RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
THIS has got to be the most creative solution to locking yourself out of the house. A Darwin man attempted to abseil from the roof of his apartment block to let himself in through the balcony.
Good morning, and welcome to our morning news coverage. We will be bringing you the best of what’s happening this morning, so you can get across the news quickly.
10am
That’s it for our live #RUSHHOUR news blog. You can get across the stories you need to know today below or go to news.com.au for the latest headlines.
9.55am
That’s gotta hurt.
Channel Seven reporter Mike Amor was hit in the head by a flying skateboard while filming a segment at a skate ramp in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.
The network’s US bureau chief was filing a report on the creation of a new hoverboard — put to the test recently by skateboard champion Tony Hawk — when a skater’s wayward board continued up the ramp at speed and hit him on the back of the head.
Amor said the hit did not draw blood, but did leave him with a bump.
“Shook me up for a couple of minutes but went on to finish during the piece to camera,” he said.
Read more: Channel Seven reporter hit in head by flying skateboard
9.50am
Police in Colombia are on the hunt for a man who turned his 11-year-old daughter into a drug mule — nearly killing her after one of the 104 cocaine capsules he forced her to swallow exploded in her stomach.
Stuffed with illegal drugs, the unnamed girl was merely hours away from hopping on a flight to Madrid with her father when he rushed her to a hospital in Santiago de Cali, the Daily Mail reports.
Once the burst capsule was discovered, doctors performed emergency surgery during which they pulled half a kilogram of cocaine from the young girl’s stomach.
By the time the lifesaving procedure was over, the father and another relative were nowhere to be found.
Local authorities are now searching for the man.
Read more: Dad makes daughter youngest ever drug mule
9.00am
A woman has been killed after being hit by a truck in western Sydney.
Police were called to Parramatta Rd at Auburn at around 8am today following reports of a serious incident involving a semi and a pedestrian.
A female pedestrian has died after being hit by a truck on Parramatta Road at Auburn @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/LJ5CvGHUhO
— Matthew Snelson (@matthewsnelson7) November 19, 2014
The 41-year-old female pedestrian sustained serious injuries and died at the scene.
The truck driver was not injured. He was spoken to by police and has been taken to Auburn Hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.
A crime scene has been established.
8.25am
We’ve all been locked out of the house, but few go to the extremes a Darwin bloke did when he decided it would be a good idea to abseil down the side of his 10-storey apartment block.
Police were called to an apartment block on Woods St at around 6.30 last night where a “suspicious looking man” was seen on the building’s rooftop with a rope tied around his waist.
Officers raced to the roof and saw the man was quite close to the edge. He revealed to them his plan to abseil down.
“We convinced him it wasn’t a very good idea, it was quite dangerous in fact,” Duty Superintendent Louise Jorgensen told news.com.au.
“He conceded that was probably the case.”
Fearing his safety, police ushered the man from the edge and inquired about his actions.
“For some reason he thought it was a good idea to abseil down from the roof and get into his unit via the balcony,” Superintendent Jorgensen said.
“To his credit he had decided himself it was too dangerous and was preparing to pack it all in when police arrived.
“He agreed that having a spare key or using the services of a locksmith would be a better idea in the future should he unfortunately lock his keys inside again.”
7.45am
A freak snowstorm has killed at least 7 people in the US.
A ‘wall of snow’ killed four people in New York, and three people died from apparent heart attacks while shovelling snow.
The massive snowstorm stranded motorists and cancelled flights, and is expected to see areas east and southeast of Buffalo in northern New York receive a year’s accumulation of snow in just three days.
This is insane! RT @SherriGrin Literally the snow is crashing through homes in Buffalo! pic.twitter.com/z6CBk1086s /via @ericfisher
— iTweetWeather (@iTweetWeather) November 19, 2014
The National Weather Service said all 50 states experienced sub-freezing temperatures on Tuesday and temperatures are expected to remain below normal from the Midwest to the east coast until the weekend.
A state of emergency and travel bans are in effect across Buffalo’s Erie County and authorities ordered people to stay off the roads to allow crews to clear as many roads as possible.
7.35am
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has used an address to the United Nations Security Council to paint a terrifying picture of the young, modern day terrorist.
Bishop, who chaired the Security Council meeting on counterterrorism, said there was no more pressing matter of national and international security for Australia than reducing the threat of terrorism.
“The threat from ISIL, or Daesh, al-Nusra Front and other al-Qaeda affiliated groups is more dangerous, more global and more diversified than ever before,” Bishop told the meeting.
She is in New York representing Australia at the UN Security Council.
7.20am
A person has been found dead inside a car that caught fire in Melbourne’s southeast overnight.
Firefighters discovered the unidentified body after extinguishing the fire, in a residential street in Dandenong just after 1am.
Police are not yet treating the death as suspicious but an arson chemist is expected on the scene early this morning to determine whether the Homicide Squad should investigate.
7.00am
Accused murderer Gable Tostee has returned to his parents’ Carrara home after being bailed under strict conditions yesterday.
The 28-year-old was released yesterday after spending three months behind bars since being charged with murder over the death of Warriena Wright, who fell to her death from his 14th floor balcony on the Gold Coast.
Supreme Court judge Debra Mullins banned Tostee from using social media to meet with women and decreed he must attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre, comply with random breath testing and abide by a 10pm-4am curfew.
These are the first pictures of Tostee on the outside.
Read more at the Gold Coast Bulletin
6.40am
Move over, ‘Charlie bit my finger’ kid, a couple of naughty boys have become online sensations after their dad caught them playing up, got them in big trouble, and of course posted the whole thing to YouTube.
‘Kids play with paint and get it all over their faces’ has clocked up more than a million views in two days.
The reason? It’s more dad’s parenting style than the naughty boys who’ve covered themselves with paint and blame each other. He just can’t stop laughing.
6.20am
Bad news, Brisbane.
It looks like more bad weather is about to strike the city today after an one of the strongest thunderstorms in years caused devastation across the greater Brisbane region yesterday.
A massive thunderstorm struck the metropolitan area around 4:30pm local time on Wednesday, drenching the city, causing traffic chaos and leaving many people stranded by flash flooding and in need of rescue.
The city received 55mm of rain in less than an hour, well over half the monthly average. Some suburbs reportedly received as much as 100mm, with the highest official recording 87mm at Archerfield in the city’s south.
In the outer Brisbane region, incredible footage revealed what’s been described as “the eye of the storm”.
Forecasters predict more showers and thunderstorms in Southeast Queensland on Thursday, but are expected to be slow movers in comparison to yesterday’s quick but brutal downpour.
6.05am
Police have charged two women with assault after a frail 86-year-old man was bashed in Sydney’s west yesterday.
Police are still hunting one of the alleged assailants after viewing footage of the elderly victim being stalked and set upon by a man and a woman after withdrawing hundreds of dollars from an ATM on Frost St, Chester Hill about 9.45am.
The pair followed the man, who was using a walking stick, from a Commonwealth Bank to the Chester Hill Square Shopping Centre underground car park.
The woman is understood to have offered the elderly man a lift home. When he did not accept they lurked in the car park waiting for him.
CCTV footage obtained by Nine shows the man hiding behind a pole before pouncing and king-hitting the man.
The shocking images show them rummaging through the man’s pockets and roll him over on the ground before casually walking off.
Having had his pockets rifled, the victim, who suffered a cut to the lip and two dislodged teeth, is seen repeatedly struggling to get to his feet with his walking stick.
Read more at the Daily Telegraph
6.00am
IT’S sad when someone loses a partner, but after husband number seven goes things start to get a bit suss.
A 67-year-old widow has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of poisoning her latest husband with cyanide as it emerged six former partners had already died.
Chisako Kakehi has been dubbed Japan’s “black widow”.
She’s been the beneficiary of more than $8 million over the past two decades, Jiji Press said — insurance money and other assets she received after the seven men’s deaths.
Husband No. 4 Isao Kakehi fell sick suddenly at home and was confirmed dead at a hospital in December last year, less than two months after the couple married.
An autopsy found highly toxic cyanide compounds in his blood. That came after the September death of a 75-year-old boyfriend, who fell suddenly ill after the couple ate together at a restaurant, Jiji said.
Kakehi’s dalliance with death began in 1994 when her first husband passed away at the age of 54.
In 2006, her second husband, whom she had met through a dating agency, died of a stroke aged 69, while the third marriage ended in 2008 with the death of her 75-year-old partner, Jiji said on Wednesday.
A boyfriend, believed to have been suffering from some form of cancer, died a year later, and in 2012 her then-fiance met his fate after collapsing while riding a motorbike.
Traces of cyanide were detected in his body, media reports said. Kakehi was arrested on Wednesday by police in Kyoto on suspicion of murdering her latest husband. She has denied any involvement in his death.
Police have said: “We suspect she did it for the money”.
- AFP
CCTV emerges before babysitter, girl killed
CCTV footage has captured a car leaving a Brisbane home before a fire broke out at the property and claimed the lives of an eight-year-old girl and her babysitter.
Convicted whistleblower launches appeal
A former military lawyer turned whistleblower has been given leave to appeal his sentence and convictions after he was jailed for leaking military information.
Dutton hits below the belt in Albo feud
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over a hotly contested issue affecting millions of Australians.