RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
YOU wouldn’t expect this from Lorde. What’s the surprising comment the demure Kiwi pop star has come out with overnight?
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TODAY
● Lorde has made some surprising comments about pop’s most provocative stars
● Which of Australia’s big four banks is under fire for dodgy practices?
● Gerard Baden Clay has answered the question that the whole nation is asking
LIVE UPDATES
10am
Happy Friday! That’s it for another week of RUSH HOUR. We’ll be back bright and early at 6am on Monday with a fresh live news blog. Until then, you can catch up on all of the stories you need to know today below.
9.45am
Like every other news outlet, we cop our fair share of criticism here at news.com.au. And that’s fair enough — it comes with the territory.
But intrepid Channel 9 journo Alex Bernhardt was rejected in a much harsher fashion than we’re used to, with this man turning down a request for an interview in the most emphatic way possible.
Bernhardt approached the Gold Coast man after he had been questioned by police over a replica hand grenade and small quantity of drugs. Read the whole story here.
9.30am
Mining magnate-turned-pollie Clive Palmer continues to dominate the news today, after helping to get the government’s repeal of the carbon tax over the line.
During his surprising press conference with former US vice-president Al Gore earlier this week, the Fairfax MP said he would push to create an emissions trading scheme in its place.
But The Australian reports this morning that the idea is already dead. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has scuttled the plan, saying the world was “going against” emissions trading mechanisms.
Mr Palmer has backtracked from his earlier enthusiasm for the idea, making it clear that his support for repealing the carbon tax was not incumbent on the establishment of an ETS.
Read analysis on Clive Palmer and the great carbon reduction policy swindle from our national political editor Malcolm Farr.
9.10am
The World Health Organisation has shone a light on an increasingly worrying health emergency.
It has called for “drastic action” to fight the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, AFP reports.
The virus has gripped west Africa, with it causing 635 cases of haemorrhagic fever, including 399 deaths, recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
WHO said it was the largest ever outbreak “in terms of the number of cases and deaths as well as geographical spread”.
The organisation has convened an 11-nation meeting to address the growing crisis.
8.55am
The Australian dollar sits slightly higher today after more weak economic data out of the US. Check out all the money news you need to know today with our finance wrap.
8.45am
A man has been charged after allegedly biting through the nose of a former Hells Angels bikie.
Peter Zevras, 37, was assaulted outside his unit block in Sydney’s inner west after answering an intercom call on Tuesday, AAP reports.
Half of his nose was bitten off during the assault, but he managed to salvage it and it has since been reattached by surgeons.
Police caught the alleged aggressor near his Hurlstone Park home about 4pm yesterday.
“(The offender) grabbed a hold of the victim with his teeth on the victim’s nose, bit down hard and bit the nose off,” Leichhardt Inspector Clive Ainley said on Wednesday.
8.30am
The Iraq government is continuing to unravel, with Shiite leaders pushing for the removal of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The parliament is under intense pressure from the US to rapidly form a united front against the unrelenting Sunni militants, AP reports.
The PM’s former allies believe he cannot lead an inclusive government that can draw minority Sunnis away from support for the fighters, who have swept over a large swath of Iraq and are heading toward the capital, Baghdad.
In other developments, a bombing killed 12 people in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad yesterday and police found the bullet-riddled bodies of eight Sunnis south of the capital.
8.10am
The World Cup villain, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, has been banned from football for four months for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during a match on Wednesday.
This means he will miss 13 games for his club of Liverpool and the rest of the World Cup.
This is the third case of the Uruguayan sinking his teeth into an opposition player, and the FIFA disciplinary panel has dished out a record punishment for the incidents.
“It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup,” Uruguay FA president Wilmar Valdez said, adding that it would appeal the decision.
Read more of the latest with our live World Cup blog.
7.55am
The jury in the Rolf Harris trial appears to be struggling to reach a unanimous verdict.
As their deliberations stretch into a sixth day, the jury asked the judge a series of five questions that suggest its members are struggling to come to a conclusion.
The Australian entertainer has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault of four women from 1968 to 1986.
Read the full story here.
7.30am
Gerard Baden-Clay has answered the question that the whole nation is asking.
The former real estate agent, 43, took the stand yesterday in Queensland’s Supreme Court, accused of murdering his wife Allison in April of 2012.
The defence kicked off its evidence with barrister Michael Byrne, QC, asking Mr Baden Clay directly, “Did you kill Allison?”
“No I did not,” he replied.
The case continues today in Brisbane. Keep up to date with developments with The Courier-Mail.
7am
Provocative pop stars Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have been leant support from an unlikely place.
The much-more-demure Lorde, 17, has stood up for music’s overtly sexual singers, including Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, saying violence in popular culture was a bigger threat to teenage girls than saucy, semi-naked stars.
“I don’t see a female without clothing as a terrible influence,” the Royals singer told the London Evening Standard. “There are worse things. Shooting people. Glorifying violence.”
Lorde said she was in awe of Rihanna’s “fearless” image.
“You can’t not look at Rihanna. I would buy anything Rihanna sold me. The way Rihanna embodies being a sexual woman ... She’s so fearless and confident, I just love her,” she said.
6.40am
The carbon tax has been pushed closer to the rubbish bin.
There were high fives among ministers in Parliament yesterday after the Abbott Government successfully passed bills to repeal Labor’s unpopular price on carbon.
And with Clive Palmer promising support for the repeal in the Senate, the tax is likely to be dead and buried by mid-July when the new Senate sits.
6.20am
There are shocking new details in the scandal surrounding disgraced British TV personality Jimmy Savile.
A new report has revealed that the late Savile may have sexually abused dead bodies in a hospital where he volunteered.
Along with living victims from five-year-olds to pensioners, Savile also reportedly sexually abused bodies in a mortuary in Leeds General Infirmary in northern England.
6.01am
ONE of Australia’s big four banks is under fire this morning for the shady practices of its staff.
A Senate committee has called for a royal commission to investigate Commonwealth Bank financial advisers who lost the savings of clients through dishonest activities, AAP reports.
The committee has also criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over its handling of the scandal, saying the regulator was timid and too willing to accept the bank’s assurances that there were no problems.
Labor Senator Mark Bishop, who chaired the committee, was damning in his assessment of both ASIC and the Commonwealth Bank over an investigation of Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited advisers between 2006 and 2010.
The bank failed to open its books and fully identify the number of clients affected and those entitled to compensation, he said. So far, the bank has shelled out $52 million in compensation to more than 1100 customers.
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
Patricia Karvelas’ huge career announcement
Karvelas, who replaced long-term host Fran Kelly in early 2022, will take on a new role in 2025.
Warning over Aussies rejecting SOS flights
Chartered flights leaving Lebanon are still not at full capacity, with Australians rejecting offers to leave the strike zone.