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RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

GOLD. As floods hit Illinois, a news crew took to their helicopter to report live from the scene. What they didn’t expect though, was what was to come.

Severe weather warning for NSW & QLD

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.

TODAY:

Incredible Hulk photobombs live news coverage

Skeleton of unborn baby removed from woman nearly four decades later

Wet weather: east coast drenched, more wild weather to come

What happens when the world’s most famous enemies meet face to face?

Indefinite ceasefire in Gaza after 50 days of bloodshed

Full list of Emmy winners

Malaysia Airlines staff quit over fears for life

Aussie politicians take part in ice bucket challenge weeks

Drone footage reveals extent of earthquake damage in California

‘Apologise? I don’t think so’, says PUP’s Jacqui Lambie

10:10am

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.

10:00am

Cutest. Thing. Ever. Vice President Joe Biden meets 108-year-old Lucy Coffey, America’s oldest woman.

(If you’re looking for the sound button, look in the bottom right hand corner).

9:55am

When the NT News first saw these incredible pictures, they thought aliens were invading.

But after consulting some boffins, “weird lightning reporter” David Krantz discovered the pictures actually show a spectacular form of lightning rarely captured on camera.

Find out the details HERE.

This picture of upper-atmospheric lightning was taken over the Adelaide River flood plains near Darwin. Picture: Thijs Bors
This picture of upper-atmospheric lightning was taken over the Adelaide River flood plains near Darwin. Picture: Thijs Bors

9:35am

Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie won’t apologise for warning of a Chinese invasion of Australia, despite her leader doing so for his bizarre anti-China rant. Mr Palmer has apologised to the “Chinese people everywhere” for last week describing China’s government as “mongrels” and “bastards” who shoot their own people.

Senator Lambie said the PUP leader had little choice because “people are still quite irate about his comments”.

The Courier-Mail’s classic cover.
The Courier-Mail’s classic cover.
Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie leaves the National Press Club in Canberra.
Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie leaves the National Press Club in Canberra.

However, she would not offer a similar apology for her China invasion warning, in which she said Australia needed to double the size of it military to “stop our grandchildren from becoming slaves to an aggressive, anti-democratic totalitarian foreign power”. The outspoken Tasmanian senator on Wednesday declared: “I’m not backing down”.

“I don’t see why I would offer an apology when I’m actually speaking about the Chinese communist regime and not the Chinese people,” she told ABC Radio.

“I’m very grateful to the Chinese people and having them as trading partners and I certainly know my Tasmania is.”

RELATED: CLIVE PALMER’S ‘MONGREL’ RANT AGAINST CHINA

9:30am

Drone footage shows incredible aerial views of the damage caused by an earthquake in northern California on Sunday night.

One word of advice: mute the sound.

9:10am

I feel your pain, Luke.

Hey, Australia, if you’ve seen similar early Christmas decorations, hit me up @MattYoung on Twitter.

9:05am

We’re lucky to live in such a beautifully diverse environment, aren’t we?

8:35am

“The last team with which Mark played was a team of 45 men and women, and the field they played on was not a wide and grassy rugby field, it was a narrow cabin and cockpit of a Boeing 757 hurtling over the Pennsylvania countryside”.

Who would have thought that an act of terrorism would be the catalyst for the introduction of the World Cup of gay Rugby?

Mark Bingham with his mother Alice Hoagland.
Mark Bingham with his mother Alice Hoagland.

Sydney is acting host for the eight-day festival which kicked off on Sunday, but there’s a much bigger story here, as the Wentworth Courier’s Robbie Patterson reports:

The Bingham Cup, is named after gay rugby player, Mark Bingham — one of a group of passengers aboard American Airlines flight 93 during terrorist attacks on September 11.

The group bravely rushed terrorists in an attempt to take back control of the plane and forced them to crash in a field outside Pennsylvania, potentially saving hundreds more in the Washington area, but not themselves.

Mr Bingham’s mother, Alice Hoagland said the cup, which will be played this weekend, was not just about equality, but sent an overriding message of freedom, which she hoped would reach the likes of ISIS after the terror ring beheaded American journalist James Foley.

Gay or straight, we need more heroes in our world, like Mark Bingham.

“It’s ironic that he’s become this gay hero. When I was interviewed after 9/11, people asked the gay question. I always just said, the thing that this shows is that whenever groups act heroically, there may or may not be gay people among them. Period.”

Here, here.

8:20am

This is GOLD.

As floods hit Illinois in the United States, news crew WGN took to their helicopter to report live from the scene.

What they didn’t expect though, was what was to come.

Yes, that’s a giant Incredible Hulk garden statue. And yes, that’s his hilarious owner.

GOLD.
GOLD.

8:10am

Wild weather continues to lash the east coast as Sydney’s wettest August in 15 years shows no signs of drying up.

Severe weather warnings have been issued for Northern New South Wales and Queenslanders should also be on alert as a low pressure system moves north along the coast, bringing plenty of rain with it.

Heavy bursts of rain are expected throughout NSW and southern Queensland this morning following heavy rainfall overnight.

Southern suburbs of Sydney received over 70mm of rain last night and although the system is moving north — with more than 100mm expected in some areas of the north coast — heavy showers are still expected in the metro area this morning.

8:00am

We’re all for charity causes, but is anyone else SO OVER the ice bucket challenge?

When Education Minister Christopher Pyne takes part, you know its lost part of its cool.

And now it looks like he’s started a horrible chain of political dares. Pyne challenged Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young, who threw a bucket of ice over herself in Canberra this morning. She has since challenged Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, Clive Palmer, and Greens leader Christine Milne. Here’s hoping this is the last we see of it.

7:50am

YES.

7:45am

Nearly 200 cabin crew have resigned from Malaysia Airlines after two deadly tragedies this year have staff fearing for their safety.

The flag carrier, which prior to this year had a good safety record, has been in the spotlight in the past six months following the disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8 and the shooting down of MH17 on July 17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

Malaysian Army soldiers carry a coffin containing the body of Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, a Malaysia Airlines in-flight supervisor who was among the victims on board Flight MH17. Picture: Lai Seng Sin
Malaysian Army soldiers carry a coffin containing the body of Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, a Malaysia Airlines in-flight supervisor who was among the victims on board Flight MH17. Picture: Lai Seng Sin

The airline said overnight that 186 crew had left in the first seven months of this year, with many blaming family pressure prompted by the tragedies.

“Following the MH17 incident, there was a spike in crew resignations but the number has now decreased to acceptable and routinely expected levels,” it said in a statement “Many cited ‘family pressure’ as the reason for their resignation due to the MH17 and MH370 tragedies.”

Abdul Malek Ariff, secretary-general of the employees union, said some “are now are afraid to fly”.

Abdul Malek, quoted by the Edge Financial daily Monday, also said crew shortages were forcing staff to work up to 12 hours a day.

The union represents about 8000 of Malaysia Airlines’ 19,500-strong workforce.

The carrier said it was providing emotional and psychological support to its staff.

The two aviation tragedies killed 537 people including 27 crew members.

The ailing airline is in the midst of being taken private by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional as part of an expected major overhaul.

Khazanah is expected this week to announce a series of restructuring measures including job cuts and axing of unprofitable international routes.

The carrier has struggled amid intense competition, losing $US1.3 billion ($A1.41 billion) over the past three years even before the two disasters.

For this year’s first quarter the airline posted a net loss of 443 million ringgit ($A148.23 million) citing MH370’s impact on bookings. It was the fifth straight quarterly loss.

Malaysia Airlines crew members cry during a handover ceremony of bodies of the downed Flight MH17. Picture: Lai Seng Sin
Malaysia Airlines crew members cry during a handover ceremony of bodies of the downed Flight MH17. Picture: Lai Seng Sin

7:35am

Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner — will he or won’t he?

7:15am

Missed the Emmys yesterday? Ran out of time to catch up? I’ve got you covered:

Outstanding drama series: Breaking Bad

Outstanding comedy series: Modern Family

Outstanding television movie: The Normal Heart

Outstanding actor in a drama series: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Outstanding actress in a drama series: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series: Ty Burrell, Modern Family

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series: Allison Janney, Mom

Modern Family made Emmy history with its fifth consecutive best comedy win.

Highlights From 2014 Emmy Awards

6:55am

What happens when two of the world’s most famous enemies meet face to face?

Overnight, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine sat down to crunch one-on-one talks over heavy fighting in east Ukraine as the Kremlin admitted for the first time its troops had entered its neighbour’s territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, prior their talks in Minsk, Belarus. Picture: Sergei Bondarenko
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, prior their talks in Minsk, Belarus. Picture: Sergei Bondarenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin began a key bilateral meeting on Tuesday after six hours of difficult negotiations alongside top EU officials in Minsk aimed at defusing a crisis some fear could lead to all-out war between Kiev and Moscow.

There had seemed little hope for a major breakthrough after the conflict appeared to escalate when Ukraine released footage hours ahead of the talks purporting to show 10 Russian soldiers it had captured on its territory.

A Moscow military source claimed the soldiers had crossed into Ukraine “by accident”.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko faces Russian president Vladimir Putin (R) and Russian Foreign Affairs minister Serguei Lavrov. Picture: Mykola Lazarenko
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko faces Russian president Vladimir Putin (R) and Russian Foreign Affairs minister Serguei Lavrov. Picture: Mykola Lazarenko

“In Minsk at this meeting the fate of the world and Europe is being decided,” Poroshenko said in Russian as the earlier roundtable meeting started with Putin alongside top EU representatives and the leaders of Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Putin, however, barely mentioned the brutal fighting that has killed some 2,200 people in the east of Ukraine since April in remarks at the start of the group talks, focusing instead on the damage Kiev’s recent agreement with the EU could have on Russia’s economy.

On Tuesday it was announced that the Russian economy is nearing recession. At the same time it was also reported that the Ukrainian currency slid to a new record low against the dollar.

From left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Picture: Alexei Druzhinin
From left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Picture: Alexei Druzhinin

6:15am

Israel and the militant Islamist group Hamas halted mutual attacks overnight, after agreeing to an indefinite ceasefire in a move to end 50 days of bloodshed which killed 2,143 Palestinians and 69 Israelis.

The two sides accepted a proposal by Egyptian mediators for an immediate halt of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza strip and militant rocket attacks on Israel, to be followed by talks in Cairo on terms of a durable truce.

6:00am

An Indian woman has had the skeletal remains of her unborn baby removed from her abdomen — nearly four decades after it died.

An MRI scan reveals the unborn baby’s bones.
An MRI scan reveals the unborn baby’s bones.
The remains taken from Mrs Thakre’s stomach.
The remains taken from Mrs Thakre’s stomach.

Kantabi Thakre is thought to have the world’s longest ectopic pregnancy after falling pregnant 1978.

Doctors warned the then-24-year-old that her baby was unlikely to survive after they discovered it was growing outside the womb. Terrified, she fled her village and sought treatment in a local health centre where her pregnancy was terminated.

36 years later, the stomach pain returned to haunt her and the 60-year-old Mrs Thakre sought medical attention in Nagpur, Central India.

An MRI scan at the NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences revealed the skeleton inside the woman’s abdomen.

“The amniotic fluid that protects the foetus might have been absorbed and the soft tissues liquefied over time with only a bag of bones with some fluid remaining,” Dr Mohammad Yunus Shah said.

Previously, the longest ectopic pregnancy was a Belgium woman who carried the remains of her unborn child for 18 years.

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/rush-hour-the-stories-you-need-to-know-today/news-story/7e9e3ab62ac93e47154abb75c0bb17fe