Wednesday afternoon'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. Police reveal teenage boy sexually assaulted before mysterious murder.

Trigger warning: This post contains details of sexual assault and homicide.

Police are still trying to catch the people who brutally murdered 16-year-old Sydney boy, Mahmoud Hrouk.

The boy was riding his bike home from a McDonald’s in May this year when police believe he was abducted and taken to an abandoned house in Belmore.

Relatives discovered his dead body the following day.

Today, Fairfax Media revealed that Hrouk was sexually assaulted prior to his death and suffered “significant internal injuries as well as numerous extended injuries to his body.”

“In my experience, I’ve never seen anything like it… it’s gut-wrenching,” Detective Sergeant Olivares told Fairfax.

“What happened to this boy is terrible; it shouldn’t happen to anyone.

“This is separate from organised crime; it’s a more individual, more opportunistic crime. We certainly don’t think it was planned.”

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

2. Boy finds hidden camera in Starbucks toilets.

A mother and her five-year-old son made a ghastly discovery in a Starbucks bathroom in California this week: According to PopSugar, the boy found a hidden camera below the sink in a single-person bathroom.

The anonymous mother said a camera phone was propped up by toilet paper rolls under the sink.

“I noticed he was staring at the sink a little bit perplexed,” the woman told US media outlet KTLA. “I asked him what was wrong and he said, ‘Mommy, why is there a phone under there?'”

The store was not aware of device, which was being broadcast to a remote viewer.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

3. Girl survives plane crash and walks for two days to safety.

A 16-year-old girl has survived a plane crash and then hiked for two days before she was rescued.

Autumn Veatch reportedly used lessons she learned from watching TV shows to survive the ordeal, ABC News reports.

Ms Veatch was traveling in a small plane with her step-grandparents when it crashed into the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington.

She attempted to save her grandparents but was unsuccessful, so she set off along a river.

For two days she hiked until she came across a road and made her way to a store where she called authorities.

Search teams are still looking for the plane and Ms Veatch’s grandparents.

4. Underage drinking is on the decline, study says.

A new study has found the number of teens abstaining from alcohol has doubled in the past 13 years.

The 14 to 17 year old age group has seen the most significant decline in alcohol consumption, The Guardian reports.

While in 2001 the number of teens not drinking was around 28 per cent, in 2013 it climbed to a over 57 per cent.

The study, conducted by the Centre for Alcohol and Police Research, analysed the responses of 120,000 people who completed the national drug strategy household survey.

Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au
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