Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes.

1. Jerusalem terror attack victims named

The victims of a horrific terrorist attack inside a Jerusalem synagogue have been named.

Two Palestinians armed with axes and a handgun burst inside the synagogue in the Har Nof area of West Jerusalem.

They set upon the worshippers, hacking four to death and wounding another eight before being shot dead by police.

The men have been names as British passport holder Avraham Shmuel Goldberg and three who held American citizenship,  Kalman Zeev Levine, 55,  Moshe Twersky, 59, and Aryeh Kupinsky, 43.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, vowed to hit back with a “heavy hand” and immediately convened a meeting of the security cabinet to discuss future measures.

 2. Immigration Minister cuts off access to Australia for refugees in Indonesia.

The government has made it more difficult for refugees to enter the country by changing the ability of asylum seekers in Indonesia to be eligible for resettlement.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced yesterday that asylum seekers who registered with refugee agency UNHCR in Indonesia on or after 1 July 2014 would no longer be eligible for resettlement.

The changes should cut the movement of asylum seekers to Indonesia, said Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

“While nine of 10 months of 2014 have passed without a successful people-smuggling venture to Australia, we know smugglers continue to encourage asylum seekers to travel illegally to Indonesia for the purpose of seeking resettlement in Australia,’ Mr Morrison said in a statement.

“These changes should reduce the movement of asylum seekers to Indonesia and encourage them to seek resettlement in or from countries of first asylum,” he said.

Australia will continue to resettle some refugees who registered with UNHCR in Indonesia before 1 July 2014.

Fairfax Media reports that Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power said the decision was “absolutely outrageous.”

“This will put Indonesia under even more pressure,” he said.

“This a clear message that Australia does not care about its regional neighbours.”

 3. Will the pill be made available without a script?

A proposal to make the pill available over the counter without a script is set to come before the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s Advisory Committee on Medicines and Chemicals Scheduling.

News Limited report that the plan would mean women could obtain the pill from a pharmacist but would need to fill in a questionnaire about family history of heart problems, hypertension and stroke.

The plan has been opposed by the AMA who sat that doctors need to be involved as the pill can cause strokes.

4. Woman dies after fall from cliff top

A woman has fallen to her death from a cliff top while camping with her partner near Mermaid Pools, south-west of Sydney, police say.

The 38-year-old woman’s body was found at the base of a cliff.

Her partner called police about 8.30 last night to say she had fallen.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.

5. Closing the Gap report

A Productivity Commission report to be released today on Indigenous Australians has found that while life expectancy for indigenous Australians is increasing and child mortality falling, rates of family and community violence in indigenous Australians is unchanged and hospitalisation for self-harm is rising at an alarming rate.

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage, Key Indicators 2014 report also found that there has been little change in alcohol and substance use and harm over time.

The report reveals that indigenous child protection cases increased from 30 per 1000 children in 2009-10 to 38 per 1000 children in 2012-13.

Fairfax Media reports that there has been an improvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teenagers completing year-12 and post-secondary education outcomes.

 6. ABC funding cuts

Full details of the Government’s cuts to the ABC’s budget are expected to be revealed as early as today by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Turnbull has already flagged funding for the national broadcaster will be reduced by five per cent over the next five years.

The ABC’s Media Watch program reported the Government will cut the broadcaster’s budget by $50 million a year, on top of the $9 million announced in the May budget.

According to the program, state editions of 7.30 are set to be axed, and Lateline will be pared back along with the bureaus in Tokyo, Bankgok, New Delhi and New Zealand as a result of the budget cuts.

This item originally appeared here .

7. Female police recruits forced to undergo virginity test

A human rights group has reported that Indonesian female police recruits are forced to undergo a “two-fingered” virginity test before they can enter the police force.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the practice as degrading and traumatising.

For more read this post here.

8. Work life Balance getting worse

A report has found that work/life balance is getting worse for Australians with the average full-time worker doing six hours of unpaid overtime each week.

The Australia Institute think tank says this is worth an estimated $9471 a year.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that 46% of people are expected to work longer hours and 27% said their position had become insecure.

9. Woman who faked domestic violence refused bail

A Canberra woman who pretended she was a victim of domestic violence has pleaded not guilty to a series of fraud and theft charges.

32-year old Delphine Maree Charles pretended she was a victim of domestic violence when she knocked on doors of Canberrans saying she was in danger and needed help.

The Canberra Times reports that the court heard she stole a credit card and a bank card on one occasion, using them to purchase goods.

She was denied bail.

10. Pauline Hanson to return to politics

The Courier Mail reports that Pauline Hanson is set to return to One Nation as “national chairman and leader”.

The One Nation web page has a statement by Queensland State President Jim Savage saying the former politician was taking up the role.

“We have been given the opportunity to revitalise the party with Pauline Hanson taking on the role of National Chairman and Leader of the party,” he said.

“It is now time to rebuild the party and stand credible candidates in upcoming elections.

11. State of Emergency in Jackson

The Governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in preparation for a grand jury decision on whether to indict a white police officer for shooting to death an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, three months ago.

The decision, to be handed down mid-to-late November, is expected to be met with a tough protest and anger afterwards reports CBS NEWS.

Many assume the jury will decide against indicting the Ferguson officer, Darren Wilson.

The state of emergency allows the National Guard to patrol the St Louis area.

 12. World has 38.5 million slaves

The second annual edition of the Walk Free Foundation’s Global Slavery Index released yesterday has found that almost 36 million people are subject to modern slavery.

While slavery was found in every one of the 167 countries surveyed, five countries accounted for nearly 22 million slaves.

The worst five were India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia. India, accounted for an estimated 14.29 million people.

Australia had an estimated 3000 people in slavery. The report stated “nationals from across the Asia Pacific and South-East Asia are trafficked into Australia for forced labour in construction, agriculture, hospitality, domestic service and the sex industry.”

13. Twin study provides evidence gay people born gay

A study has provided further proof that people are born with a gene that predisposes them to being gay.

Reported in New Scientist the study provides the strongest evidence yet that gay people are born gay.

Alan Sanders of the NorthShore Research Institute in Illinois said that the study clearly links sexual orientation in men with two regions of the human genome that have been implicated before, one on the X chromosome and one on chromosome 8.

“It erodes the notion that sexual orientation is a choice,” he said.

14. Oxford Dictionary word of the year

And to the surprise of many 2014’s International Word of the Year as voted by Oxford Dictionary is “vape.”

The use of the word has gained popularity as the electronic cigarette industry explodes.

The Oxford Dictionary defines it

v. Inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device.

or

n. An electronic cigarette or similar device; an act of inhaling and exhaling the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device.

Other words shortlisted for word included “bae” – a term of endearment, “indyref” and “contactless”.