Thursday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Murder/ Suicide Investigation

An autopsy will be carried out today on the bodies of four-year old Eeva Dorendahl-Hutchings and her father Greg Hutchings.

Police have confirmed they are investigating an apparent murder-suicide but the cause of death will be determined by the NSW Coroner.

News Limited have reported that the investigation will focus on whether drowning or poisoning could have killed four-year-old Eeva after no weapons were found at the crime scene on Pottsville Beach.

Mr Hutchings mother Diana yesterday said she did not believe her son had killed his daughter.

“I don’t believe it was a murder-suicide, no,” she said yesterday.

2. Madeleine McCann arrests possible

British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have flown to Portugal to interview three suspects.

A team from Scotland Yard has flown to the Algarve to liaise with Portuguese police after British authorities sent a letter requesting help tracing three burglars who were in the area when Madeline disappeared.

3. Woman dies in Sydney CBD

A woman who was trapped under a bus in Sydney yesterday afternoon has died overnight in hospital.

The 53-year old woman was dragged several metres by the bus and became wedged in the axles when the accident happened in Sydney’s CBD. She was trapped for more than two hours.

The bus driver, a 70-year-old man, was not injured but was taken to hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.

A paramedic described the rescue operation as “one of the most delicate” in his 37 years.

Police appeal for anyone who witnessed the event to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

4. Turnbull backs ABC

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has backed the ABC after the Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that the broadcaster took “everyone’s side but Australia’s”.

Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Media that the ABC was rightly accountable to its board of directors, not politicians.

”What’s the alternative … the editor-in-chief [of the ABC] becomes the prime minister?” he said. ”Politicians, whether prime ministers or communications ministers, will often be unhappy with the ABC … but you can’t tell them what to write.”

Meanwhile The Australian reports that The ABC’s $223 million Australia Network Asian broadcasting service is likely to be scrapped in the May budget.

5. Peter Falconio body

The body of British backpacker Peter Falconio is buried at the bottom of a desolate well, according to a witness who has just come forward to the Seven Network’s Today Tonight.

British backpacker Peter Falconio went missing 12 years ago. Bradley John Murdoch is currently serving a life sentence for his murder.

Retired crime journalist Paul Jackson claims he has spoken with a friend who witnessed a vehicle that matched the one driven by Bradley Murdoch, Peter Falconio’s killer, on a property between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek only an hour after the murder.

6. Olympics organisers slammed after whalers capture Orcas

A Russian aquarium hoping to cash in on the millions of visitors during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games are planning to display two young wild Orcas caught by Japanese whalers. Conservationists have branded it “cruel and a callous”.

For more read this post here “Olympic organsiers how can you let this happen?” 

7. Woolies sued

Woolworths is being sued for $1.3 million by a former night duty manager who claims who claims she was sexually harassed by her former boss.

Alysha Wilkie, a former night duty manager at Woolworths Blacktown, claims the store’s former manager, Steven Clark, harassed her between February and May 2011.

Fairfax Media report that the woman says she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety after the alleged sexual harassment.

8. Tricked abortion

A man in the US, who is the son of a fertility doctor has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for tricking his pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking a pill he believed would cause her to have a miscarriage.

Prosecutors say the 29-year-old man forged a signature last year on a prescription for a pill used to induce labor. He re-labeled a pill bottle as an antibiotic and told his then-girlfriend to take the pills. She was six or seven weeks pregnant when she miscarried.

She spoke out about her heartache over the termination saying: ‘I wanted this baby more than anything.’

He was originally charged with murder but under a plea deal the charges were reduced to tampering with a consumer product and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

9. Train station rape charges dropped

Police have withdrawn charges against a man accused of raping a teenage girl at a Sydney train station.

Ben Kooy, 34, was arrested last Wednesday and charged with dragging a 17-year-old girl off a train around 1pm and into a toilet block where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Yesterday the charge of sexual intercourse without consent was dismissed and an AVO for the victim was withdrawn.

The SMH report that new footage discredited the girl’s story. It is unknown if the girl will be charged with making false representations to police.

10. Townsville Cyclone

Townsville is preparing for a cyclone to cross the coast tomorrow morning, bringing with it a storm surge on top of a king tide.

About 5000 Townsville residents were preparing to leave their homes, hunkering down in emergency centres or moving to relatives on higher grounds.

11. Campus rape

In the US the spotlight is turning towards college campus sexual assaults after a Canadian student at the University of Missouri committed suicide 16 months after she was allegedly raped by as many as three football players.

The parents of Sasha Menu Courey say the university by now should have taken action towards her alleged rape, but University leaders say they didn’t learn about the purported attack until after she committed suicide so no investigation took place.

A police investigation is now finally underway.

If you or a loved one needs help contact Lifeline 24/7 at 13 11 14.

12. Ovarian cancer breakthrough

Queensland researchers believe they have unlocked the key to fighting the deadliest form of ovarian cancer that is immune to chemotherapy.

They have identified two enzymes that make tumour cells resistant to chemotherapy. The research, at Brisbane’s Translational Research Institute, will receive $200,000 from Cancer Council Queensland during the next two years.

 In Brief

A 16-year-old girl has survived after plummeting more than 915 metres (3000 feet) to the ground in a skydiving accident in the US.

What news are you talking about today?