old daughter Sarah burst into tears.

Police have given no indication that Borce is a suspect.

Yesterday the search focused on the Maribynrong River and surrounds behind the family home looking for clues including a gold purse and handbag, and Karen’s mobile phone.

Her phone has remained switched off and her bank accounts have not been used since she disappeared.

“Someone doesn’t just disappear like this. It’s not Karen, she would not leave us,” Karen’s aunt Patrice, said.
Sarah Ristevski said she didn’t believe her mother would leave her “because she is an only child”.

5. New high speed rail plan for Sydney to Melbourne.

Is this really, finally, actually happening? A new plan to link Australia’s biggest cities with high speed rail has emerged.

This time, it’s a private company and not an election promise.

Consolidated Land and Rail Australia (CLARA) has released a bid to build a rail network between Sydney and Melbourne, at an estimated cost of $200 billion, according to the ABC.

The company says deals to secure almost half the private land needed along the over-90-kilometre route have already been made.

The company estimates that an express service between Sydney and Melbourne would be about an hour and 50 minutes.

“And even if it had to stop at all stops, it could still do it in around two hours, 45 minutes,” CLARA’s co-founder Nick Cleary said.

The project will need the support of state and federal governments and is expected to take about 20 years to build.

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