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Friday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the major news from Australia and across the world so you don’t have to.

1. Malcolm Turnbull confronts Tony Abbott.

Malcolm Turnbull directly confronted Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday in an unscheduled closed door meeting.

Fairfax Media has reported that during the meeting Mr Turnbull told the Prime Minister “that he was completely removed from the recent spate of backbench agitators calling for a spill at Tuesday’s party room meeting.”

Will Malcolm Turnbull challenge Tony Abbott for the top spot?

 

But he did question how the party would overcome the current issues.

According to the report the PM left the Communications Minister feeling underwhelmed” with the reply he was given.

Speaking last night on SkyNews the Prime Minister said that Mr Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop were not going to challenge for his job.

“Yes, I do. They are my Cabinet colleagues, they are my friends, I have known them both for a long time, I’ve worked closely with them for a long time. You always have your ups and downs; that’s natural when you’ve got strong personalities talking about the most difficult decisions that any country can face. But I trust them; they’re my friends and colleagues.”

2. Bali 9 duo beg for their lives.

Just a day after learning that their application for a judicial review had not been accepted by the Denpasar Court on Wednesday Bali 9 duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have begging for their lives in a hastily written letter to the Indonesian Government.

Begging for their lives.

The ABC reports that the letter, written on plain paper scrawled in biro says “We beg for moratorium so we can have chance to serve to Indonesian community and bring more benefit on the rehabilitative program in prison,”

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“We believe in the Indonesian legal system that (it will) bring justice and humanity,”

It was signed by the two death row prisoners.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday that the government was doing “whatever we humanly can” to ensure that no Australian suffered the death penalty.

“We are not going to engage in last-minute, megaphone diplomacy but I just want to assure people that the Australian government has left no stone unturned to try to ensure that these two Australians on death row have their sentences commuted,’ he said.

For more read this post here.

 3. Prisoners offer to take the place of Andrew Chan.

Two prisoners have offered to take the place of Andrew Chan.

Fairfax Media reports that 32-year-old inmate Rico Richardo has written to the Indonesian President saying said Chan had helped him when he almost died inside Bali’s Kerobokan prison.

“It was Andrew Chan who insisted I got taken back to hospital,” Richardo wrote.

Richardo said when it came to Chan the president was “seeing with just one eye”. “Even though Andrew Chan is on death row … he never thinks of himself. This could be taken into consideration of your conscience, honorable Mr President.

If you still insist on executing Andrew Chan, I, Rico Richardo, an Indonesian citizen, am ready to take his place and be executed.”

A second prisoner, Martin Jamanuna, has also written saying he was willing to switch places.

 4. Sydney siege hostages reveal their terrible choice.

The hostages involved in the Sydney siege in Martin Place’s Lindt Café have told of the split second life changing decision they had to make, whether to run and risk the lives of their fellow hostages or whether to stay.

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Fiona Ma

In an interview with 60 Minutes Paolo Vassallo, a father-of-two who was one of the first to escape spoke of how he offered 19-year-old café co-worker Fiona Ma the opportunity to run out with him.

“I said “look, we’re going now. You’re coming with me”. She’s like: “I can’t, I can’t” and I was like “why, Fiona?”. I ran, I didn’t turn around.”

Fiona Ma said she was simply unable to leave the others behind.

“I can’t leave people behind because I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt,” she recalled she said at the time..

Ms Mae was one of the last to leave the café just before police storm in killing gunman

 5. 19-year old who died in Sydney Harbour just weeks before starting university.

By ABC

A 19-year-old man who plunged to his death from a crane in Sydney Harbour was a keen athlete and a “top bloke” who was looking forward to starting his tertiary studies.

Family and friends are mourning the death of Carl Salomon, who fell or jumped from a crane on a construction barge in the early hours of Thursday.

He had swum out to the barge with a friend at about 5:00am and climbed the 30-metre crane, which was being used to repair the Balmain East ferry wharf.

His friend heard a splash and then did not see Carl resurface. Police divers arrived and found his body four hours later.

As police searched for him, Carl’s friends gathered at the harbour and said they could not believe their good friend was no longer alive.

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“Carl was obviously one of our best friends, a top bloke, probably enjoyed himself the most out of anyone I know,” friend Marcus Attalah said.

“I think he would want us to be all together, we’re obviously distraught but we’ll do the best we can to honour him and do the best by him that we can.”

Another friend, James Smith, said: “He got along with a lot of people, so we’ll always be there for him.”

Police said it was unclear if Carl jumped or fell into the water, but confirmed he had been drinking before the tragedy.

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

6. How a family survived a plane crash

A toddler and his parents have survived the tragic Taiwan crash of TransAsia Flight GE235 that left 32 dead by switching seats when they first boarded the plane.

Lin Rinyao being rescued by his father.

Lin Rinyao, who is just one years-old was travelling with Jiang Yuying, his school-teacher mother, and Lin Mingwei, his father.

Dad, Lin MIngwei requested the family-of-three change seats shortly before the flight took off after he heard a strange sound from the side of the plane.

It has been reported by local media that decision alone is likely to have saved the family as the plane’s left side was severely damaged by the impact.

7. US TV anchor misremembers Iraq war helicopter story.

A US TV anchor Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News is under fire after falsely claiming he was on board an attacked helicopter during the Iraq war.

The news presenter was forced to apologize shortly after it was exposed that he was telling a few porkies.

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Social media though isn’t going to let him forget with the trending hashtags #BrianWilliamsMemories and #BrianWilliamsMisremembers.

here.

 8. Claims of childcare deposit fees rip off.

Parents are becoming increasingly agitated over having to pay exorbitant fees to secure places for their children at childcare centers – and not being refunded if they do not take up the spot.

How much have you paid in waiting list fees?

News.com.au that parents are being are being hit with fees of up to $1500 to reserve preschool and childcare spots – and if they miss out on the spot there is no refund.

The Department of Fair Trading has received complaints about a centre that charged a $1560 “priority” reservation fee, and another that would not refund a $400 reservation fee to parents who decided not to go ahead with enrolling their child.

 9. California considering changing vaccinations regulations.

The measles outbreak in the US and Canada is prompting one state, California to re-think the rules that allow parents an opt-out on vaccinations.

Should Australia follow suit?

California State Senator Richard Pan is introducing a bill to abolish the personal beliefs exceptions to vaccinations. Australian states NSW and soon to be Victoria have similar a similar method where parents can be conscientious objectors.

Senator Pan told CBS News “Parents are letting us know that our current laws are insufficient and don’t protect their kids”

In his proposed bill kids would be required to be immunized before attending school, except for medical reasons.

What news are you talking about today?