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What we know about the Sydney CBD stabbing victim & more in News in 5.

With AAP.

1. What we know about the woman who was killed in the Sydney CBD stabbing.

UPDATE: The victim of the Sydney CBD attack has been identified as 24-year-old Michaela Dunn.

One woman has allegedly been murdered and another seriously injured by a 20-year-old man who went on a stabbing rampage in Sydney on Tuesday.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the man, who has been identified as Mert Ney, is expected to be charged with murder as well as serious assault.

The deceased body of the 24-year-old woman was discovered at a Clarence street apartment one hour after the man was chased down the street by members of the public.

It is understood the victim was a sex worker and Mr Fuller says Ney was at the residential place for “business purposes”. According to Daily Telegraph, there are reports the unidentified woman’s throat was slit.

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Ney also allegedly stabbed a 41-year-old woman in the back at the Hotel CBD and then tried to stab countless others as he wandered the streets before being detained near Wynyard station.

The woman stayed overnight in hospital after being treated for a stab wound to the back and remains in a stable condition.

Video footage shows Ney, who was armed with a large butcher’s knife, yelling “Allahu Akbar” while wandering the CBD.

The Marayong man, who has spent the night under police guard in hospital, had a history of mental health issues.

Mr Fuller was asked about reports Ney may have absconded from a mental health facility before “breaking” on Tuesday.

“If I was forced to make a call… the evidence all points to that,” he replied.

2. “My brother was the hero… he put a crate on his head.” Witnesses of the Sydney stabbing rampage speak out.

Hailed as “heroes of the highest order”, bystanders bravely chased down a knife-wielding man on a stabbing rampage in Sydney’s CBD before wrestling him to the ground and pinning him down with chairs and a milk crate.

The 20-year-old is accused of killing a young woman in a Clarence Street apartment on Tuesday before stabbing a 41-year-old woman at the Hotel CBD.

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Detectives allege Mert Ney subsequently tried to stab countless others as he wandered the streets.

Witness Paul O’Shaughnessy said his brother, 30-year-old Luke, first saw the knife-wielding man covered in blood jump onto a car and start yelling after 2pm.

“We were like ‘Wow, what’s going on here’,” the clearly-shaken 37-year-old told reporters.

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The pair, along with several colleagues, raced outside and chased the man down.

“For us, it was just about restraining him,” Paul O’Shaughnessy said.

“My brother, he was the hero. He got a grip of him, along with another guy we don’t know, and put a crate on his head. He was just mumbling religious things.”

Mr O’Shaughnessy said he was “very rattled” but proud of his brother and the other man who helped.

“There was a very big crowd but they were the ones who restrained the guy and just got a grip so he didn’t do any more damage,” he said.

“We managed to wait until the police came and they did a fantastic job. My brother continued to keep him down just in case, which is very brave.”

Video footage from the scene shows a number of men in pursuit of the alleged knifeman.

One of those men, Jamie Ingram, said he didn’t think of his own safety.

“I followed him up York Street trying to get him to focus on me rather than anyone else,” he told the Nine Network.

“There are lots of pedestrians there, and I didn’t want him to sort of lash out at them. I wasn’t scared, just wasn’t really focused on that. I was just focused on what I was doing.”

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the men were heroes “of the highest order”.

“Three members of the public, who can only be described as heroes of the highest order, have engaged this 21-year-old man and have placed him essentially under arrest even though he was brandishing a large butcher’s knife and was clearly dangerous,” he told reporters on Tuesday night.

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Superintendent Gavin Wood said the men’s intervention had stopped other people from being hurt and described them as “significantly brave”.

“These people are heroes,” he told reporters.

“These members of the public have jumped into a situation which was extremely dangerous, extremely hostile and they brought a person who we will be alleging stabbed an innocent person for no specific reason into custody and allowed us to do our job.”

Numerous videos of the man’s rampage have emerged on social media including footage showing a bystander holding a chair confronting the man who was yelling: “Shoot me, f***ing shoot me in the f***ing head.”

One man can be heard screaming at Ney: “You f***ing piece of shit, do you know how many people you just stabbed? You stabbed a chick”.

Seven Network cameraman Paul Walker – who filmed Ney being detained – said the man was “full of blood”.

“The guy with the knife just kept running and stopping and running and stopping,” he told reporters.

“Someone grabbed a milk crate and smacked it over his head.”

Witness David Vaux said events unfolded very quickly.

“He was held very securely and I don’t think he was in a state to basically breathe,” he told reporters.

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“It’s an extraordinary response by the public and just demonstrates that people are prepared to do the right thing if called upon.”

Ney was in police custody in hospital on Tuesday night. The 41-year-old woman was taken to hospital in a stable condition with a stab wound to her back.

3. A body found in Malaysia is likely to be a missing 15-year-old girl from the UK.

A body found in Malaysia is “likely” to be that of missing 15-year-old Nora Quoirin, a trust representing her family says.

The London teenager disappeared from the Malaysian jungle resort of Dusun on Sunday, August 4.

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The Lucie Blackman Trust, which is handling media for the Quoirin family, confirmed a body had been found in the search for the teenager.

“At this time we cannot confirm it is Nora. However it sadly seems likely. Investigations are under way to confirm identity and cause of death,” the charity said.

Nora’s mother made a heartfelt appeal on Monday to find her as a STG10,000 ($A17,835) reward was offered for information leading to her safe return.

Her parents, Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin, a French-Irish couple who have lived in London for 20 years, thanked those looking for her as fundraising pages set up by the teenager’s aunt and uncle collected more than STG100,000 from well-wishers.

Voluntary hikers and even reportedly a shaman were among those to have joined the search for Nora, who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly and has special needs.

Appearing before cameras on Monday, a visibly emotional Ms Quoirin said: “Nora is our first child.

“She has been vulnerable since the day she was born.

“She is so precious to us and our hearts are breaking.”

Police leading the investigation have refused to rule out a “criminal element” in the teenager’s disappearance.

4. Israel Folau’s unfair dismissal case may go to trial in February.

Israel Folau and Rugby Australia could face a trial in February if they fail to resolve a multimillion-dollar unfair dismissal case brought by the former Wallaby and staunch Christian.

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Israel Folau GoFundMe
Image: Getty.

Chief Judge Will Alstergren encouraged the parties to settle their dispute via mediation on December 13 when they met at the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne on Tuesday.

If mediation fails, Folau will fight Rugby Australia and the NSW Waratahs at a three-to-five-day trial from February 4 next year.

The timeline means Folau will miss the Rugby World Cup, which will be held in Japan from the end of September.

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Folau wants an apology, $10 million in damages and his contracts reinstated by his former employers, who say the star player breached their code of conduct with a social media post in April.

The 30-year-old paraphrased a Bible passage on his Instagram page proclaiming that hell awaited "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters" if they did not repent.

Folau, who was not present at Tuesday's hearing, says he was unfairly dismissed on religious grounds.

He says he had "no choice but to commence court action" when the parties failed to reach agreement at a Fair Work Commission mediation in June.

Speaking outside court on Tuesday, Folau's solicitor, George Haros, said an apology would "come a long way to resolving the dispute".

"It's been publicly acknowledged by Israel and his team that he still seeks that apology and that's still very important to him," Mr Haros told reporters.

"Israel's very forthright in his views and he's an extremely strong at this stage of the proceeding."

Rugby Australia has applied for the case to be heard in Sydney or by the Federal Court of Australia rather than the Federal Circuit Court.

The sporting body's lawyers have also applied for documents filed during proceedings to remain confidential.

Folau's lawyer, Stuart Wood QC, criticised the applications, saying they were attempts to delay proceedings, adding he wanted Judge Alstergren to be aware of "what's going on in the background".

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"We are conscious that there are going to be attempts to further delay the rights of my client to have this matter quickly dealt with," he said.

The allegation was denied by Rugby Australia lawyer Adam Hochroth, who said the matter wasn't just an employment issue but an important matter of public interest better dealt with by the Federal Court.

Judge Alstergren replied he would not allow anything to delay the case.

If mediation is unsuccessful, the parties will return to court on December 17 for a directions hearing before a trial.

More than 20,000 people have donated about $2.2 million to an Australian Christian Lobby fund set up to contribute to Folau's legal fight.

Folau's Instagram and Twitter pages were temporarily deactivated on Monday without explanation, but went live again the same day before Tuesday's hearing.

5. A long-haul truck driver 'fell asleep' before he crashed on a remote WA highway, killing his colleague.

A long-haul truck driver who killed his colleague in a fiery crash on a remote WA highway tended to work while tired and deliberately moved a fatigue detection system camera the prior month, a court has heard.

Todd Andrew Killiner is on trial in the District Court of WA charged with dangerous driving causing death, accused of causing the October 2017 rollover about 87km from Newman by falling asleep.

The court heard Killiner, 54, and Corey Bluntish, 37, would alternate shifts lasting a maximum of five hours and the accused had almost finished his when the heavy vehicle left the road.

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Mr Bluntish was asleep in a resting place behind the driver's seat and was trapped in the cabin when it was engulfed by fire, while Killiner escaped with minor injuries.

Prosecutor Sean Dworcan told the jury a driver monitoring system detected Killiner closing his eyes for longer than 1.5 seconds on 25 occasions between April and September that year, triggering a loud alert and seat vibrations.

Fed up with them, he turned the camera so it could not capture his face and was recorded doing so, it is alleged.

Mr Dworcan said tyre impressions in gravel on the side of the sealed, straight, flat and dry highway showed the truck had gradually departed from it, "consistent with a driver who had fallen asleep".

There was no evidence of mechanical defects or Killiner being affected by alcohol or drugs, the prosecutor said.

"He knew he was tired and yet he continued to drive," Mr Dworcan said.

Defence counsel Terry Dobson, however, argues his client has continuously maintained he heard a loud bang before the crash, which happened before "a sweeping bend".

Mr Dobson told the court there was a tyre mark on the road just before the point where the truck veered off and while there was no shredded rubber or gouge marks, a crash expert would testify there were other ways for a prime mover's tyres to fail.

The trial is set down for five days.