Trigger warning: This article contains information about suicide which may be triggering to some readers.
1. Man attempting to take his own life when he shot his girlfriend instead now being charged with her murder.
A 21-year-old man from Alaska has been charged with second-degree murder after he accidentally murdered his girlfriend during his own suicide attempt.
Police believe 22-year-old Brittany-Mae Haag was trying to stop her partner, Victor Carl Sibson, from taking his own life in the apartment they shared when she was killed, Alaska Daily News reports.
Brittany-Mae was struck in her chest, and asked a neighbour to call authorities after the incident while still conscious. She later died from her injuries in hospital.
The 22-year-old’s sister, Chelsea Hartman, told KTVA News the pair were “high school sweethearts” who had been together for six years.
“They always seemed happy. Always hugging, always kissing, always for each other. There was no greater love than what they had,” she said.
Brittany-Mae’s mum added that knowing her daughter, it “made sense” she had been trying to save her partner’s life.
“I know that that’s what she would do,” adding that she was still “very angry” about what had happened.
The family also confirmed that her final act of bravery wasn’t her last – some of her organs, including her skin, were donated to help save the lives of others.
Despite his horrific injuries, Victor was saved by doctors, who removed a bullet that had pierced his brain. He appeared in court on Sunday wearing a helmet to cover his head injuries.
He has been jailed on a $250,000 bond and could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted.
If you or someone you know needs help you can call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyondblue 1300 224 636.
2. Three police officers killed, ten people wounded in Jakarta bus explosion.
Two suspected suicide bombers have killed three Indonesian police officers and injured 10 people in twin blasts near a bus station in the eastern part of the capital, AAP reports.
The two attackers are also confirmed as dead, raising the death toll of the attack to five.
The blasts went off five minutes apart at Jakarta’s Kampung Melayu terminal, police said.
National Police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said three officers had been killed, and that examination of the scene had shown that there appeared to have been two suicide bombers, not one as originally thought.
Five officers and five civilians were wounded, he said.
Indonesia has suffered a series of mostly low-level attacks by Islamic State sympathisers in the last 17 months, but Wasisto said police had not confirmed any Islamist motive for Wednesday’s bombing.
“The police officers were on duty to guard a group of people who were holding a parade. The parade hadn’t passed yet when the blast happened,” Wasisto told a news conference.
“The two suspects were both male. Their identities will be released later,” he said.
Authorities in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation are increasingly worried about a surge in radicalism, driven in part by a new generation of militants inspired by Islamic State.
In January 2016, four militants killed four people in a gun and bomb assault in the heart of Jakarta.
While most of the attacks since then have been poorly organised, authorities believe about 400 Indonesians have gone to join the militant group in Syria, and could pose a more lethal threat if they come home.
On Wednesday night, heavily armed police cordoned off the area around the bus station with tape to hold back hundreds of onlookers while bomb disposal officers with protective suits examined the area.
Transport Minister Budi Karya tweeted that he had asked staff to increase vigilance on the city’s transport network.
3. Cairns hospital welcomes 45 babies in just five days during ‘baby boom’.
The halls of a Cairns hospital have been filled with the cries of 45 babies, who were born within five days of each other.
According to the Cairns Post, Cairns Hospital has experienced a ‘major baby boom’ in the past week, with 14 babies being born on one day.
On an average day, the hospital welcomes six babies into the world.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service clinical nurse Terri Curcio said the maternity stuff usually experienced their peak around September, suggesting that two major sporting events could be responsible for the May boom.
Both the footy finals and the Bathurst 1000 took place nine months ago.
“Sometimes we just see peaks and troughs in babies,” she told the Cairns Post.
“It’s a lovely time to give birth in Cairns, I guess, because the weather is just gorgeous.”
4. Sixth arrest made in connection to Manchester attack which killed 22, as Ariana Grande suspends her tour.
Police have arrested six more suspects in Libya and Britain, including the father and brother of the man believed to have carried a bomb into Manchester Arena, as the attack was linked to a terrorist network.
Libyan authorities said special forces had arrested the brother of the suspected Manchester attacker, on Tuesday. The man allegedly confessed that he and his brother were both members of the Islamic State extremist movement, according to a statement by Libyan special forces on Facebook.
The man also said he had visited Britain to help prepare the Manchester attack and he was “clearly aware of the details of this terrorist operation,” the statement said.
LISTEN: We Need To Talk About Manchester.
He had been under surveillance since he left Britain in mid-April and had remained in constant contact with the attacker.
The father of the alleged suicide bomber was also arrested near his home in Tripoli, Libyan authorities said.
In Britain, police arrested four more suspects linked to the attacker, who killed 22 people at Manchester Arena at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
Grande has cancelled all upcoming concerts through June 5 following the bombing, a statement from her manager said.
“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters when asked whether police are looking for a possible bomb maker.
Hopkins declined to elaborate and gave no details about Wednesday’s three arrests in south Manchester and one in the town of Wigan, 25 kilometres from Manchester.
The Wigan suspect was carrying a package which the police were investigating, police said, without giving further details. The most recent arrest was a woman at a Manchester block of flats.
Police announced the arrest of the first suspect, a 23-year-old man rumoured to be the older brother of the attacker, on Tuesday.
Many of Monday’s victims, who included an eight-year-old girl, have yet to be named, with desperate relatives still appealing for help in finding those missing.
Hopkins confirmed on Wednesday that an off-duty policewoman was among those who died.
Prime Minister Theresa May raised Britain’s terrorism threat level to the highest level of “critical” late Tuesday, meaning a further attack is likely or “imminent.”
Armed police will increase patrols and military personnel will be deployed at events such as concerts and sports matches.
If you’d like to support the victims of the attack and their families, you can donate to the Manchester attack victims fund here.
5. Fears for elderly woman and her daughter, who have not been seen in four days.
Victorian authorities are continuing the search for an elderly woman and her disabled daughter who were last seen four days ago.
Benella’s Elizabeth Stephens, 89, and her daughter Judy Stephens, 53, vanished on Sunday afternoon in regional Victoria after ordering a small meal, without alcohol, at Tatong Tavern.
Owner Christopher McCabe told AAP the women ordered the small meal as they were “visiting a relative for dinner that evening” and they did not seem distressed.
He said his wife watched as the pair drive off towards their hometown of Benalla. It was the last time they were seen.
Benalla Local Area Commander Inspector Troy Hargadon said there were “serious concerns for both ladies” due to Ms Stephens’ age and her daughter’s intellectual disability and insulin dependency.
“The circumstances are out of character for the women,” he said on Wednesday.
“There is nothing to say they have been met with foul play.”
The pair were reported missing about noon on Tuesday and a search involving the Air Wing, State Emergency Service and Benalla police started four hours later.
Insp Hargadon said the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Parks Victoria and the SES were part of the search effort.
The women are believed to be travelling in a white 2007 Toyota Yaris with the registration number WAB580.
6. One-year-old boy rushed to hospital after falling from a second-storey window.
A toddler has been taken to hospital with a potentially serious head injury after falling from a second-storey window at a home in NSW’s Blue Mountains.
According to AAP, the one-year-old boy was initially unconscious when paramedics arrived at the Blaxland home on Wednesday but regained consciousness before he was taken by road to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, CareFlight says.
A NSW Ambulance spokesman told reporters the boy had fallen “a number of metres”.
“He’s also sustained a head injury,” he said.
Investigations into the incident are continuing. The boy’s current condition is unknown.
Do you have a story to share with Mamamia? Email us news@mamamia.com.au