Wednesday'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. No survivors after Germanwings crash in French Alps.

There has been another airline tragedy overnight with an Airbus A320, travelling from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashing over French Alps.

The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed that two Australians were on board the flight believed to be a mother and her adult son from Victoria.

The plane was a part of Lufthansa’s low-cost arm – Germanwings. The plane carrying 150 people disappeared off the radar before crashing near Digne-les-Bains.

The plane plunged for eight minutes before crashing into a remote part of the Alps.

Among the 150 passengers were sixteen schoolchildren and two teachers from a high school in the German town of Haltern. The students had been on an exchange in Spain. The majority of the students were young girls.

The Airbus A320 plane was 25 years old. Experts have said the aircraft would have been nearing the end of its commercial life after more than 24 years of service.

For more read this post here.

2. Newborn baby mistakenly given to the wrong mother.

A terrible mix-up in a Melbourne hospital has seen a mother given the wrong newborn for close to an hour.

Samantha and Nick Stuhlener had their baby boy Levi at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in January. It was more than 45 minutes before staff realised there had been a mistake and they and been given the wrong baby.

The couple were told there had been a mistake with the identification IDs – with nurses failing to cross check the IDs and so they mistakenly brought Mr and Mrs Stuhlener someone else’s newborn son.

An emotional Ms Stuhlener said that while the hospital assures her Levi was not taken to another room – but remained in the settling room she has concerns that her baby may have been fed by another mother.

For more read this post here.

3. Defence to undergo major shake-up.

News Limited reports that a major shake up is expected for Defence after a review found it was rife with waste and inefficiency.

The Australian reports that the review found 80 % of the department’s managers supervised fewer than five staff

The restructure, expected to be unveiled soon by the government, will streamline the top-heavy Defence Department and its agencies, slash the number of administrators and improve ­efficiency.

“Defence is suffering from a proliferation of structures, processes and systems with unclear accountabilities,” the report says. “These in turn cause institutionalised waste, delayed decisions, flawed execution, duplication, a change-resistant bureaucracy, over-escalation of issues for decision and low engagement levels among employees.”

 4. Questions over PM’s use of VIP travel.

Latika Burke has reported for Fairfax Media that the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements are under scrutiny after he flew to Melbourne for a private donor’s birthday party on Sunday via a taxpayer-funded jet.

Fairfax reports that Mr Abbott travelled from Brisbane to Sydney on Sunday then on to Melbourne where he attended a birthday party for Liberal party donor Paul Marks.

Marks has personally donated $250,000 to the Liberal Party and is the head of a corporation that has donated $500,000.

The opposition have demanded the Prime Minister detail what  “other work related engagements” in Melbourne on Sunday.

A spokesman for the PM said, “All travel was undertaken within the rules.”

5. Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview sexual abuse allegations known to Jesuits for a decade.

By Jessica Kidd.

Allegations of child sexual abuse at a prestigious Sydney boys school, which were reported to police this week, have been known about by the body that governs the school for more than a decade.

The allegations have been made by a former student of Saint Ignatius College, Riverview on Sydney’s lower north shore and date back more than 30 years.

The ABC understands the allegations have come to light now because the alleged offender is facing charges over similar matters in South Australia.

The principal of the private school, Paul Hine, wrote to the old boys yesterday informing them a former student had made the allegations.

But the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus, which governs the school, learned of the complaint from the former student over 10 years ago.

In a statement, the head of the Australian Jesuits Father Brian McCoy said the body encouraged the former student at the time to go to the police, but he chose not to.

He said the complainant was referred to Towards Healing, an agency of the Catholic church which was developed to support those who have been victims of child abuse.

“When the complaint came up in Sydney, we – my predecessors – referred the complainant to Towards Healing, which the Jesuits joined about the same time,” Father McCoy said.

“We encouraged him to go to the police but the complainant, as I understand it, chose to not press charges.”

The school was told of the allegations four weeks ago by the Professional Standards Office of the Australian Jesuits and the principal, Mr Hine, took the step of informing the students and alumni yesterday.

“Rather than sit on that, we thought it necessary to go out to our community in the event that anybody else had been adversely affected in the past by anybody involved in this school,” Mr Hine said.

Mr Hine said the school’s policies mean no current students are at risk.

“The current environment, it’s absolutely inconceivable that anything like this could happen,” Mr Hine said.

Mr Hine said the matter had been reported to police and the school was assisting the Jesuits’ professional standards office with its investigations.

In the letter sent out to students and alumni on Monday, Mr Hine wrote he would also tell the boys at the school about the allegations.

“I am also communicating with all the boys today, in an age-appropriate manner, so that they do not hear about this matter in a piecemeal way or in a situation where they have no reassurances,” he wrote.

He said the school took its duty of care seriously and he believed procedures at the school to safeguard students were of the highest standard.

If you need to talk contact Bravehearts for survivors of child sexual abuse 1800 272 831 or 1800 RESPECT:  1800 737 732

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission. 

6. Woman sues bootcamp after tripping over a tyre.

A nurse who fell over a tyre at a bootcamp session is suing her fitness trainers.

The Herald Sun reports that 55-year old Kathleen McLaren has launched County Court action against northern suburbs company Body Revival Health and Fitness after tripping over the “hazard” during her workout.

It is reported that she suffered psychological injuries including stress, anxiety and depression as well as damaging both her elbows.

The tyre is thought to have been placed on the ground as a corner-point in an exercise course.

She says in a writ that trainers did not give her “adequate warning … of the danger to which she was exposed” and that they had failed to properly supervise the exercise program so that “participants did not suffer harm”.

7. Bali Nine lawyers back in court today.

The lawyers for Bali Nine pair Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan will today go back to court in Indonesia to fight for another appeal.

Their case had been adjourned last week.

The two men have not yet been given a date for their execution.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Nine Network on Monday the government was still pushing for clemency.

“The legal proceedings are still underway and I don’t expect to see any change or any information emanating from the government until such time as the legal avenues have been fully pursued”.

8. Australians playing “highly questionable” roles as middlemen in Asian commercial surrogacy markets.

One of the country’s top judges has called into question Australia’s role in commercial surrogacy saying that overseas baby markets were like the “Wild West” and that Australians should find it “deeply disturbing” to be “so heavily involved in what amounts to the production and sale of newly-born children”.

“My concern is the number of Australians involved in middlemen and often in activities that are highly questionable at the very least,” Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge John Pascoe told a parliamentary committee.

He singled out Thailand as a concern.

“I am very concerned, and anecdotally I am told, that there are Australians very much involved in the surrogacy clinics,”

“One of them is now both recruiting potential surrogate mothers and looking for commissioning parents in Australia and telling them, ‘Don’t worry about it; the law will change”.

News Limited reports that the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee which delivered its report to parliament yesterday, found that Australian parents are still not required to undergo criminal background checks before they obtain passports for their surrogate babies.

9. Outrage of lack of awareness over rape of young girl.

The Northern Territory’s chief minister has criticised media coverage of the alleged rape of a seven-year-old Aboriginal girl.

Mr Giles has said that if the young girl had been white the story would have been reported differently.

On March 8th the ABC reported that an Aboriginal girl at a town camp outside of Alice Springs had been raped. NT Police media released this statement in regards to the alleged crime

“Alice Springs Police have arrested and charged a 29-year-old man following the sexual assault of a minor.”

“He was refused bail overnight, to appear in Alice Springs Magistrates Court today (Tuesday).”

Chief Minister Adam Giles has attacked the media coverage.

“The saddest part is it was a little blip on the media radar. It raised a few column inches and it disappeared,” he said.

“One can only think that if it was a blonde-haired blue-eyed little girl it would have made the front page of media around the country.

“But a little Aboriginal kid in the Hidden Valley town camp … it’s just not been noticed and I think it’s quite disgusting.”

Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie said the allegations of racist reporting were “heinous” when no information on the alleged rape had been released in the first place.

“Don’t blame people who weren’t provided information from the very government that is now seeking to blame them,” she said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot of pressure on police in terms of what goes out in the media domain, that fits with the culture of cover-up in the (Country Liberal Party).”

10. Funeral for Riley Hughes.

The funeral for the Perth baby who died from whooping cough at just four weeks of age will take place today.

Catherine and Greg Hughes are pushing for a Federal approach to whooping cough vaccinations calling on Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to establish a nationally co-ordinated free immunisation program against whooping cough.

11. Pregnant mother refused glass of sparkling wine.

A pregnant mother in New Zealand just weeks out from giving birth to her second child says she is “flabbergasted” after a bar refused to serve her a glass of sparkling wine.

The New Zealand Herald reports that Nichola Hayes asked for a glass of wine to go with a pizza she was having with her husband, Nick.

After she ordered a glass of wine the waitress left before returning a few minutes later without the drink. She says the waitress told her “she thought she had misunderstood me and asked if I was pregnant.

“I said, yes, and she said she was uncomfortable serving pregnant women alcohol.”

Nichola Hayes asked the bar manager and he said it was his licence under which the restaurant was operating “and he could refuse to serve me alcohol at his discretion for health reasons.

“He said that at his bar manager training it was stressed they were not to serve alcohol [to pregnant women].”

She says she is a consenting adult who is 36.5 weeks pregnant and knows the warnings. She felt the establishment was “pushing the boundary of host responsibility and being just a little bit too cautious”.

“If I was in their shoes and a woman who was pregnant was ordering up large, I’d be questioning it as well,” she said.

“But I’m an educated woman who knows the limits and have been so careful throughout the whole pregnancy.

“I thought right, this is our one night out, I’d have one glass of bubbles – I wouldn’t do anything more than that.”

Ms Hayes said “I do see both sides of the story but at the same time many women drink within the first three months of pregnancy without knowing they are pregnant and when the foetus is at its most vulnerable.”

Social media has come down heavily on the side of the waitress with many saying “Good on the bar. 36.5 weeks pregnant.. Surely she can wait 4.5 weeks to have a glass.. . Personal choice maybe but where’s the baby’s choice?”

Others ” Good on them for sticking to their guns..I am raising a child who I adopted from NZ with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and what these women don’t seem to realise that all it takes is one..I said ‘ONE’ drink of alcohol at any stage of the pregnancy to do severe damage to the unborn child.”

Though some felt it is personal choice.

” In my opinion one drink at such a late stage in pregnancy is entirely up to the pregnant woman. Yes the bar was acting responsibly but it is up to the mother whether she chooses to drink in moderation during HER pregnancy.”

12. AFL player jailed on domestic violence charges.

By ABC.

Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens has been sentenced to eight months in jail on charges relating to domestic violence.

Stevens was found guilty in January of assault, threats to kill and intentionally causing injury to his ex-partner while they were dating in 2012 and 2013.

The 34-year-old, who played 231 games for Carlton and Port Adelaide before retiring in 2009, told his former girlfriend he was going to kill her and her dad after smashing her face into a tiled kitchen wall, the court had previously heard.

He also caused grazing to her face on a separate occasion by pushing her head into the outside wall of a house, and pushed and kicked her when she threw wine at him during a fight.

The Ringwood Magistrates Court later heard Stevens breached an intervention order more than 2,500 times in two months, mostly in text messages to his former girlfriend.

The court was told many of the messages were abusive and threatened self-harm.

It also heard the victim felt threatened and manipulated to maintain a relationship with Stevens.

Stevens pleaded guilty to breaching the intervention order.

He had been coaching SANFL club Glenelg but was sacked after being found guilty of the charges.

This article was originally published by the ABC and was republished here with full permission.

What news are you talking about today?