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"We can't fix this." Friends who filmed Shania McNeill on Snapchat before fatal crash break their silence, & more in News in 5.

— With AAP.

1. “We can’t fix this.” Friends who filmed Shania McNeill on Snapchat before fatal crash break their silence.

The friends of a young woman who was captured in a Snapchat video moments before a fatal collision that killed her have spoken out, six weeks after the car crash.

Shania McNeill, 21, died after the vehicle she was driving crashed head-on into another car in western Sydney in April. Before the crash, Shania was filmed playing ‘chicken’ with oncoming cars in a video posted to Snapchat.

Her two passengers – Faeda Hunter, 20, and Hazel Wildman, 23 – were injured in the crash, and took pouting photos of themselves recovering in hospital just a day after watching their friend receive frantic CPR assistance from a passing police officer who couldn’t save her. However, it is understood that at the time they did not know their friend had died.

Snpachat photo
Image: Snapchat.
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In a preview for Channel 7's Sunday Night, Faeda and Hazel prepare to give the 'full story' of that night.

"I miss her so much," Hazel told the show.

"We can't fix this," said Faeda.

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Earlier his week, Shania's father Lee McNeill slammed his daughter's friends for profiting from her death with the exclusive TV deal.

The Sunday Telegraph reported he was approached by two networks, but refused, saying “I’ve got a box of ashes in my garage. It makes me sick to involve money”.

Police investigated the Snapchat filmed inside the car, which shows the friends mucking around as they drove.

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Shania McNeill was filmed on Snapchat before the fatal crash.
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In the footage, one of the friends yells at the driver, “Shania!” as she looks towards the road in open-mouthed adrenalin and what appears to be fear, before turning back to the camera and smiling.

She waves at the person filming to turn the camera back towards the road before the footage cuts out.

Dennis Sales, one of two men in the Nissan Shania crashed into spent two days in an induced coma. The other man suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Watch the full report on Sunday Night at 8.30pm on Channel 7.

2. Victorian primary school teacher 'sent lewd image to child'.

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A primary school teacher in Melbourne's eastern suburbs has been suspended after he was charged with allegedly sending a lewd image to a child overseas.

Liam Paul Wilkinson was charged earlier this month with one count of using a carriage service to transmit an indecent image to a person under the age of 16.

According to News Corp Australia, the grade five teacher allegedly sent a 13-year-old girl in the United States a lewd image through social media app Snapchat.

The charge does not relate to his employment Milgate Primary School in East Doncaster but he has been suspended from teaching until the matter is fully investigated.

His teaching registration has also been suspended by the Victorian Institute of Teaching on an interim basis.

A spokesperson from the Department of Education told AAP said the safety of students was their "top priority".

"As this matter is before the courts, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment," they said.

Wilkinson is scheduled to appear in court for a committal mention on October 11.

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3. Richard Di Natale reaffirmed as Greens leader.


The Australians Greens have reaffirmed Victorian senator Richard Di Natale as leader of the party.

The Greens party room met on Wednesday and following the customary spill of the leadership positions returned Senator Di Natale as leader, and Queensland senator Larissa Waters and Melbourne MP Adam Bandt as deputy leaders.

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WA senator Rachel Siewert continues as party whip and Victorian senator Janet Rice is party room chair.

"I am so proud of our achievements and the strong role the Greens have played in shaping the debate of the 45th parliament, and I am confident that we will once again be a driving force in responding to the major challenges that confront our nation," Senator Di Natale said in a statement.

The Greens' key agenda items will be climate action, transforming the economy towards renewable energy and dealing with the rising cost of living, job insecurity and inequality.

4. Comedian Jon Stewart slams US Congress over 9/11 fund.

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US comedian Jon Stewart has scolded Congress for failing to ensure that a victims' compensation fund set up after the 9/11 attacks never runs out of money.

Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, angrily called out politicians for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years.

Pointing to rows of empty seats at a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, Stewart said "sick and dying" first responders and their families came to Washington for the hearing, only to face a nearly deserted dais.

The sparse attendance by politicians was "an embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution," Stewart said, adding that the "disrespect" shown to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses "is utterly unacceptable".

Lawmakers from both parties said they support the bill and were monitoring the hearing amid other congressional business.

Pointing to rows of uniformed firefighters and police officers behind him, he said the hearing "should be flipped," so that first responders were on the dais, with members of Congress "down here" in witness chairs answering their questions.

First and foremost, Stewart said, families want to know, "Why this is so damn hard and takes so damn long?"

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Stewart and other speakers lamented the fact that nearly 18 years after the attacks, first responders and their families still have no assurance the fund will not run out of money.

The Justice Department said in February that the fund is being depleted and that benefit payments are being cut by up to 70 percent.

"The plain fact is that we are expending the available funds more quickly than assumed, and there are many more claims than anticipated," said Rupa Bhattacharyya, the fund's special master. A total of 835 awards have been reduced as of May 31, she said.

Stewart called that shameful.

"Your indifference is costing these men and women their most valuable commodity: time," he told lawmakers. "It's one thing they're running out of."

Firefighters, police and other first responders "did their jobs with courage, grace, tenacity and humility," Stewart added.

"Eighteen years later, do yours."

5. Heavy rains in China leave 49 people dead.

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Authorities say 49 people have died and 14 others are missing since heavy rainfall hit southern China in early June.

China's disaster reduction committee said on Wednesday that more than 7000 houses have collapsed and 300,000 people have been evacuated.

A statement on its social media account said direct economic losses totalled 10 billion yuan ($A2.0 billion).

The committee said that floods, landslides and mudslides from the rains have affected more than 4.5 million people in eight provinces.

A senior water resources official said on Tuesday that 6.75 million people in 22 provinces have been affected and 83 people died or went missing since the start of flood season this year.