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About five per cent of adults may have long-term issues with their sense of smell or taste after having COVID-19, new research has suggested.

A study by the National University of Singapore has indicated that at least 15 million adults around the world could have long-term smell deficiencies and at least 12 million adults could be suffering from long-term loss of taste.

The estimates have been made taking into consideration that more than 550 million COVID-19 cases have already been confirmed around the world.

READ MORE: Almost half of Australians have had COVID-19

The research, published in The BMJ, a peer-reviewed medical trade journal published by the British Medical Association, has further found that women are particularly likely to suffer from taste or smell issues after having the virus.

The study analysed the side effects reported by 3699 COVID-19 patients, including both those who did and did not need to be hospitalised for the virus.

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The researchers found that smell loss could persist in 5.6 per cent of patients, while 4.4 per cent may not recover their sense of taste.

At 30 days after initial infection, only 74 per cent of patients reported smell recovery and 79 per cent of patients reported taste recovery.

Recovery rates increased with each passing month, reaching a peak of 96 per cent for smell and 98 per cent for taste after six months.

One patient the researchers spoke to said she has yet to recover her sense of smell more than 27 months after she caught COVID-19.

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Six of the 13 Turpin children – who were tortured in the USA for years by their biological parents – were placed in a foster home where they endured a "second bout" of abuse, including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and their reports were ignored by the foster care agency, an attorney for two of the children says.

"One of the things that we've learned that this family would force these children to do is relive their past over and over and over again," attorney Elan Zektser said on Tuesday.

"They would force these kids for hours to relive what they went through."

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The six children who were in that foster home, and have since been removed, filed two separate lawsuits last week against a foster care service and California's Riverside County. One lawsuit on behalf of four Turpin siblings includes children who are still minors. Zektser is representing the remaining two siblings in the second lawsuit.

Both lawsuits request a jury trial.

The complaints allege that foster care agency ChildNet Youth and Family Services was negligent in its care of the children, saying ChildNet was aware that the foster parents were "unfit" and "had a prior history of physically and emotionally abusing and neglecting children who had been placed in their care", but the agency did not act on that information.

One of the lawsuits alleges the foster care agency went "against the advice of some of its own employees", in placing the Turpin children in that foster home. The six children remained there for three years, the lawsuits say.

"It absolutely broke my heart for these kids that after feeling like they were saved, after finally feeling like someone was there for them, they were placed in another house of horrors," Zektser said.

READ MORE: 'Close to death': Children from Turpin 'house of horrors' speak for first time

"In talking to my clients, they indicate the abuse that happened in this foster home was in some ways worse than the abuse they had endured their whole life."

Brett Lewis, the director of development and communications for ChildNet, told HLN in a statement on Tuesday the agency "is not at liberty to disclose facts or discuss the allegations made in the complaint".

"We look forward to providing the facts at the appropriate time in court. Our agency has been serving California's most vulnerable, traumatised youth for over 50 years. We have a strong track record of providing excellent care and continue to demonstrate our commitment to these children," the statement said.

Riverside County's Department of Social Services told CNN last week that once the county receives a lawsuit, "it is thoroughly reviewed to determine next steps. The county does not comment on pending legal matters or specific juvenile cases due to confidentiality laws".

"Any instance when a child is harmed is heartbreaking. We continue to evaluate our practices with a critical eye and are committed to understanding and addressing the root cause. This includes expanding the availability of quality and safe placements for all children in foster care," the statement said.

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Children reported foster home abuse but were 'shut down'

The lawsuits, which do not name the foster family but call them Mr and Ms O, allege the foster parents and their adult daughter abused the six Turpin children in their care, including by "hitting them in the face with sandals, pulling their hair, hitting them with a belt and striking their heads", the lawsuit that includes the minor children alleges.

Both lawsuits allege the children were forced to "eat excessive amounts of food" and "eat their own vomit". The lawsuit on behalf of the two siblings alleges the foster parents told them "they were worthless and should commit suicide" and would even "suggest how the plaintiffs should commit suicide".

The lawsuit for the four siblings also stated that the foster parents told the siblings they should commit suicide.

Zektser said the Turpin children spoke up about what was happening in the foster home but "many times, they were shut down, they weren't listened to, they were hushed," by employees of the foster care agency.

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"ChildNet knew," Zektser said.

"The prior reports, the reports from other foster families, the reports from these brave Turpin siblings themselves, ChildNet was well aware of what was happening and they did nothing."

The attorney added there were some home visits at the foster home but oftentimes the mandated reporters were not allowed inside and met with the children on an outdoor porch "where they were aware their conversations were being videotaped by the foster family".

"When it gets to the level of the agency itself allowing something like this to happen or the county closing their eyes and allowing something like this to happen, then serious change needs to be made," Zektser said.

"The psychological damages of these children to have to go through this second bout of abuse is beyond anything that… most individuals could even imagine."

Roger Booth, who represents the three minor children and one adult in their lawsuit, said he hopes the case "sheds light" on issues in the foster care system.

"That's happening to kids who are sort of famous and the whole world is watching," Booth told HLN last week.

"There may be problems that are deeper affecting all sorts of kids."

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The foster parents and their daughter were arrested in March 2021 after a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation on charges of false imprisonment and child cruelty, among others, according to the lawsuits. The children were removed from their home.

When asked about a criminal investigation into ChildNet, the district attorney's office told HLN in an emailed statement that they "are prohibited by law and prosecutorial ethics from confirming or denying any investigations".

David and Louise Turpin, the Turpin children's biological parents, were each sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to holding captive and torturing their 13 children, who ranged in age from two to 29.

Australia's winter sky is set to be illuminated by three colourful meteor showers for the next four nights.

The peak of three meteor showers – called Piscis Austrinids, Alpha Capricornids, and Southern Delta Aquariids – are expected to occur from Thursday, July 28 to Sunday, July 31.

The Piscis Austrinids meteor shower is meant to peak first, beginning tonight, while the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids will both peak on Saturday.

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Meteor showers' peak periods tend to last for about 48 hours.

The showers will be best visible from the Southern Hemisphere, meaning Australians should have prime viewing.

Macquarie University astronomer Professor Orsola De Marco has said the spectacular light shows will all come from the same area of the night sky.

She has advised that Alpha Capricornids could be particularly spectacular, with the shower able to produce very bright 'fireball' meteors that appear to fall slowly across the sky.

Alpha Capricornids comes from comet 169P-NEAT, which split from a different comet around 3000 years ago.

READ MORE: Meteor that hit Earth 50,000 years ago could revolutionise technology

The three showers will peak during the dark sky of a new moon, and between them may produce around 35 meteors per hour at their peak.

What is a meteor shower?

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet's tail, the National Geographic has explained.

The particles that comets shed create colourful streaks, known as a meteor shower, when they collide with the atmosphere.

To best view a meteor shower, people are advised to get away from bright lights.

Midnight is also said to be the best time to view them, once the moon has set.

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If there's four fences between you and a crocodile, most people would probably want to leave them intact.

But a group of thieves in the Northern Territory decided on a different course.

Sometime between 7pm on Tuesday night and 6am Wednesday, some unknown offenders cut through said fences and broke into a business on Gunn Point Road in Howard Springs, south-east of Darwin.

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Police said they took a number of items including a computer, tools and fuel.

They also picked up what police described as a "small pet crocodile".

Anybody with information, including dash-cam footage, is urged to contact police on 131 444, and quote reference 10070596.