Wednesday'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. France mourns the loss of sports stars killed during filming of reality show.

France is in deep shock and mourning after two helicopters carrying passengers filming a popular European reality show crashed in north-west Argentina, killing 10 people, including Olympic gold medal swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine and yachtswoman Florence Arthaud.

Authorities in Argentina have said it was still unclear what caused two helicopters to crash in La Rioja near the Andes Mountains.

“The whole of French sport is in mourning because we have lost three huge champions,” Thierry Braillard, France’s junior sports minister, told RTL radio.

On the show, celebrities are flown into rough terrain and filmed while they attempt to find food and shelter.

French President Francois Hollande said it was “a cause of immense sadness”.

The BBC Reports that the passengers on board were yachtswoman Florence Arthaud, Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine. The five other French nationals killed were said to have worked for Adventure Line Productions (ALP), the company making the program they were named as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles.

The Argentine pilots were named as Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.
  

2. Lindt Café to reopen by end of week.

The Lindt Café – the scene of last December’s deadly siege in Sydney – will reopen by the end of this week. A memorial to the victims has been installed as a permanent reminder of how Sydney changed that terrible day.
  

3. Bali Nine families make second visit to island.

The families of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan will today make their second visit to Nusakambangan island to visit their loved ones.

Overnight one of their fellow death row prisoners left the island to travel to Tangerang to attend a second case-review hearing at the Tangerang District Court

The Jakarta Post reports that French death-row convict Serge Arezki Atlaoui was accompanied by his family and under a security escort from the National Police.

Nusakambagan authorities gave Serge a two-day permit to attend the second case-review hearing.

Lawyers for Sukumaran and Chan will be back in court on Thursday, arguing that their appeal to president Widodo for clemency was not properly considered.

Another death-row prisoner from Palembang, South Sumatra, Zainal Abidin, is reported to have also filed a second case-review with the Palembang District Court.

It is believed that the executions will not go ahead while the reviews are being undertaken.
  

4. Minister warns that antagonism could lead to ‘human tsunami’.

An Indonesian minister has said that they could release 10,000 asylum seekers to Australia if Canberra continued to pressure Jakarta over the Bali Nine duo.

The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno told Metro TV.

“If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia,”

“There are more than 10,000 [asylum seekers] in Indonesia today. If they are let go to Australia, it will be like a human tsunami.”

Mr Tedjo said Australia needed to respect the Indonesian judicial system.

“We respect other countries’ legal systems, Australia must learn about ethics here in University of Gadjah Mada,”

Mr Tedjo was giving a lecture on nationhood at the School of Law at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
  

 5. Royal Commission hears that children the main perpetrators of sex abuse in out-of-home care.

Warning: this item deals with sexual abuse and may be distressing for some readers.

As the Royal Commission turns now to the out-of-home-care system it has heard that the vast majority of child sexual abuse occurring in the out-of-home-care system is perpetrated by other children, not the adults looking after them

In her opening address to the hearing, counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, SC said “The majority of survivors of abuse in out-of-home care attending the private sessions to date had described child sexual abuse taking place during the 1950s and 1960s in residential homes run by government or religious institutions,”

She said that the studies which had focused on child abuse in out-of-home care had found that child to child abuse was the most prevalent type of abuse occurring.

“The major focus of preventing child sexual abuse in out-of-home care should be on efforts to prevent child to child sexual abuse rather than caregivers to child sexual abuse, since this type of abuse likely represents the vast majority of observed child sexual abuse in out-of-home care.”

Fairfax Media reports that as of June last year, 43,009 children were in out-of-home care across the country.

 6. Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear.

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended from the program following what is reported to be a ‘fracas’ with a producer.

“Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation”, the BBC said in a statement. “No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time.”

The news has been met with much consternation in Top Gear fan circles as they wait to hear what actually went on.

Clarkson has been the subject of several incidents in the past few years.

The presenter was said to have been given a final warning last year after video footage emerged appearing to show him using a racial slander while reciting nursery rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny Moe during filming.

In another incident, Clarkson and co-stars, James May and Richard Hammond, were forced to flee Argentina after a number plate appearing to refer to the 1982 Falklands conflict sparked anger.

 7. Baby girl saved by voice calling out to help her.

A baby girl has been saved after a tragic car crash that took the life of her mother.

18-month old Lily Groesbeck survived for 14 hours after the car she was travelling in clipped a concrete barrier before veering into a river in Utah.

Rescuers have said as they neared the car they could hear a woman’s voice calling out to save the little girl.

Lily’s mother had died when the car first crashed.

“It felt like I could hear someone telling me, ‘I need help'” one rescuer said.

For more read this post here.
  

 8. Tony Abbott a ‘disgrace’, says Federal Opposition after comments that living in remote Indigenous communities was a ‘lifestyle choice.’

By ABC

The Federal Opposition is demanding the Prime Minister apologise after he suggested it is a lifestyle choice to live in remote indigenous communities.

Tony Abbott has backed the West Australian Government’s plans to close nearly half of the state’s 274 remote communities and said it was not unreasonable if the cost of providing services such as schools, outweighed the benefits.

“What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have,” he said.

Mr Abbott said if people choose to live in areas where there are no schools or jobs, there is a limit to what they can expect the state to provide.

“If people choose to live miles away from where there’s a school, if people choose not to access the school of the air, if people choose to live where there’s no jobs, obviously it’s very, very difficult to close the gap,” he said.

The WA Government flagged the closure of up to 150 of the state’s remote Aboriginal communities after the Federal Government, which funded about two-thirds of the state’s remote Indigenous settlements, announced in September it was transitioning that responsibility to the states over the next two years.

Labor’s Indigenous Affairs spokesman Shayne Neumann said Mr Abbott’s comments were highly offensive and threatened to undo the progress that has been made towards reconciliation.

“Here he is saying that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be evicted from the lands on which they’ve lived for millenia,” he said.

“He really is a disgrace and he really should apologise unreservedly for these comments.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

9. New Zealand baby formula contamination threat.

Parents in New Zealand have expressed concerns after environmental activists threatened to contaminate infant formula. Police confirmed that letters had been sent to the national farmers’ group and dairy giant Fonterra in November which were accompanied by infant formula laced with 1080 – a toxic pesticide.

It is believed that the blackmailers demanded that use of the toxic pesticide be stopped by the end of March.

The pesticide is used to poison pests such as rats and possums.

Police said no traces of the poison had been found in any products.

The Prime Minister, John Key said milk formula was still safe to be consumed.

“I want to reassure parents that every step possible has been taken to respond to the threat, to ensure the ongoing safety of our food products.”

10. Australian entertainer Stuart Wagstaff dies aged 90.

By ABC

Australian entertainer Stuart Wagstaff, famous for various television and theatre roles including My Fair Lady and the theatrical production of The Sound of Music, has died aged 90.

The legendary entertainer whose multi-faceted career was a pinnacle in the Australian landscape of theatre, television and music passed away peacefully at Sydney’s Greenwich Hospital.

Wagstaff first came to Australia in 1958 to appear in the JC Williamson production, Not in the Book, after a successful early career in England which spanned weekly tours, a couple of West End appearances, some film and television.

In 1959, JC Williamson cast Wagstaff in the original production of My Fair Lady. He eventually played the male lead in the stage musical The Sound of Music.

Wagstaff also featured in a string of television productions including Channel 10’s Blankety Blanks.

He held the role of the “Beast” in the Channel 7 show Beauty & The Beast and presented seven seasons of the ABC’s Stuart Wagstaff’s World Playhouse.

The prolific entertainer also enjoyed stints in Hollywood working in film and television.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

 11. Victorian police show their romantic side.

Someone out there is in big trouble for losing a ring, and police in Victoria are doing their best to find its owner.

It read “Glen Waverley police are hoping that love is not lost – even though the ring appears to be. 

A member of the public handed in what appears to be a wedding ring with the inscription “I ♥ Julie” and a date in 2005 on the inside.”

The ring, found on 4 March on the nature strip between Fairhills Road and High Street Road in Glen Waverley appears to be a man’s wedding ring judging by the size. 

So far police have been unable to locate the ring’s owner. But many a Julie has been tagged in the hopes the owner can be tracked down.
  

12. Siblings rescue toddler from attempted kidnapping

A 22 month old boy has been rescued from a brazen attempted kidnapping in the US.

The act caught on camera shows a man running off with the baby, Owen Wright,  in his arms.

As the suspect fled with Owen, the toddler’s siblings, 10-year-old Brenden, and sister, 8-year-old Delicia begin chasing after him.

“This little girl come running around the corner screaming her head off,” witness Dorothy Giddings told KXLY.

Delicia’s screams alerted passersby, including two teenage boys who joined the pursuit.

The man then dropped Owen who was safely retruned to the abbysitter who was meant to be watching him.

Police are searching for the supect.

What news are you talking about today?