NewsBite

RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

LIKE grandmother, like grandson. Prince Harry follows Queen Elizabeth’s photobombing footsteps at the Commonwealth Games. But what’s going on with Prince William?

Matt YoungMatt Young
@MattYoung
6 min read
July 30, 2014 - 6:05AM
Two women survive after being run over by freight train

TODAY:

MEDAL TALLY: GOLD 34 | SILVER 31 | BRONZE 36

• PM Abbott updates MH17 situation: “When you fail, you try, try again”

• Two women and a freight train: the near-fatal moment caught on camera

• $800 for a doorknob? What’s going on, Scott Morrison?

• US and Europe introduce cut off Russia, introduce ‘toughest’ sanctions

• Dutch investigators fail for a third consecutive day to enter MH17 crash site

• Pics of Israeli strikes in Gaza reveal extent of damage

10:00am

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.

9:35am

Thar she blows!

9:10am

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has commented on the frustrating attempts to access the MH17 crash site, as Australia failed to gain entry for a third consecutive day.

Abbott is determined the team will recover what is left of passenger’s remains, stressing that is Australia’s priority.

During a press conference this morning, he told reporters, “When you fail, you try, try again”.

He also commented on Australia’s involvement in tough sanctions against Russia, believing they “are not our prioity, our prioity is bringing home the dead”.

He said they might be something Australia will consider in the future.

8:30am

Aussie controversy in the weightlifting ring this morning, after a dramatic backflip from Commonwealth Games judges has denied Aussie Simplice Ribouem a gold medal in the 94kg weightlifting, Iain Payten writes.

Rawwwr! Simplice Ribouem in the Men's 94kg weightlifting final. Picture: Andy Buchanan
Rawwwr! Simplice Ribouem in the Men's 94kg weightlifting final. Picture: Andy Buchanan

Ribouem had surged into first place, ahead of PNG’s Stephen Kari, with just one lift remaining each. His challenger needed to lift a whopping 200kg in the clean and jerk to overtake him.

Kari hoisted the weight comfortably, but after he dropped it, the judges ruled it was a “no lift” because he touched his leg with his elbow. That decision effectively gave Rabouem the gold.

But the competition was suspended temporarily, and after the entire judging panel conferred, the decision was reversed.

COMMONWELATH GAMES COMPLETE COVERAGE

Kari finished with a total of 349kg. Ribouem failed with his final attempt at 201kg, and finished with the same total of 349kg, but he was relegated to silver for having a bodyweight just 110 grams heavier than Kari’s.

“I am very upset,” Ribouem said afterwards.

“I am very upset with the judge. He (Kari) knew there was something wrong,” he said. “He’s won by the judge. Not him.”

We feel your pain, Ribouem.

8:10am

Israel unleashed its heaviest bombardment in a 3-week-old war against Hamas overnight, striking symbols of the militant group’s control in Gaza and firing tank shells that Palestinian officials said shut down the strip’s only electricity plant.

AP reports he fighting came as diplomatic efforts to forge a truce remained stalled despite a death toll that Palestinian officials said rose above 1,200 on Tuesday. The shadowy leader of the Hamas military wing said his group will not cease fire until its demands are met. *Sigh*.

Smoke from the explosion of an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City yesterday. Picture: Hatem Moussa
Smoke from the explosion of an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City yesterday. Picture: Hatem Moussa

7:40am

From News Corp’s Paul Toohey in Donetsk:

Dutch investigators have failed for a third consecutive day to enter the MH17 crash site amid a risky and deteriorating security situation in the eastern Ukraine.

The Australian Federal Police and their Dutch colleagues in the separatist-held city of Donetsk – having been twice repelled by heavy fighting on the road to the site – deemed it too risky to try again yesterday without firm commitments from warring Ukrainians and separatists to guarantee their safe passage to the site.

Ukraine's army on Monday seized control of part of the vast site where Malaysian airliner MH17 crashed, insurgents said. Picture: Genya Savilov
Ukraine's army on Monday seized control of part of the vast site where Malaysian airliner MH17 crashed, insurgents said. Picture: Genya Savilov

The investigative teams are now caught in the middle of a war that is surrounding them in the city of Donetsk, west of the crash site and now known as the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

There are still human remains in the crash zone, personal belongings and important ballistic forensic information that could give a definitive answer on how the Malaysia Airlines jet was brought down on the afternoon of July 17.

Despite attempts by monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to negotiate access to the crash site from the city, which is encircled by Ukrainian troops, the message to let them pass through to the search zone has not been heeded.

7:20am

Like grandmother, like grandson.

Prince Harry has followed in Queen Elizabeth’s photobombing footsteps, giving the thumbs up behind New Zealand Commonwealth Games officials as they watched the women’s swimming overnight.

Royal photobomb of the day.
Royal photobomb of the day.

Prince William on the other hand, who can be seen to the far right, seems to be less interested in the photo and more interested in the swimming. Fair enough.

Just days after the queen was snapped beaming in the background as Australian hockey players Jayde Taylor and Brooke Peris took a selfie, the 29-year-old prince popped up as Tietjens was being photographed at the swimming pool.

New Zealand rugby sevens coach Sir Gordon Tietjens, New Zealand deputy chef de mission Trevor Shailer and sports psychologist Gary Hermansson were photographed as they sat a few rows in front of the prince, his brother Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

In the photo, taken by former New Zealand hockey player Bevan Hari and posted on the Sport Shailer’s Facebook page, Harry is seen laughing and giving a double thumbs up.

“Photo of the day,” Shailer wrote on the Facebook page.

“A Royal photo bomb by Prince Harry with Titch (Tietjens) and Gary Hermansson at the swimming venue tonight.”

Post by Trevor Shailer.

7:00am

US President Barack Obama has announced the US and Europe will cut off Russia, introducing its toughest sanctions yet targeting Russia’s key financial, arms and energy sectors in response to Moscow’s intervention in the Ukraine crisis.

Obama denied that the West had begun a new Cold War against its former Soviet foe, but urged his counterpart Vladimir Putin to reverse course, reports AFP.

“Today, in building on the measures we announced two weeks ago, the United States is imposing new sanctions in key sectors of the Russian economy — energy, arms and finance,” Obama said.

“Even before our actions today, nearly $100 billion in capital was expected to flee Russia,” he said.

“Russia’s energy, financial and defence sectors are feeling the pain. Projections for Russian economic growth are down to near zero.”

Wonder what Putin thinks?

Awkward.
Awkward.

6:45am

$800 for a doorknob? Really?

Taxpayers have forked out close to $330,000, including $800 for the infamous doorknob, for a border protection media briefing room that hasn’t been used since its completion 10 months ago, AAP reports.

Construction and fitout costs for the hi-tech theatrette totalled almost $235,000 while the annual cost of having it on standby is running at about $100,000.

The government is leasing the premises, next to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s aid office in Canberra, until June 2016.

Spot the (door) knob. Picture: William West
Spot the (door) knob. Picture: William West

It is also paying $10,000 a month to hire audio visual equipment on top of a $30,000 bill for rented stage lights, according to documents obtained by AAP under Freedom of Information.

The heavily blacked-out documents reveal the facility was ready for media briefings in October 2013, but it has never been used for that purpose.

Invoices show $800 was spent on a single doorknob.

In a statement Customs said that cost was for “large metal grab handles fixed to both the inside and the outside of a glass panel door”.

6:20am

Two women are lucky to be alive after footage revealed just how close they came to a fatal encounter with a freight train.

Two women survive after being run over by freight train

The women were trespassing on train tracks in southern Indiana on July 10 and were on a 500-foot-long bridge, the Shuffle Creek Trestle, when a train began to approach behind them.

The engineer spotted the troublesome two and applied an emergency brake while sounding the horn, but the train was too fast and the women’s attempts to run were futile.

The women’s attempts to run are futile.
The women’s attempts to run are futile.

Believing the women had died, the train engineer called the authorities, but only to realise they had survived by lying on the middle of the tracks.

They escaped, and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department have formally identified the pair.

Authorities released footage of the clip overnight, which was captured on a camera attached to the train.

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/rush-hour-the-stories-you-need-to-know-today/news-story/27d000bab3288f959e8e652c53e73d81