RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
A NEW York newspaper has shocked by referring to US President Barack Obama as a “n****r”. Cue backlash.
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● A New York newspaper has shocked by referring to US President Barack Obama as a “n****r”
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10am
That’s it for our RUSH HOUR live news blog for this morning. You can get across the stories you need to know today below.
9.35am
A Melbourne woman who was named on Interpol’s top 10 wanted list has been found in Dublin.
The fugitive, Lisa Marie Smith, fled Thailand in 1996 while on bail for drugs charges.
The Irish Sun has reportedly found her running a cafe.
Ms Smith had been at the centre of global search after being arrested at Bangkok Airport at the age of 20 with a backpack full of drugs as she was about to board a flight to Tokyo.
She was accused of smuggling 4kg of cannabis resin and 565 amphetamine tablets.
9.20am
Justice Crew have achieved something that Australia’s biggest chart toppers — including Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem and Guy Sebastian — have never been able to.
The Sydney dance troupe, who came to national prominence through Australia’s Got Talent, are the first Australian act to have a No. 1 on the ARIA charts for nine weeks straight.
The record breaking run of their song Que Sera beats the previous best performance by Austen Tayshus, whose song Australiana was No. 1 for eight consecutive weeks 31 years ago.
9.10am
BONES have been discovered beneath the floorboards of a Queensland home.
The 100-year-old house in Ipswich was recently bought by a new owner and while they were renovating the building they discovered six bones, The Courier-Mail reports.
Forensic testing will be undertaken to determine if the bones are human.
8.45am
If you missed The Voice last night, the singing contest’s final eight contestants have been revealed.
The acts that remain are Sabrina Batshon, Jackson Thomas, Kat Jade, Johnny Rollins, Holly Tapp, Frank Lakoudis, ZK and Anja Nissen.
Last night’s show included the shock elimination of brother-sister folk duo Gabriel and Cecilia, but this may not be the end for the talented duo with coach will.i.am inviting them to collaborate with him on his next album.
Read our full recap here.
8.35am
A fan caught on camera sleeping during a baseball game in New York has lawyered up, suing ESPN for $10 million over what he calls an “avalanche of disparaging words” against him.
The man dozed off during a game in April at Yankee Stadium and he says the commentators unleashed an “unending verbal crusade … knowing and intending the same to be heard and listened to by millions of people all over the world,” the New York Post reports.
“These unmitigated verbal onslaughts crossed the line between reporting on sport and abuse against the plaintiff without reasonable cause or restraint,” the Yankees fan said in a suit filed against the sports network.
8.15am
There are lengthy traffic cues in Brisbane this morning after a truck crash on the Gateway Bridge.
The vehicles involved have been cleared but traffic is still heavily congested.
Avoid the area if possible.
8am
Country-pop darling Taylor Swift has made a surprisingly insightful assessment of the future of the music industry in an opinion piece for an esteemed US newspaper.
Swift writes in The Wall Street Journal that, in the face of drastically reduced album sales, the only way for artists to cut through and be successful is to pour their heart and soul into their music.
“In mentioning album sales, I’d like to point out that people are still buying albums, but now they’re buying just a few of them. They are buying only the ones that hit them like an arrow through the heart or have made them feel strong or allowed them to feel like they really aren’t alone in feeling so alone. It isn’t as easy today as it was 20 years ago to have a multi-platinum-selling album, and as artists, that should challenge and motivate us,” she wrote.
Read all her full thoughts here.
7.45am
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Australia to talk trade with Tony Abbott — and it could all result in cheaper stuff for us.
As our finance editor Victoria Craw explains this morning, Australia will today sign a historic free trade agreement with Japan that could see prices fall on everything from electronics to sake.
Expect cheaper laptops and cars as a result.
Find out more about how the agreement will affect you here.
7.25am
A New York newspaper has shocked by referring to US President Barack Obama as a “n****r”.
Writer James Lincoln Collier wrote an opinion piece for this month’s WestView News, which carried the headline “The N****r in the White House”.
Although the headline has caused condemnation, it was actually a pro-Obama story, that argued that far-right opposition to the President was caused by the colour of his skin, The Independent reports.
The paper has apologised for the headline, saying the decision to use the N-word was “wrong”.
A Newspaper Actually Used a Headline Calling Obama The N-Word In The White House http://t.co/eZnevpdmrR pic.twitter.com/hpWY5DB0tk
— R Joseph (@rjoseph7777) July 7, 20147am
A newborn boy is among the five confirmed deaths after a strong, 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked the border region of Mexico and Guatemala on Monday.
At least 40 others were injured in the tremor, which damaged dozens of buildings, triggered landslides, cracked buildings and downed powerlines.
The baby died when a hospital ceiling collapsed on him, Reuters reports.
Read more here.
6.45am
The High Court has scuttled the Abbott Government’s attempts to return 153 asylum seekers to Sri Lanka.
In an urgent hearing last night, a judge granted an interim injunction that will stop the Australian Navy from returning the people, who claim to be Tamil refugees, to their home soil.
The asylum seekers were spotted more than a week ago about 250km off Christmas Island.
Read more in The Australian.
6.30am
An Iranian man, 35, was charged with murder late last night after he allegedly plunged a knife into another man over and over in front of horrified shoppers a western Sydney mall.
The man allegedly attacked his girlfriend’s former boyfriend with a knife the size of a machete near Myer’s cosmetics section inside the packed Westfield Parramatta shopping centre at 10.30am yesterday.
A shopper having coffee with a friend nearby said he watched in horror as the man paced next to the body “like an animal protecting its prey”.
The accused was denied police bail and will appear in Parramatta Local Court today.
Read the full story here.
6.01am
More details have emerged about what happened the night a polar bear dragged a schoolboy from his tent and mauled him to death.
The inquest has begun into the death of Eton student Horatio Chapple, 17, who died on an expedition to Norway in August 2011, the BBC reports.
The bear approached the tent through the north-western side of a precautionary trip-wire system but none of the warning mines exploded.
“It would appear likely that the bear must have ripped open the tent on Horatio’s side. It then dragged Horatio out causing serious, indeed probably mortal wounds to his head,” a report heard at the inquest.
Trek leader Richard Payne has admitted there were “deficiencies and failures” with their equipment.
Horatio’s parents thought he would be equipped with a pen flare to frighten bears and that the trip leader would have a weapon in case of an attack, but pen flares were only made available to team leaders.
The inquest continues.
6am
Good morning, and welcome to our “headlines in a hurry” news coverage. We’ll be bringing you the morning’s biggest stories so you can get across the news quickly.
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