RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
‘SLUMPED on the bed’. Authorities confirm the tragic circumstances which led to the death of Peaches Geldof.
TODAY
• Authorities have confirmed tragic end for model and celebrity Peaches Geldof
• A report into MH370 shows it was missing for four hours before rescue efforts started as victims’ families are told to go home and wait further news
• The federal government’s Commission of Audit has proposed to drastically change how we live our lives.
• Nearly 50 One Direction fans were either crushed, fainted or trampled on after a concert became “dangerous”.
• An ejection of plasma from the surface of the sun created a spectacular aurora effect in Tasmania early yesterday morning.
10am
That’s it for our Friday morning live #RUSHHOUR news blog.
You can get across the stories you need to know today below, in the meantime all the latest headlines are right here on news.com.au. See you bright and early Monday morning.
9.55am
It is the perky backside that won global praise but now one royal watcher claims Pippa Middleton used a “falsie” to give herself the fairest booty of them all at sister Kate’s wedding to Prince William.
Stephane Bern, a French royal watcher, claims the Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister could have worn bum-boosting undies under her snug white Alexander McQueen dress.
“Of course she had a false bottom,” the Frenchman said on his TV chat show.
“You take her away from that and she has normal buttocks. It was an optical illusion.”
9.45am
A $1 million reward has been posted for information about the murder 30 years ago of a Melbourne mother, which police have now linked to two underworld killings.
Maryanna Lanciana, 23, was shot dead in her Werribee home in July, 1984, while her 23-month-old son was asleep in the house.
Investigators believe her death is linked to the murders of minor underworld figures Dimitrios Belias in 1999 and George Germanos in 2001.
“There is now a total of $3 million in rewards on offer,” police said.
9.30am
Brunei has introduced a form of Islamic Sharia criminal law that allows for penalties such as amputation for theft and stoning for adultery.
Most of the punishments can be applied to non-Muslims, who account for about one-third of the 440,000 people in the oil-rich country.
The move has been slammed by international rights group as a step backward for human rights.
9.15am
A man who stabbed his father to death to “save” Angelina Jolie and her son is on the run after failing to return from day release at Melbourne’s forensic mental health hospital.
Daniel Carl Ryan, 38, was on unsupervised release from Thomas Embling Hospital in Parkville but failed to return last night.
He was sent to the facility after killing his father because he believed he was going to harm Jolie and her son, who he believed to be Jesus.
Victoria Police has urged the public not to approach Ryan. Call 000 if you see him.
9am
Supermodel Miranda Kerr is back in Australia, touching down in Sydney this morning.
The 31-year-old brought her son Flynn with her, which will likely put to rest speculation about a rift between Kerr and her mother.
Kerr will spend time with her family and attend events for a number of clients including Clear, Royal Albert, Swarovski and her own beauty brand, Kora Organics.
8.40am
A mob of high school students broke into and trashed their school, urinating in hallways, smearing vaseline on doorknobs and flipping desks as part of an out-of-control seniors prank.
The New York Post reports that cops busted 62 students from Teaneck High School in the US state of New Jersey for the damage early Thursday morning.
“Some were in shock, panic and fear. Others were laughing among themselves, acting like it was no big deal,” Teaneck police Sgt. John Garland said.
8.25am
Ukraine is bringing back military conscription with immediate effect to deal with a spreading pro-Moscow insurgency in its east.
A decree was issued by interim president Oleksandr Turchynov after Ukraine’s parliament voted on April 17 to recommended the measure.
It comes as a crowd of some 300 pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor’s office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
8.10am
An ejection of plasma from the surface of the sun created a spectacular aurora effect in Tasmania early yesterday morning.
Photographer Josh Cole took pictures of the aurora australis in a paddock near Nile in the northern Midlands. The display lasted for just one hour and thrilled watchers across the state.
However, Cole’s cows were just not that interested, turning their backs on one of the best light shows seen in the state in recent years.
8am
Alice Springs retailers have withdrawn a popular brand of deodorant from their shelves after a mammoth spate of inhalant cases by minors in recent weeks.
This is the second deodorant sniffing outbreak in the past year. Three children were taken to Alice Springs Hospital in April, 2013 after sniffing deodorant.
7.50am
A suspected gas explosion at a jail in the US state of Florida has killed two people, caused major damage and left 100 inmates injured.
The blast “resulted in a partial building collapse” at Escambia County Central Booking Facility in Pensacola, Florida, officials said on the county website.
7.35am
A teenager who took a selfie with a squirrel has become the latest social media sensation after his photo backfired.
Brian Genest scared the squirrel with his camera flash during a walk a Florida park in the US, causing it to climb under his shirt and hang onto his back before scampering out.
“I think he got a little lesson from the squirrel that he’s not really its buddy,” said Brian’s mum, who took photos of the attack.
7.20am
Nearly 50 One Direction fans were either crushed, fainted or trampled on after a concert became “dangerous”.
When the doors opened at the Estadio Nacional stadium in Lima, Peru, fans ran up to the stage to try and get as close to it as they possibly could.
Witnesses reported seeing girls who “fainted”, “got trampled” on and described the concert as “scary and “dangerous”, the Daily Mirror reports.
7.08am
The fate of about 150 school girls kidnapped in Nigeria has been revealed with the girls reported being ‘sold as $12 brides’ to the militants.
The girls were abducted more than two weeks ago from their secondary school and the failure to rescue them has been a massive embarrassment to Nigeria’s government and the military.
They were abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist network and are now being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors.
It's been two weeks since the kidnapping of 234 Nigerian girls and they still aren't home #bringbackourgirls pic.twitter.com/8OiC5GJPrc
6.52am
A small business minister has advised a clothing store manager to “get a bit of leg out” when asked how to improve business during a tour of a Brisbane shopping centre.
The gaffe-prone Queensland Minister Jann Stuckey made the crass joke during a visit to the Calamvale Central Shopping Centre to discuss strategies to improve commercial confidence.
She later apologised, describing it as “lighthearted banter”.
6.40am
A Nigerian detainee at the Villawood Detention Centre is accused of running an international drug ring from inside the centre while fighting a deportation order.
Police claim Drichuckuv Nweke orchestrated a major cocaine importation into Sydney using several mobile phones while detained at Villawood.
Nweke is a convicted drug dealer who was jailed in 2005 for importing almost 2kg of cocaine into Australia in children’s books. He was arrested at Villawood on Wednesday night.
6.30am
A report into MH370 shows it was missing for four hours before rescue efforts started as victims’ families are told to go home and wait further news.
As well as the report, officials released the audiotapes of the last transmissions from the missing plane’s cockpit, the cargo manifest and the seating plan.
The report noted that 17 minutes after the Boeing 777-200 disappeared from radar, the Vietnamese air traffic control questioned the whereabouts of the plane, which was to have entered their airspace.
6.20am
THE federal government’s Commission of Audit has proposed to drastically change how we live our lives in order to get the Budget back into surplus.
Click here for a five minute guide to the report that has recommended measures such as charging people $15 to see a doctor, effectively denying people access to Medicare if they earn over $88,000 and lifting the pension age to 70 by 2053.
6.10am
Heroin likely played a role in the death of British model and television personality Peaches Geldof, authorities have confirmed.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate told an inquest the results on the 25-year-old confirmed the presence of the drug.
“There was recent use of heroin and the levels identified were likely to have played a role in her death,” he said.
He said Geldof’s husband had found his wife “slumped forward across the bed” in the spare bedroom.
The story offers a sad echo of the death of Geldof’s mother, television presenter Paula Yates, who died of a drug overdose in 2000 when her daughter was 11.
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.
Star crashes Sydney event dedicated to her
Lorde has stunned fans by unexpectedly appearing at a Sydney club where she was the theme of the event.
Reason behind shopping centre lockdown
A man has been rushed to hospital in a serious condition after 10 people were allegedly involved in a fight that plunged a busy shopping centre into lockdown.
‘Machete still in his stomach’: Shoppers react
A terrified shopper has revealed their desperate bid to save a child injured in a bloody Melbourne shopping centre fight.