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Thursday'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. Britt Lapthorne inquest to close today.

Britt Lapthorne, an Australian backpacker on holidays in Croatia was last seen at the Latin Club Fuego in the coastal tourist town of Dubrovnik.

Her body was found in the nearby Boninovo Bay almost three weeks after she disappeared.

The inquest has been seeking answers into the mysterious death of 21-year old Britt Lapthorne after Croatian authorities concluded Ms Lapthorne died due to “misadventure”,

2. Woman on trial in Bali for Australian husband’s murder.

The Indonesian woman accused of murdering her Australian businessman husband has told a court in Bali that she asked her maid’s husband to take care of her problems with her husband, Robert Ellis, not kill him.

Noor Ellis faces charges of pre-meditated murder over the death of her husband Robert Ellis.

Nine News reports that the man who cut the throat of Mr Ellis, 23-year-old Urbanus Yohanes Ghoghi, gave graphic evidence of how the murder was carried out.

“Close his nose and mouth with a pillow only.

“To be neat, basically.”

3. Former Melbourne model turned IS fighter shot dead.

A Melbourne man, Sharky Jama, has reportedly been shot dead while fighting in Syria with Islamic State militants.

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The former model’s father Dada Jama told SBS he received a phone call on Monday informing him his son had been killed.

“He was told by his friends,” Radio Somali broadcaster Ibrahim Mohamed said.

Sharky Jama

He is among about 20 Aus­tralians to have been killed in Syria and Iraq since 2012. For more read this post here. 

4. Chris Lane’s family listen to an account of his final few minutes.

The family of Chris Lane have listened to a witness testify how she frantically called 911 as Chris Lane lay dying from a bullet wound on the side of a road in Oklahoma.

The family of Chris Lane and his girlfriend Sarah Harper wept in the courtroom as they heard testimony of the seven minute 911 call made by Joy Smith, of Duncan, Oklahoma, who was driving down Country Club Road on August 16, 2013 when she saw Lane slumped on the side of the road.

“I barely got past him and he falls flat on the road,” Smith told Duncan’s District Court.

Chris Lane and Sarah Harper.

She told the court  that she started CPR on Lane but he died while waiting for paramedics. She says she tried to shut his “big brown eyes” but wasn’t able to.

“Those big brown eyes were just staring at me,” Linda Prior said.  “I just thought it would be nice to close his eyes.”

On Tuesday the lawyer for Chancey Luna the teenager accused of Lane’s murder admitted that Luna shot the bullet that killed lane but Luna’s lawyers are arguing that Luna was “reckless”, was only trying to “scare the jogger” and had not planned the murder.

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 5. Child sex abuse inquiry: Girl raped at an orphanage told at birth she was ‘having the devil taken out’.

Warning: This item deals with sexual abuse and may be distressing for some readers. 

By William Rollo

A teenager who was raped at a Queensland orphanage and fell pregnant was told by nuns she had the devil inside her, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

The woman, who gave evidence under the name AYL, was raped when she was 14 by a worker at St Joseph’s Neerkol Orphanage, near Rockhampton, in 1965.

She was taken to the Good Shepherd’s home in Brisbane to give birth in front of nuns, who she was not permitted to talk to, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.

“The baby was taken from me by one of the nuns who assisted in the delivery of the baby and was told I was ‘having the devil taken out of me’,” AYL said.

“I do not know the names of any of the nuns who were present, because I was never allowed to speak to them.

“I do not know what happened to the baby.

“I did not comprehend properly what happened.”

It was only later in AYL’s life, when she had her first child, she realised the true nature of the ordeal.

“I felt disgusted and dirty,” she said.

The royal commission is sitting for two weeks in Rockhampton to investigate the St Joseph’s Neerkol Orphange, near the Central Queensland city.

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The inquiry is hearing evidence from former residents of the orphanage, where hundreds of children were physically and sexually abused from the 1940s to 1970s.

Earlier in the day the commission heard from Diane Carpenter, who lived at Neerkol intermittently until she turned 17.

Ms Carpenter said she believed all five of her siblings were sexually abused at the orphanage, where children from the same family were kept apart.

She also recounted to the commission physical punishments dished out by the Sisters of Mercy nuns.

At times she was beaten, shook or belted on her bare bottom with a stick.

“On one occasion I was locked in an extremely hot room and was forced to drink my own urine to stay hydrated,” Ms Carpenter told the commission.

Ms Carpenter also recalled a nun ordering another girl to scrub her.

“I was very brown, you know, black and I was scrubbed with a scrubbing brush,” Ms Carpenter said.

“I still have scars on my back today because it was really hard and it was like somebody was cutting me with a knife.”

Ms Carpenter received about $10,000 compensation from a civil case launched on behalf of Neerkol victims.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC.

If you have suffered sexual abuse or just wish to speak to someone call Bravehearts on 1800 272 831.

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6. Grafton teacher still missing one month on.

Sharon Edwards.

Police are continuing their investigation into the disappearance of Grafton schoolteacher Sharon Edwards who was last seen leaving the Good Intent Hotel in Grafton on March 14.

News Limited reports that dirty clothes found in Mrs Edwards home shows she returned home sometime that night.

Mrs Edwards made no contact with family the next day, on Sunday and did not attend school on Monday.

Her handbag, mobile phone and wallet have not been found.

Police have conducted forensic testing of the two homes and cars belonging to the Edwards family.

7. Google accused of abusing dominance.

After a five-year investigation Google has been accused of abusing its dominance by distorting search results.

Google accused of abusing dominance.

The European Union said in its preliminary findings that they believe the tech firm is “abusing a dominant position by systematically favouring its own comparison shopping products in general search results”.

They also announced they would investigate Google’s conduct regarding the mobile operating system Android.

AFP reports that if found at fault, Google could face fines of up to 10 per cent of its annual sales — in Google’s case, $US66 billion in 2014.

 8. NFL Player found guilty of murder.

In the US ex-NFL star player Aaron Hernandez – who was once on a $41m contract – has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder.

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The former New England Patriots player, aged 25, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Odin Lloyd.

Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Lloyd was shot six times in the middle of the night on June 17, 2013, in a deserted industrial park near Hernandez’s home in North Attleborough.

There was never any motivation for the shooting determined in court.


9. Cotton On under fire for offensive wallpaper in Melbourne store.

Clothing retailer Cotton On has admitted that the wallpaper in its change rooms is offensive and they have said they will remove it immediately.

Melbourne student and retail worker Jennifer Reynoldson tweeted Cotton On saying “Shame on you” after noticing the wallpaper in the Camberwell store

News Limited

“No woman, no matter how she dresses, how low-cut her top is, or how short her skirt may be, deserves to be attacked, or at the very least harassed.

“Yet this quote implies that if a woman dresses to accentuate her figure … or is purely dressing as she pleases, if it does not please a man then she is not fulfilling her role within society.’’

Cotton On has said they will remove it as soon as possible.

10. Poll shows pregnant women not getting the message about alcohol.

A poll has shown that one in ten pregnant women do not believe getting drunk will harm to their unborn baby.

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One in ten drink while pregnant.

One in five women still drink alcohol while pregnant, and 10per cent of women admitted to smoking when pregnant.

The poll revealed by The Daily Mail showed despite repeated warnings the health messages were not getting through.

More than a third of pregnant women ate foods that are not recommended during pregnancy, such as rare meats, certain cheeses, unpasteurised milk and raw shellfish.

 11.Woman finds doppelganger on social media.

A woman has found a complete stranger who looks like she could be her identical twin after launching a social media campaign.

Niamh Geaney, 26, from Dublin, Ireland, said she wanted to find someone who “looks crazily similar to me”.

The TV presenter embarked on a mission with two friends to find their “Twin Strangers”.

And just two weeks after the campaign was launched, Geaney found her doppelgänger – Karen Branigan, 29, who coincidentally lives just an hour away.

Footage of the pair’s first encounter last weekend has been viewed more than 250,000 times since it was uploaded yesterday.

The presenter admits the pair were both “pretty freaked about seeing our double in the flesh”.

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