RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
IT was the story that broke the world’s heart — that a little girl was tossed out of a KFC because of her disfigured face. But was the whole story made up?
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TODAY
● What happened when the Queen visited the Game of Thrones set overnight
● Rebekah Brooks cleared of phone hacking charges in the UK
LIVE UPDATES
10am
That’s it for our RUSH HOUR live news blog for this morning. Get across the stories you need to know today below.
9.40am
The campaign to free Australian journalist Peter Greste from jail has been dealt a major blow with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declining pleas to intervene in the case.
The Al Jazeera journalist was sentenced to seven years’ jail this week for spreading false news and supporting former prime minister Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The case has been condemned by journalists and politicians worldwide, but Mr Sisi has used a speech to graduating soldiers to say he would not interfere in judicial matters.
“We have to respect judicial rulings and not comment on them even if others don’t understand them,” Mr Sisi said.
Greste’s brothers Andrew and Mike were hopeful of a presidential pardon, but they say they’ll never stop fighting for his freedom.
News Corp’s Kristin Shorten writes more on the issue here, explaining why Australians should care about Peter Greste.
9.15am
Would you pay to watch the ABC?
That is one of the proposals in a controversial government-commissioned review into the national broadcaster and the SBS.
As it stands, viewers can access hundreds of hours of ABC programming for free through its web-based catch-up service iView, but The Australian reports that the review recommends creating a pay-per-view system for some of this content.
The report aims to make the public broadcasters, which cost taxpayers’ $1.4 billion a year, more efficient. The government is yet to respond to the report.
8.55am
A radio executive has scotched rumours that disgraced DJ Mel Greig is returning to the airwaves on Kiis FM.
There were whispers yesterday that Greig, who was involved in the 2012 royal hoax call that went terribly wrong, was teaming up with Big Brother winner Tim Dormer for a new radio show, but a source told The Daily Telegraph that “they are definitely not going to Kiis together”.
8.50am
That’s gotta hurt.
The World Cup’s most hated identity, Luis Suarez, has done it again, with Italian centre-back Giorgio Chiellini insisting that the Uruguay footballer bit him during this morning’s match between the two teams.
“He bit me, it’s clear, I still have the mark,” Chiellini said after the match.
This is not the first time that Suarez has been accused of having a taste of his opposition, but he shrugged off the latest incident to Uruguayan television
“These are just things that happen out on the pitch,” he said.
For the record, Uruguay took the match 1-0. Stay up to date with the World Cup with our live blog here.
8.30am
The numbers aren’t adding up for Tony Abbott’s controversial federal Budget.
The Greens and Labor are committed to standing in the way of $33 billion worth of budget savings, creating a political headache for the government, according to The Australian.
Christine Milne says the Greens will oppose raising the petrol tax, despite indicating that she would support the indexation of the fuel excise six weeks ago.
Labor has also vowed to defend a $876 annual payment that the government was keen to cut that goes to 290,000 seniors who do not qualify for the age pension.
The opposition parties obstructions are likely to impact the Budget bottom line and challenge the government’s pledge to bring the national accounts under control.
8.15am
There has been widespread outrage over an event planned for the Sydney Opera House where a Muslim leader was tipped to defend honour killings.
The Festival of Dangerous Ideas has canned the event, at which Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar was set to deliver a speech entitled “honour killings are morally justified”, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Honour killings involve murdering woman considered to have shamed their families.
The speech, scheduled for August 30, was removed from the festival’s program after criticism from the NSW Government, among others.
Mr Badar defended the provocative conversation topic on Twitter.
Hysteria wins out. Opera house cancels my session at #FODI. Welcome to the free world, where freedom of expression is a cherished value.
— Uthman Badar (@UthmanB) June 24, 2014 Sub-type: comment CAPTION: Hysteria wins out. Opera house cancels my session at #FODI. Welcome to the free world, where freedom of expression is a cherished value.— Uthman Badar (@UthmanB) June 24, 2014
One critic Tweeted this: “Any one who condones or justifies the murder of defenceless women is a gutless creep’’. Mr Badar responded: “I’m with you on that. Calm down.”
7.50am
Two people are dead after two gunmen opened fire in a Miami apartment complex early Tuesday morning, US time.
Seven other people were injured in one of the worst mass shootings in the US city in decades.
Police believe the two men stepped out of a dark SUV with two high-powered automatic weapons, sprayed the crowd with bullets and then fled.
The gunmen are still at large.
7.30am
Victorians were battered yesterday, but the wild weather is expected to continue today.
Extreme winds up to 138km/h flipped trucks, sent playground equipment into homes, flooded roads and flattened trees yesterday.
SES spokesman Stefan Delatovic said there were still 400 requests for assistance remaining from 3030, with the bulk of destruction in Melbourne’s south-east and southern suburbs.
Victorians have been told to stay inside and drive only if necessary today, as authorities fear lives could be in danger when wild weather continues today, according to the Herald Sun.
7.10am
Nigerian militants Boko Haram are suspected of abducting 91 more people, including toddlers as young as 3, in fresh attacks at the weekend.
The kidnappings come less than three months after more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in a mass abduction, AFP reports. Those girls are still captive.
The most recent victims included 60 girls and women and 31 boys, witnesses said.
A local official confirmed the abductions, but security forces denied them.
6.50am
It was the story that broke the world’s heart — that a disfigured three-year-old girl was tossed out of a KFC restaurant in the US because her face was scaring other customers.
But a newspaper in Mississippi is reporting that the story, which made headlines worldwide, is completely bogus.
Sources have told the Laurel Leader-Call that the story was a fabrication that defrauded the public of more than $135,000 in donations, along with gifts and free surgery.
Victoria Wilcher was mauled by three of her grandfather’s pit bulls, and her family started a social media campaign for money after alleging that a KFC in Jackson, Mississippi, asked her and her grandmother to leave because of her disfigured face on May 15.
Sources have now told the paper that surveillance footage showed there were no people who matched the description of Victoria or her grandmother on the day in question.
The grandmother said she ordered sweet tea and mashed potato with gravy, but store records show that no one ordered those menu items that day.
There were also discrepancies about which store in Jackson the incident occurred in.
“It just didn’t happen,” the source said.
Read the full details here.
6.25am
The former editor of the News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, has been cleared of phone hacking charges in a surprising end to Britain’s long-running media trial.
The flame-haired former confidant of News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was overtaken by emotion when the verdict was handed down and she mouthed “thank you” as the charges were cleared.
The news was not as good for Brooks’ former colleague, another News of the World former editor Andy Coulson, who now faces jail after being found guilty of plotting to hack phones.
The verdicts mark the end of a 130-day trial and eight days of jury deliberation in a scandal that led to Murdoch’s UK Sunday tabloid being shut down in disgrace.
The case was sparked by the revelation that the paper had hacked the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Read the full story here.
6.01am
The UK’s one true monarch, Her Majesty Elizabeth II, has visited the stomping ground of another bunch of nobles — but turned her nose up at their famous throne.
The Queen visited the set of popular TV fantasy Game of Thrones in Belfast, Northern Ireland, overnight, meeting many of its stars and inspecting the show’s armoury, costumes and sprawling sets.
AP reports that the Monarch declined to sit upon the iconic Iron Throne, which was famously forged from a thousand swords.
“She kept commenting on how uncomfortable the throne looked. That was funny,” said Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark.
As part of a three-day tour of Northern Ireland, the Queen also dropped in at Belfast’s Victorian market, where a teenage boy jumped forward to take a selfie on his phone, startling the monarch.
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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