Tuesday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Father allegedly kills his twin teenage daughters in apparent murder-suicide.

Father allegedly shoots and kills 16-year-old twin daughters in apparent murder-suicide: https://t.co/IaNfGGHRwA

— People Magazine (@people) March 12, 2017

A US father has allegedly shot and killed his twin teenage daughters in what police believe is a murder suicide, PEOPLE reports.

Brittany and Tiffany Coffland, both 16, and their father, 48-year-old Randall Coffland were found dead inside their Illinois home. The girls’ mother, Anjum Coffland, was also shot, but is in a stable condition in a local hospital.

Detectives in St Charles have revealed the girls’ deaths was preceded by months of domestic distress between Randall and his wife, who were living apart at the time of the incident.

Police attended the home on February 9, but a report filed after the incident said no arrests were made and “nothing physical happened” between the estranged couple.

Police have also released an audio call to 911 that Randall made after fatally shooting his daughters. In the recording, the father is understood to have confessed to killing the twins and said he had shot his wife.

Anjum also phoned authorities after the husband had died, telling dispatchers, “My girls are dead!”

Friends of the twins have remembered them as “vibrant” and “kindhearted”.

If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT.

If you or a loved one is suffering from depression, Mamamia urges you to contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. 

2. Tourists have been rushed to hospital after their 4WD flipped on Fraser Island.

4WD with eight tourists rolls on Fraser Island, two helicopters airlift injured https://t.co/W7pbJULxJU (News) #melbourne #victoria

— Melbourne Live News (@MelbLiveNews) March 13, 2017

Two tourists have been airlifted to hospital after their 4WD rolled on Queensland’s Fraser Island, AAP reports.

Emergency workers were called to 75 Mile Beach on the eastern side of the island about 7.40am on Monday.

Two tourists were rushed to hospital, while a third was treated for knee pain at the crash.

A woman in her 20s, believed to be a British tourist who was driving when it rolled, was airlifted to Nambour Hospital in a stable condition with head, neck and chest injuries.

A man in his 20s suffering from neck pain was airlifted to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition.

3. Former Sydney private schoolboy held in Bulgaria on terror charges.

Sydney man John Zakhariev fears ‘police provocateur’ set him up in Bulgaria terrorism case. https://t.co/SFfgqJrwIA

— smh.com.au (@smh) March 13, 2017

A Sydney man is in a Bulgarian jail on terrorism charges accused of attempting to join a terrorist group in Syria in 2013.

John Zakhariev is being accused by Bulgarian authorities of attending shooting ranges in the Balkan nation and had “jihadist material” with him, Fairfax Media reports.

The 21-year-old left Waverley College in Sydney in 2012 and has been described as an ordinary student who did his work.

On Monday, the school said it was saddened by the serious allegations regarding his activities since.

“Young men often have questions and challenges they go through and sometimes they make choices that we don’t understand,” Head of College Graham Leddie said in a statement.

“Teenage years can be difficult to navigate and so we ensure that while students make their own life decisions, they have good input and support readily available to help them make the right choices.”

Mr Zakhariev’s sister, Nevena, has accused Australian agencies of not doing enough to help her brother.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it’s providing appropriate consular assistance to “an Australian man detained in Bulgaria”.

It’s understood the Australian ambassador in Bulgaria, John Griffin, visited him in prison in January and another official saw him more recently in March.

The embassy had also been in regular contact with Mr Zakhariev’s father, who died in mid-February, and was updating his next-of-kin on the case.

It’s believed he may appear in a Bulgarian court this Friday.

4. Homicide detectives fear the worst after Brisbane childcare worker ‘vanishes off the face of the earth’.

‘He vanished off the face of the earth’ https://t.co/9h686MYhnW

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) March 13, 2017

Police have grave fears for Brisbane 22-year-old Samuel Thompson after he “vanished off the face of the earth” last week.

Homicide detectives have joined the investigation into the missing Albion man, whose car was found abandoned in northern NSW bushland.

They believe the childcare worker met with foul play after his distinctive orange 2016 Ford Mustang was spotted in the car park of the Deep Water Bend Reserve at Bald Hills around 1pm on Tuesday.

Police have released footage of Mr Thompson in the hope it might spark new leads in an increasingly desperate search for him.

Their priority is piecing together his movements, and those of his car, in the lead-up to its discovery with its windows down at Wooyung in NSW on Thursday.

“The circumstances of Sam’s disappearance are quite concerning in that he’s just vanished off the face of the earth,” Detective Inspector Tim Trezise told reporters on Monday.

Forty officers are on the case and anyone with information about the movements of Mr Thompson or his car – with the personalised Queensland registration SAMMO – is urged to contact police.

5. Thousands of Aussies check their loose change after news $1 coin could be worth thousands.

Australia:> Making a mint: The $1 coin worth thousands – #AU https://t.co/aEPus3A1L9 #Business

— Tweeting Roo ™ (@TweetingRoo) March 13, 2017

Time to check your pockets, because that AU$1 coin hiding in the back of your jeans could be worth as much as 2700 per cent more, according to the Australian Coin Collecting Blog.

A post on the site has gone viral after it pointed out that a 2000 dated $1 coin could be worth $1000 or more.

“You need to look closely at the circular rim of the coin – is it thicker than usual on the Queen side appearing doubled? If you think that’s the case then you might have a coin worth $1000 or more,” the blog reads.

“The value of your rare coin will now depend on the condition after spending 17 years in circulation some coins are more valuable than others.”

The rare coin is known as a $1/10c mule, and is worth “well over face value”.

According to the blog, the 2000 dated coin was ‘created’ when a technician at the Mint in Canberra accidentally paired the image of kangaroos normally found on the $1 coin with the Queen’s head obverse used for the 10c piece.

This head design is “slightly smaller”, meaning the mistake coin appears to have a “thicker double rim”.

6. Scotland’s leader pushes for new independence referendum before Brexit.

Sturgeon seeks #indyref2 vote by spring 2019 https://t.co/bvDwxf8b4H pic.twitter.com/jBDPJUsApv

— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) March 13, 2017

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has demanded a new Scottish independence referendum to be held in late 2018 or early 2019, once the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union are clear.

“If Scotland is to have a real choice – when the terms of Brexit are known but before it is too late to choose our own course – then that choice must be offered between the autumn of next year, 2018, and the spring of 2019,” Sturgeon, who heads Scotland’s pro-independence devolved government, told reporters on Monday.

The prospect of an independence vote in Scotland that could rip apart the United Kingdom just months before an EU exit would add a tumultuous twist to Brexit with uncertain consequences for the world’s fifth-largest economy.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to launch the two-year process of taking the country out of the EU, something which was opposed by most Scots in last year’s Brexit vote.

A second Scottish independence referendum would be divisive and cause huge economic uncertainty at the worst possible time for Britain, a spokesman for May said on Monday.

“Only a little over two years ago people in Scotland voted decisively to remain part of our United Kingdom in a referendum which the Scottish Government defined as a ‘once in a generation’ vote,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“The evidence clearly shows that a majority of people in Scotland do not want a second independence referendum. Another referendum would be divisive and cause huge economic uncertainty at the worst possible time.”

Scots rejected independence by 55-45 per cent in a referendum in September 2014, though the vote energised Scottish politics and support for Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) has surged since then.

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