RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

HOMOSEXUALITY has been described as a “putrid smelling demon” that even pigs don’t want, in an eyebrow raising article.

TODAY

• A Sydney mother is pleading for help after being charged for adultery in Lebanon.

• Bill Clinton was abused as a child, his wife Hillary says in new book.

• Homosexuality has been described as a “putrid smelling demon” that even pigs don’t want.

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.

9.40am

It’s been a happy ending for a juvenile whale caught in shark nets off a Gold Coast beach with a Sea World rescue team able to free the mammal within hours.

The young whale was caught by its tail in a shark net off Kirra Groyne, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

Boaties monitor a whale trapped in the nets of Kirra Groyne this morning. Picture Glenn Hampson

9.20am

Holy Fire Ministries founder Bert Farias has described homosexuality as a “putrid smelling demon” that even pigs don’t want.

“People embrace homosexual demons, but the pigs would rather die than be possessed with demons,” Farias wrote in an article published in Charisma magazine.

In the eyebrow-raising piece about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, the evangelical minister asks advocates to “please do not get upset with me. I am for you and not against you”. He adds that he is “actually trying to help people with same-sex attraction”.

Homosexuality is a demon even pigs don’t want apparently.

9am

A coroner has ruled that Peaches Geldof’s death was drugs-related. During a hearing Geldof’s husband said the model had relapsed into using heroin two months before she died. She apparently took heroin that she stashed in a bowl of lollies by her bed, after returning home alone from shopping in London and watching the television show True Detective.

Peaches Geldof was using heroin in the months before her death. AP Photo/Jonathan Short

8.30am

A man whose charred remains were found in a south western Sydney park, may have been tortured before he died.

Dane McNeill, 20, was reported missing by his parents on Friday and council workers discovered his body at Picnic Point on Monday morning.

Facebook images of Dane McNeil, whose charred body was found at Picnic Point.

8.05am

A plane making a second landing attempt in stormy weather has crashed at an airport on a small Taiwanese island, killing at least 40 people.

7.40am

The Australian Medical Board has deregistered euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke.

The board on Wednesday night voted to immediately suspend Dr Nitschke after ruling he posed a “serious risk to the health and safety of the public”.

It follows the suicide of Perth man Nigel Brayley, who was only 45 and not terminally ill.

Dr Philip Nitschke has been suspended. Photo: Mike Burton

7.20am

Hillary Clinton has said her husband’s sex addiction is due to the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his mother, according to a new book.

The New York Daily News has obtained galleys of Timeless: Love, Morgenthau and Me that suggests the former president Bill Clinton’s mother abused him and caused his sex addiction.

Ms Clinton described her husband’s mother as a “doozy” and that she hurt her son “in ways you wouldn’t believe”.

“He was abused. When a mother does what she does, it affects you forever,” Ms Clinton says, according to the book.

Abused: Bill Clinton was abused by his mother says Hillary. Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images/AFP

7am

In a heartbreaking show of respect, people have lined a motorway in the Netherlands as a convoy of hearses passes containing the bodies of Malaysia Airlines MH17 passengers pass by. All our MH17 updates this morning are available here.

People on a bridge watch as the convoy of hearses pass by. AFP PHOTO/ANP/JERRY LAMPEN

6.50am

A leading Brisbane real estate agent has died of viral meningitis at the age of 33, after suffering for three days with a headache.

Michael Calder, principal of Belle Property Ascot, was admitted to hospital after complaining to his doctor of a headache, and died on July 11 of suspected viral meningitis.

Father-of-three, Michael Calder died of suspected meningitis.

6.45am

If you didn’t rise early enough to catch the beginning of the Commonwealth Games, you can catch up on the wacky opening ceremony on our live blog. There were purple suits and we caught a glimpse of what was underneath a giant kilt.

And the #Glasgow2014 opening ceremony is under way http://t.co/J9xjtuQETk pic.twitter.com/zqvO459sla

— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) July 23, 2014

6.30am

A teenager was killed on Tuesday when his plane crashed while he was trying to set a record for an around-the-world flight.

Family spokeswoman Annie Hayat said Wednesday that the plane flown by 17-year-old Haris Suleman went down shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa. The Indiana teen and his father, Babar Suleman, were on board.

Hayat says the body of Haris Suleman has been recovered. Crews were still looking for his father.

Babar Suleman and son Haris Suleman, 17, stand next to their plane at an airport in Greenwood, Indiana. AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Robert Scheer

6.15am

A desperate Sydney mother is pleading for help from the Australian government after she was charged with adultery during a short holiday in Lebanon.

Mahassen Issa’s lawyer said last night the 29-year-old would face court in Tripoli, Lebanon, today and could face six months jail if convicted.

According to the Daily Telegraph, her husband’s family in Sydney has welcomed the charges and wants the mother of two children, aged six and nine, to be jailed.

Mahassen Issa and her current partner Mohammad Awick.

6am

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.