RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
A FATHER who thought his two daughters were fat and forced them to go on a diet and practice skiing has been sentenced to jail for abuse.
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.
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
A teenage girl was indecently assaulted when rap music fans started brawling after leaving a concert for an international act at the Enmore Theatre on Monday night.
A sold out concert for US rappers YG and TY Dolla Sign turned nasty when revellers left the venue and started fighting about 11pm. Public Order and Riot Squad converged on the area for crowd control.
9.40am
Chet Faker’s single Talk is Cheap was declared the winner of Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2014.
Coming in at number two was hot favourite, Peking Duk with High, and at number three, Hilltop Hoods with Cosby Sweater.
The results were unveiled last night after Triple J disqualified Taylor Swift’s single Shake it Off.
9.20am
Actor Zach Galifianakis has shocked viewers of the Screen Actors Guild Awards with his clean shaven and slimmed down appearance.
9am
An Arab-American civil rights group say the movie American Sniper has led to an increase in threats made against Muslims living in the US.
Members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) have written to the film’s director, Clint Eastwood, and its star, Bradley Cooper, asking them to speak out against the threats which have allegedly made on social networking sites.
The film is based on the true story of US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who served in Iraq from 2003 until 2009, and in a statement the ADC suggests the “majority of the violent threats we have seen over the past few days are result of how Arab and Muslims are depicted in the film.
The film became a box office hit in the US following its release earlier this month, and it is up for the Best Picture Oscar at next month’s Academy Awards, while Cooper is nominated for Best Actor.
8.55am
A French court has blocked parents from naming their baby girl after the hazelnut spread Nutella, arguing it would make her the target of mockery.
A registrar recording the baby’s birth last September flagged the unusual name to local prosecutors who took it to a family court judge, the prosecutor’s office told AFP, confirming a story in the Voix du Nord newspaper on Monday.
The parents did not attend the court hearing and the judge decided in their absence to rename the baby Ella.
“The name ‘Nutella’ corresponds to the commercial name of a spread. And it is against the child’s interest to be saddled with a name that could only lead to mockery and unkind remarks,” said the judgement.
8.40am
US residents are bracing for #snowmageddon2015 with officials in states along the US East Coast urging residents to stay home.
Winter Storm Juno could dump 90cm of snow in some areas and the National Weather Service has issued blizzard warnings from New Jersey to the Canadian border, including New York and Boston.
Check out line at grocery store at least 50 people deep. Goes down entire aisle. #Snowmageddon2015 pic.twitter.com/PwL0TWTmGU
— Stuart Lieberman (@StuLieberman) January 26, 2015View from Movo HQ #Snowmageddon2015 #NYC pic.twitter.com/s5lZPISyGD
— Movo (@GetMovo) January 26, 2015Times Square, half an hour later #blizzard2012 https://t.co/Rm8AOApj40
— Matt Young (@MattYoung) January 26, 20158.20am
An Italian father who forced his two daughters to go on a diet and practice ski at competitive level because he thought they were “fat” has been found guilty of psychological abuse and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.
The 53-yea-old man from Turin, in north-west Italy, was reported to authorities by his separated wife. The couple’s daughters had complained to her about their father, telling her that they no longer wanted to see him.
The ANSA news agency quoted the father’s lawyer, who did not want to be named, as saying that his client had expressed “normal” concerns for his daughters’ wellbeing. An appeal against the ruling by the Turin court is to be lodged.
Due to privacy laws, Italian media did not provide details about the daughters’ weight.
The man was not expected to be imprisoned, as in Italy people who are given short jail terms, especially if they have no previous criminal record, are normally given suspended sentences.
8.10am
A former top official of the Church of Scientology says he ordered Nicole Kidman’s phones to be tapped at the suggestion of Tom Cruise and church head David Miscavige.
Former Scientologist Mark “Marty” Rathbun, a member of the church for many years and a key aide to Miscavige, makes the allegations in an explosive new documentary, Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Sunday.
7.50am
KFC has unveiled a new dish, the Double Down Dog, which features a sausage wrapped in a piece of chicken instead of a bun.
Just to be safe, I feel like if people eat these they should already be sitting on a toilet. #DoubleDownDog pic.twitter.com/8ACBqIt0Jj
— Ryan Myers (@RyMyers25) January 26, 2015"It was love at first bite!" Says Christian. 3 down, 47 left at the Fort Triangle Branch. #NewKFCDoubleDown pic.twitter.com/B5eQY2Phas
— KFC Philippines (@KFCPhilippines) January 26, 2015It is only being sold in the Phillipines and each KFC store is only offering 50 dogs a day. Some of them have sold out.
To all our US fans wanting to try the #doubledowndog, sadly it’s only available @KFCPhilippines. Start booking your trip now!
— KFC (@kfc) January 26, 20157.20am
The FBI has arrested a Russian spy in New York and identified two other co-conspirators.
Federal authorities say three people have been charged in connection with a Russian spy ring that tried to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources.
The case was announced Monday by US Attorney General Eric Holder, US Attorney Preet Bharara and FBI officials.
Evgeny Buryakov aka “Zhenya”, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy have been charged with Buryakov’s service as a covert intelligence agent for Russia.
Buryakov, a bank employee, was arrested on Monday in the Bronx. However, the other two no longer live in the US and have not been arrested.
Authorities say one of the defendants served as a trade representative of the Russian Federation in New York. They say another posed as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank.
It follows the 2010 arrest of another Russian spy ring including Anna Chapman, who has since leveraged her fame to walk the Moscow catwalk during Fashion Week. Last year it emerged that Chapman was asked by superiors to seduce NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and keep him in Russia for questioning and scrutiny.
7am
Australian golfer Robert Allenby allegedly ran up a $A4,324 bar tab at a Honolulu strip club the night he claims he was bashed, robbed and abducted.
GolfChannel.com reported it had interviewed multiple witnesses and retraced Allenby’s steps after he had dinner with friends at the Amuse Wine Bar in downtown Honolulu.
After Allenby left the bar he went to Club Femme Nu, described as an adult entertainment club wedged between a tattoo parlour and a Korean restaurant, GolfChannel.com reported, citing multiple sources who were working at the premises.
Allenby was there until around midnight with “a group of friends” and ran up a $A4,324 bar tab, according to the report.
6.45am
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s judgment is being questioned by furious Liberal MPs who say his bizarre decision to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip — taken on his own without consulting Cabinet — is a serious mistake.
Liberals who spent yesterday at Australia Day events were met with derision and surprise from voters, who questioned the decision to give Australia’s highest honour to a decorated 93-year-old British royal.
“The feedback is horrendous,’’ one Liberal MP, a supporter of Mr Abbott, told The Daily Telegraph.
The announcement overshadowed the knighthood for former Defence Force chief Angus Houston, who was honoured for his leadership, particularly during the MH370 and MH17 disasters.
It also intensified concerns for Liberals, who are starting to doubt Mr Abbott’s ability to reverse the government’s poor standing in opinion polls.
6.30am
Australian beauty queen Tegan Martin went beyond her hopes and expectations by reaching the last 10 of the Miss Universe pageant, which was won by Miss Colombia.
The 22-year-old, who had just hoped to make the final 15, made it through the first elimination phase to the last 15 but was squeezed out of the last five.
After squeezing into the last 15 Martin said: “I thought I was done for sure there,” before adding: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi”.
6.10am
Australia could be one of the countries hardest hit by hotter temperatures, and is on track for an increase of up to 5C by 2090.
The national science agency CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology today released the most comprehensive analysis of the country’s future climate to date.
It is based on 40 global climate models and a statement from the CSIRO says there is “very high confidence” that temperatures will rise across Australia.
CSIRO principal research scientist Kevin Hennessy told The Guardian: “Australia will warm faster than the rest of the world,”
“Warming of 4C to 5C would have a very significant effect: there would be increases in extremely high temperatures, much less snow, more intense rainfall, more fires and rapid sea level rises.”
The report notes:
* Alice Springs will experience an average of 83 days a year over 40C in 2090, up from 17 in 1995.
* Melbourne will get an average of 24 days above 35c by 2090, up from 11 in 1995.
* Sydney will have 11 days above 35C by 2090, up from three days in 1995.
‘Screams’ after horror Bali shooting
An Australian man has been killed and another wounded in a shooting at a villa in Bali.
Albo takes Trump plea to US audience
The PM will tell a US audience that Australia will always act in its “national interests” as he announces a huge Aussie investment from a major American firm.
Metricon CEO reveals grim housing reality
The boss of Australia’s largest builder has offered a rare insight into the issues plaguing the housing industry, and the sad reality faced by first-time buyers today.