RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
THE government has been in power for less than a year, but what has Clive Palmer already calling for Australians to go back to the polls?
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TODAY
● Clive Palmer says Tony Abbott needs to either release a new mini-budget or call an early election
● Pay negotiations have threatened the future of smash US sitcom The Big Bang Theory
● An Australian suicide bomber has reportedly killed three people in Baghdad
● Two Aussie pop queens are dominating the US music scene
● The White House locked down due to suspicious package
● Israel has launched a ground offensive against Hamas on the Gaza strip
LIVE UPDATES
10.01am
That’s it for our live morning news blog RUSH HOUR for the week. Catch up on what has been an intense morning of news below.
10am
Here’s something lighter to round off what has been a heavy morning of news.
A tiny gymnast from Texas has smashed a brutal obstacle course to become the first woman to qualify for the national American Ninja Warrior competition.
Read more about pocket rocket Kacy Catanzaro here.
9.45am
Parliamentary kingmaker Clive Palmer says Tony Abbott needs to either release a new mini-budget or call an early election because the Federal Government’s unpopular Budget measures will never pass the Senate.
The Palmer United Party leader told The Australian Financial Review that the government had tried to ram through too many unpalatable measures at once.
“There are so many things that are unacceptable for most Australians … Ultimately, they will have to have a mini-budget or a double dissolution (election),” he told the AFR.
9.25am
US Broadway veteran Elaine Stritch has died, aged 89.
Stritch made her name with musicals Bus Stop and Sail Away in the 1950s and 60s, both of which she was nominated for a Tony Award for, and her signature song was The Ladies Who Lunch, from Stephen Sondheim’s Company.
Younger readers would recognise her from playing Alec Baldwin’s mother in the Tina Fey sitcom 30 Rock.
9.10am
An Australian suicide bomber has reportedly killed three people in Baghdad in the first case of a local being at the heart of the Iraq jihad.
The Islamic State extremist group announced on Twitter overnight that Abu Bakr al-Australi had detonated an explosives vest yesterday near a Shiite mosque at the Shorja Market in the heart of the Iraqi capital, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The Sunni militant offensive that has overrun much of northern and western Iraq in the past five weeks has caused a spike in violence as fighting rages on new battlefronts across the country.
8.45am
Money has derailed the filming of the new season of one of the world’s biggest sitcoms.
Entertainment news website Deadline reports that the entire original cast of the Channel Nine ratings winner The Big Bang Theory is yet to sign on for the filming of the eighth season, which is set to go into production within a fortnight.
“The two sides are still far apart and there has been little dialogue,” Deadline reports.
The stars — including Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco — are believed to be holding out for a massive pay increase of $US1 million per episode.
Read the full story here.
8.30am
Wife killer Gerard Baden-Clay has launched an appeal of his murder conviction two days after being sentenced.
Baden-Clay, who was found guilty of killing his wife Allison, claims the jury was “unreasonable” and that a “miscarriage of justice” had occurred.
Allison’s family told The Courier-Mail of their anguish at the appeal.
“It’s been a difficult time for the family, just let her rest in peace,” a relative said.
Read the full story here.
8.15am
People selling their cars are urged to be wary of potential buyers after thieves masquerading as customers swiped two high-performance vehicles during test drives in Queensland.
In one recent case, the stunned owner of a BMW 335i, who went along for the ride, was abandoned on a roadside after he got out to swap seats with the “buyer”, according to the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ).
Another thief swiped a Ford Performance Vehicles F6 turbo at the end of a test drive, in front of the owner’s home.
The RACQ has urged anyone selling a vehicle to be aware of the risks and check the identities of potential buyers.
Read more here.
7.45am
It’s the Aussie invasion.
Musicians from Down Under are dominating in the US, with two of our prominent pop queens scoring significant wins.
Mullumbimby rapper Iggy Azalea has received seven nominations in the MTV Video Music Awards, after storming the US charts with her Clueless-inspired clip Fancy.
She is up for Best Pop Video, Best Female Video, Video of the Year and Best Art Direction for Fancy, and also received mentions for her featuring role in Ariana Grande’s Problem.
Meanwhile, Adelaide singer-songwriter Sia has claimed two nominations for her monster pop smash Chandelier, the video of which has been viewed more than 66 million times.
This news follows Sia’s major achievement yesterday of debuting at No. 1 on the US Billboard album charts yesterday with her sixth LP 1000 Forms of Fear.
Sydney’s 5 Seconds of Summer will are also in the running at the VMAs in the Artist to Watch category.
Read the full list of nominations here.
7.30am
UPDATE: The White House has been given the all-clear after a suspicious package put the building into lockdown about an hour ago.
7.15am
Aussie consumers should notice a drop in their power bills after the carbon tax was finally scrapped yesterday.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the ABC last night that he was confident prices would drop noticeably when customers receive their next quarterly power bill.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been given the funding and powers to ensure savings are passed on.
Mr Abbott copped a grilling last night from 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson, who argued that savings created by repealing the price on carbon would be cancelled out by the Federal Government’s proposed GP co-payment. The Prime Minister rejected this, however.
“This is all part of a comprehensive economic plan and all the bits go together,” Mr Abbott said.
“What we lost today was an international aberration because no other country anywhere had an economy-wide carbon tax or emissions trading scheme on this scale.”
6.45am
Israel has launched a ground operation to protect Israeli lives and crush Palestinian militants, the Israel Defence Forces report.
“Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation, the Israel Defence Forces has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza strip,” the army said in a statement.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the PM and Defence Minister had ordered the army to “begin a ground operation and enter Gaza to strike at the terrorist tunnels from the Gaza strip into Israeli territory”.
A statement said the decision was “approved by the security cabinet after Israel agreed to the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, whereas Hamas rejected it and continued firing rockets at Israeli cities.”
Hamas said Israel would pay a high price for the ground offensive.
6.30am
Twenty-seven Australians are believed to be among the dead after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held land in eastern Ukraine.
The plane, which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, had 295 people on board and there are no signs of survivors.
As plumes of black smoke rose up near a rebel-held village of Grabovo in eastern Ukraine, an Associated Press journalist counted at least 22 bodies at the crash site 40km from the Russian border.
Dutch authorities have now confirmed that 27 Australians were on board.
Neither side of the Ukraine conflict have claimed responsibility for shooting the aircraft down.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has set up a hotline for families: 1300 555 135.
Keep up to date with our rolling coverage of this developing story by following these links:
RELATED: Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 ‘shot down’ on Ukraine-Russia border
RELATED: Grim coincidence? Malaysia Airlines hit by second disaster just months after MH370 vanished
6.15am
The centre of power in the US, the White House in Washington DC, has been put into lockdown.
An unattended package on the fence line of the North Lawn has forced the shutdown.
Reporters have been told to confine themselves to the press area and the Secret Service is investigating.
Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, has been cleared.
President Barack Obama has avoided the drama, as he is in Wilmington, Delaware.
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.
Originally published as RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
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