RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
HE lifts weights for an hour a day and sticks to a strict diet. That’s not unusual for a competitive bodybuilder, but Cosmo Taylor is only 14 years old.
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.
9.30am
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.
9.00am
Thirty-three years after his untimely death, ganja-loving reggae icon Bob Marley is being remembered with an eponymous brand of top-end marijuana, his family says.
Marley Natural is being pitched as “a premium cannabis brand rooted in the life and legacy” of one of Jamaica’s greatest cultural exports, just as the United States slowly shifts towards legalised pot.
“It just seems natural that Daddy should be part of this conversation,” said Cedella Marley, 47, the singer-songwriter’s daughter.
“As Daddy would say, ‘make way for the positive day’,” she said in a video aired by NBC television on Tuesday.
The marijuana brand is being developed with a Washington state based company and is intended to be sold in the US and possibly internationally starting next year.
8.40am
BREAKING: Clive Palmer has demoted Jacqui Lambie from her position in the Palmer United Party.
Reports are emerging the outspoken senator has been removed as deputy leader following for failing to attend meetings.
8.15am
Pauline Hanson is back.
The fiery redhead has announced she is will return to politics as leader of One Nation and has confirmed she will be running for a seat in parliament.
“I think people want an honest voice and accountability,” she said on Seven’s Sunrise.
'I am returning as leader of One Nation' Pauline Hanson #sun7
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 18, 2014
'My children were concerned for me - and I said honey who else is there for the Australian people' Pauline Hanson on returning to politics
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 18, 2014In statement released on the One Nation web page, Queensland State President Jim Savage said Ms Hanson was being lined up to retake the helm of the party.
“We have been given the opportunity to revitalise the party with Pauline Hanson taking on the roll of National Chairman and Leader of the party,” he said.
“It is now time to rebuild the party and stand credible candidates in upcoming elections.
Ms Hanson lost her seat in 1998, going on to lose four more elections and being sentenced to jail for electoral fraud in 2003, the ruling was overturned and Hanson only spent a few months in jail.
In 2004 she took her tilt at dancing, appearing on Channel 7’s Dancing With the Stars.
Ms Hanson narrowly missed out on a spot in the NSW upper house in 2011. Only time will tell how the former fish and chip shop owner’s latest stint at politics will fair.
MORE: Pauline Hanson’s return to politics
8.05am
A landmark report has found indigenous Australians are working and earning more, but levels of self harm and hospitalisation within the community are rising significantly.
The Overcoming indigenous Disadvantage report found hospitalisation for self harm among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders has risen almost 50 per cent over the past decade. Indigenous Australians are 2.7 times more likely to be hospitalised for self harm than non-indigenous people.
IMPROVEMENTS
Life expectancy gap narrowed from 11.4 to 10.6 years for men, 9.6 to 9.5 years for women
Mortality rates for children under one have halved over 15 years
Adult (20-64) post-school qualifications increased 17 per cent over 10 years
Adults employed full-time increased 12 per cent over 10 years
NO CHANGE
Students achieving national minimum standards for reading, writing, numeracy from 2008 to 2013
Family violence rates, alcohol and substance abuse rates * Disability and chronic disease rates
DIGRESSION
Levels of high psychological distress increased from 27 to 30 per cent since 2004 to 2012
Hospitalisation for self harm increased 48 per cent over same period
Adult imprisonment increased 57 per cent from 2000 to 2013
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline
7.50am
A body was found at Dandenong Park in Melbourne this morning.
An off-duty police officer made the grisly discover while walking their dog at around 4.30am this morning.
Body found in Dandenong park overnight by off-duty PSO who was walking dog. More to come @theheraldsun in #TheLoop: http://t.co/p2WMFSPQjt
— Tom Minear (@tminear) November 18, 2014
7.20am
The Italian mafia have traditionally been pretty good at keeping their secret rituals just that.
But anti-mafia police have blown the case wide open on the mafia’s secret initiation ceremonies, capturing part of a ritual with secret cameras as part of an inquiry into the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate.
The revealing footage exposes some of the secrets of one of the most powerful and secretive criminal organisations in the world.
An incoming members is forced to swear “until the seventh generation” that he will protect his “wise brothers”.
“I swear to deny everything, up to the seventh generation,” a senior mafia member asks the newbie to repeat.
The ‘Ndrangheta inquiry, which exposed the footage, has seen 40 suspects arrested in targeted raids of mafia cells in northern Italy.
7.00am
Is Jacqui Lambie about to go rogue?
Speculation is building the outspoken senator could split from the Palmer United Party as early as today, already breaking rank to vote against the party in the senate.
A very angry Lambie has now gone a step further and dropped the PUP logo from her website.
Her website states: “Jacqui Lambie, Putting Tasmania First”. It makes no mention of the party.
She has publicly criticised Mr Palmer over his lack of support for her policy positions — and he has fired back, calling her a “drama queen”.
Today will be her chance to use a Senate sitting day — before parliament resumes on Monday — to decide whether she’ll continue donning her trademark party yellow or move on as an independent senator.
6.45am
Accused balcony killer Gable Tostee will learn whether he will be released today three months after being charged with the murder of a young woman who fell to her death from his Gold Coast balcony while on a Tinder date.
Tostee’s lawyers yesterday applied for bail for the 28-year-old in Brisbane’s Supreme Court, promising he would stay off Tinder and alcohol as part of his bail conditions.
Prosecutors of Tostee are determined to pursue a charge of murder over the balcony-fall death of 26-year-old Warriena Wright.
6.30am
An Australian man has died in a tragic nightclub fire in Cambodia.
Tom Ricketson, 32, of Sydney, who had arrived in Cambodia last month, died from smoke inhalation alongside three Cambodian women and a Cambodian man after fire broke out. Two of the dead were named as Prum Phiron, 31, and Cheng Savien, 33.
Two Cambodian women were also seriously injured, he said.
The blaze broke out at the Hip Hop Club in Siem Reap city at around 2am on Tuesday as the result of an electrical fault, provincial police chief Sort Nady said.
Ricketson’s uncle, filmmaker James Ricketson — who had just spent 10 days with his nephew in Phnom Penh — said he was devastated by the tragedy.
Describing Tom as “kind hearted” with a heart of gold, James Ricketson said last night from Cambodia he was left shattered after breaking the news to his sister and his mother.
MORE: Australian holiday-maker among five dead in nightclub fire in Siem Reap, Cambodia
6.20am
If this isn’t enough to guilt you into hitting the gym we don’t know what is.
A 14-year-old boy has become Britain’s youngest bodybuilder, and boy is he ripped.
Cosmo Taylor began training at age 11, encouraged by his bodybuilder father.
“The gym is my life,” he told The Telegraph.
“I love lifting and I love the buzz I get when I hit a personal best or see growth in my muscles.”
The mini muscleman currently weighs in at 73kg — “but eventually I want to hit around 90-95”.
Check out some of this teenager’s poses.
CCTV emerges before babysitter, girl killed
CCTV footage has captured a car leaving a Brisbane home before a fire broke out at the property and claimed the lives of an eight-year-old girl and her babysitter.
Convicted whistleblower launches appeal
A former military lawyer turned whistleblower has been given leave to appeal his sentence and convictions after he was jailed for leaking military information.
Dutton hits below the belt in Albo feud
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over a hotly contested issue affecting millions of Australians.