RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
ROGUE waiter who delivered offensive cafe bill calling his customers stupid says “I was p****d off” they got their order wrong.
TODAY
• An ugly barrage of texts sent from Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen to his fellow co-founder Whitney Wolfe have been published.
• Backpackers living in shipping containers had to be rescued from a fire in Sydney overnight.
• The first person to post the bubbling photo of Todd Carney has hit back at critics saying he was only trying to find out if the photo was fake.
• A rogue waiter who called his cafe customers “stupid” says that he was p****d off they got their order wrong.
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
The Sri Lankan military denies it has picked up a boatload of Tamil asylum seekers on their way to Australia, ABC reports.
The military says it has no plans to pick up the boat, which is believed to be carrying 150 people and has not be contactable since the weekend.
It may also have been intercepted by the Australian Navy or Customs.
9.45am
Thousands of Game of Thrones fans lined up for hours yesterday for an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
9.35am
Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin says an Australian Special Forces officer has died from a non-combat incident overnight.
9.20am
Australia’s Chief of Defence is due to release details about an ‘incident in Afghanistan’ at 9.30am.
9.10am
Yesterday was a special anniversary for a number of regions. Organisers say a record number of protesters took part in a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong on July 1, to mark the date the city was handed back to China in 1997.
Meanwhile residents of the Northern Terrority celebrated their own anniversary, releasing fireworks to mark Territory Day, the day when the NT became an entity in its own right (which actually falls on January 1, 1911).
9am
The US has been knocked out of the World Cup this morning after a thrilling game against Belgium. Catch up on all the action on our live blog. Also Argentina v Switzerland.
8.40am
A rogue waiter who called his cafe customers “stupid” says that he was p****d off they got their order wrong.
Sydney woman Fung Dang was furious after receiving a bill that included an item for “stupid customers”, prompting a backlash against the Three Williams Cafe in Redfern.
Waiter Charles Oehlrich, 30, has told The Daily Telegraph that he never thought his comments would print on the bill.
“I take full responsibility. I’m the one that deserves to be fired and so I have been,” he said.
“She was really nice about it - that is the worst thing about it. They are not stupid people.”
8.30am
The building industry is set to be rocked by an explosive video and claims of corruption, death threats and intimidation during royal commission hearings in Melbourne next week.
The Herald Sun understands witnesses will detail claims about senior figures in the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.
At least one witness due to give evidence has received death threats from people linked to the union.
8.20am
Sydney train commuters face delays on the T1 Northern Line due to a broken down freight train at Beecroft.
Continue to allow extra travel time due to a freight train with a mechanical issue at Beecroft earlier.
— T1 Sydney Trains (@T1SydneyTrains) July 1, 20148am
The first person to post the bubbling photo of Todd Carney has hit back at critics saying he was only trying to find out if the photo was fake.
Mark Miler, who posts as @MarkRaider1 did not take the photo but is believed to be the first person to post it on Twitter.
Meanwhile Dragons player Josh Dugan, who engaged in a Twitter war with Miler last year, told Fairfax he wasn’t surprised that Miler was the first to post the photo.
R u ppl normal..URz r making out I took the pic and sent to the whole world..I found the pic and asked if it was real or fake ..simple
— Mark Miler (@MarkRaider1) June 30, 20147.35am
An ugly barrage of texts sent from Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen to his fellow co-founder Whitney Wolfe have been published as part of her sexual harassment case.
The texts revealed on Gawker reveal a relentless stream of abuse from Mateen after a failed romance with Wolfe. He calls her “heartless”, “fake” and responds to pleas from Wolfe to get back to work with his own warning: “if you threaten me I will bark back like a psycho”.
7.20am
It was going to happen sooner or later. Sexy felon Jeremy Meeks has reportedly secured a modelling contract with LA based Blaze Models, according to TMZ.
The internet went crazy for Meeks after his mugshot was posted on Facebook and he now has an agent, Gina Rodriguez, a former porn star.
Now, if only he could get out of jail.
7.10am
UPDATE: Looks like some of the people rescued from a major fire in a Sydney industrial area overnight were backpackers living in shipping containers.
7am
Tens of thousands of mourners in Israel farewelled three teenagers killed in the West Bank, while vowing to hunt down the Hamas militants it holds responsible for their kidnap and murder.
Gilad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, both 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Ifrach, were found in a field in the West Bank after going missing on June 12.
All three had been shot in a triple murder blamed on militants from the Islamist Hamas movement, Sky News reports.
6.25am
Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios has delivered one of the greatest upsets in tennis history, beating world No 1 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon overnight.
The 19-year-old from Canberra pulled off a 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 win to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Click here for a recap of all the action.
6.10am
The lover of an infamous prison gangster has disappeared amid grave concerns for her safety.
Tia Maria Jayne Landers has been missing since June 16. She was last seen when CCTV cameras recorded her walking into a petrol station on the Gateway Motorway at Nudgee in Brisbane’s north.
Ms Landers, 28, had been a no-show in an armed robbery and burglary trial a month earlier when the case against her partner, jailhouse “Angry Gang” member Wade Bartz, was dropped.
However, her disappearance is believed to be unrelated to Bartz.
6.05am
About 70 firefighters battled a large fire in Sydney this morning.
The blaze in the inner west suburb of Alexandria spread to three buildings and firefighters had to rescue four people and evacuate 14 others.
Firefighters arrived at the industrial complex on Burrows Rd about 1.20am.
Motorists are advised to avoid the area but some traffic is now being allowed through Burrows Rd and Euston Rd between Campbell St and Sydney Park Rd.
Fire crews are still working to contain a blaze in an Alexandria industrial complex. Details @TheTodayShow. #9News pic.twitter.com/Nqji5vfIE4
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) July 1, 20146am
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.
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