RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

OFFICIALS have a chilling warning about Australia’s growing ice problem, which they say is reaching pandemic proportions.

9.50am

Construction giant Grocon and a small signage company are facing $9 million in fines after being criminally charged over the deaths of three people crushed in a Melbourne wall collapse last year.

Charges filed by WorkSafe in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court late yesterday reveal that three Grocon companies were hit with five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Sandringham-based company Aussie Signs, a Grocon subcontractor that was hired to erect an advertising hoarding to the front of the brick wall, was also charged with two counts of breaching health and safety laws.

News_Image_File: Mourners lay flowers in memory of the three people killed after a brick wall collapsed in Melbourne.

9.40am

There are angry reports filtering through on social media that Flight QF10, which was scheduled to depart Dubai for Melbourne on Sunday, is still sitting at Dubai airport.

Passengers have been delayed by more than 40 hours. During that time they have been told to board the flight and disembark twice.

Three departure times scheduled for today have already been pushed back and Qantas officials have provided little information to disgruntled passengers.

@SevenNewsroom QF10 A380 stranded in Dubai for over 36 hours with no updates from Qantas. DISGUSTING customer service!!! Angry passengers!

9.30am

After possible lead in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has emerged from an unusual source.

A pilot in New York claimed he had found the wreckage off the coast of Thailand after searching thousands of satellite images online, Mail Online reported.

Michael Hoebel, 60, said he had found an image of what appeared to be the plane in one piece beneath the water.

News_Image_File: Is the plane? Micheal Hoebel believes he has found the wreckage off the coast of Thailand. Picture: WIVB

9.15am

Plane passenger Matt Lockley has been charged by Australian Federal Police after sparking a hijacking scare during a flight to Bali.

Officers met the 27-year-old plumber at Brisbane International Airport and he was taken away for questioning.

He was later released, but will face court in June on one charge of interfering with a crew member under the civil aviation act.

News_Image_File: Facing charges: Matt Lockley being removed from the Virgin Australia flight at Bali.

9.05am

Angry viewers are threatening to boycott tonight’s My Kitchen Rules grand final amid accusations of rigging and perceived bullying by the West Australian team.

The twittersphere erupted in fury on Monday night when Chloe and Kelly beat popular Queensland dads Paul Bullpitt and Blair Tonkin by just one point.

Their win sparked talk of a potential set up by Channel 7 producers to pit the twins against rivals Chloe and Kelly in a grand-final showdown.

A Boycott MKR Grand Final 2014 Facebook page has generated more than 350 likes with fans claiming they won’t be watching due to team WA’s bullying approach.

News_Image_File: Set up? MKR grand final contenders Bree and Jessica, of SA, take on Chloe and Kelly from WA.

8.45am

An Adelaide-based exploration company believes it may have located the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 - thousands of kilometres away from where the official search is taking place.

GeoResonance told 7News that it has identified elements on the ocean floor consistent with material from a plane about 5000km away from where authorities have been looking.

Scientists focused their efforts north of the flight’s last known location, using over 20 technologies to analyse the data including a nuclear reactor.

“Our team was very excited when we found what we believe to be the wreckage of a commercial airliner,” David Pope from GeoResonance said.

The official search has not found anything and yesterday Prime Minister Tony Abbott called off the air search for the wreckage and said contractors would be hired to continue an underwater search in a wider area.

News_Image_File: The official search for MH370 has not found anything but an Adelaide company believes it may have found the wreckage. AFP PHOTO/HO/AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE/CPL

8.30am

A tornado system that ripped through the central US has left at least 18 people dead, officials say.

Less than two hours before the tornado hit Arkansas, a twister hit the small town of Quapaw in Oklahoma, killing at least one person.

News_Image_File: Residents and friends sift through debris after a tornado struck in Vilonia, Ark. AP Photo/Eric Gay

News_Image_File: Connie Krehel looks through debris after her home was hit by a tornado. AP Photo/Eric Gay

News_Image_File: Raella Faulkner and Bobby McElroy survey what's left of their home. AP Photo/Karen E. Segrave

8.10am

News_Image_File: Ben & Jerry’s reef campaign not welcome in Queensland.

Australians are being asked to boycott Ben and Jerry’s ice cream over its support for a WWF “propaganda” campaign to save the Great Barrier Reef.

Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell wants Australians to boycott the American company, saying it has damaged the reputation of the reef and jeopardised jobs and tourism dollars.

“Another company has signed up to the campaign of lies and deceit that’s been propagated by WWF,” Mr Powell said.

Earlier this month, Ben and Jerry’s withdrew popular flavour Phish Food because of its allusion to fishfood, as a way of drawing attention to the potential damage to the Reef.

7.40am

The ice problem in Australia is reaching pandemic proportions warns the Australian Crime Commission.

The commission will release a report today on illicit drug use in Australia.

Almost 20 tonnes of illegal drugs worth $2.7 billion were seized in Australia during the past year and Victoria had the biggested increase of any state in seizures of ice and other amphetamines last year.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Graham Ashton had chilling warning to all parents in country Victoria about the ice plague.

“It is clear that an entire generation of rural youth is at risk, threatening the future prosperity of those communities,” he told the Herald Sun.

News_Image_File: Mugshots showing the effects of methamphetamine drug addiction in the Faces of Meth campaign in the US.

7.25am

A video showing the trouserless captain of a sinking ferry scrambling to safety as hundreds remained trapped inside has attracted caustic comment online.

South Korea’s coastguard released the 10-minute video — taken by rescue officials and aired on Monday the YTN news channel — which shows 69-year-old captain Lee Joon-seok, wearing a jumper and underpants, hastily escaping from the bridge of the tilting ship before it sank on April 16, claiming the lives of up to 300 people.

“Look at the captain running out of the ship without his pants on. How pathetic. Can’t believe he didn’t think about all the children trapped there while he rushed so quickly to save his own life,” said one user.

News_Rich_Media: How pathetic. Footage of captain Lee Jun-seok fleeing the passenger ferry Sewol as it sank off Jindo Island on April 16.

7.10am

A New Orleans socialite has decided to attend her own wake and was propped up at a jazzy cocktail party held in her honour - clutching a cigarette holder in her cold left hand and a glass of champagne in the other.

Flamboyant philanthropist Mickey Easterling died on April 14 but instead of a lying in a boring coffin, the 83-year-old dressed to the nines for the wake, according to The Advocate of New Orleans.

“It’s a really nice way to say, ‘The party’s over.’” her daughter Nanci Myke Easterling told the paper.

The New York Post reports that more than a thousand mourners including musician Allen Tousaint, attended the bash.

News_Image_File: Mickey Easterling had one last party to attend. Photo courtesy of Sue Rihner.

6.50am

Women will soon be able to avoid the dreaded biyearly Pap smear with a new screening test approved by the government that can be done every five years.

The Medical Services Advisory Committee, which decides which treatments should be funded by Medicare, has approved a new HPV (human papillomavirus) test to screen for cervical cancer.

However the test is unlikely to be available before 2016, with state and federal health ministers needing to agree whether or not to fund it.

News_Image_File: Great news for girls, a new Pap smear can be done every five years instead of every two years.

6.35am

The United States and Europe have slapped Russia with fresh sanctions for failing to stop tensions soaring in eastern Ukraine, where rebels have seized another town and a pro-Moscow mayor has been badly wounded.

As the West stepped up pressure over the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, the White House on Monday imposed sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 firms close to President Vladimir Putin.

The European Union was adding 15 names to its own list, diplomatic sources said.

The Kremlin hit back almost immediately, vowing a ‘painful’ response for Washington, in a tit-for-tat rhetorical battle.

News_Image_File: A mayor has been shot in the Ukraine as US ramps up sanctions on Russia. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

6.25am

An Adelaide man thought having “OMGITSU” as his numberplate would be a bit of a laugh - but there was no “LOL” from Transport Department censors who rejected it as offensive.

Chris Owens had no inkling his abbreviation for “oh my God, it’s you” would raise the ire of department staff when he applied, and then paid $270, for the personalised plate earlier this month.

“It was just supposed to be a bit of fun, I thought it would be a funny joke for me and people I know when they see me,” he said. The 61-year old said he was stunned to receive a letter from the department’s “plate administrator” informing him his “little joke” had been knocked back.

News_Image_File: No love for “Oh my God it’s you” plate. Pic: Tricia Watkinson.

6.10am

Former Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill, is up to his neck in trouble tonight after being busted with what looks like cocaine.

Police allege the Huegill and his publicist wife Sara were locked in a disabled toilet when officers ­arrived at Randwick Races on Saturday to investigate reports from Australian Turf Club (ATC) ­security.

Their lawyer Paul Hunt last night confirmed the two had been charged with alleged possession of a prohibited drug.

News_Image_File: Geoff Huegill and his wife Sara had a little too much fun at the races on Saturday. Photo: Instagram

6.05am

People earning $80,000 will be slugged an extra $800 a year as part of a new debt levy.

Treasurer Joe Hockey’s “sharing the pain’’ deficit levy will be tiered so that higher income earners will pay significantly more than other taxpayers.

The new tax to be imposed in the Treasurer’s first Budget on May 13, will be a levy on taxable income — similar to the Medicare surcharge.

News_Image_File: Tax increased planned for those earning over $80,000 in Joe Hockey’s first Budget.

6am

Good morning, and welcome to our “headlines in a hurry” morning news coverage. We will be bringing you the best of what’s happening this morning, so you can get across the news quickly.