RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
A STUDENT is facing police charges for filming a pornographic video in a university library.
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.
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
With the Queensland election looming this weekend, leaders of both major parties will be hoping to turn their fortunes around.
Coverage of Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk’s appearance on radio station 97.3FM when she admitted she didn’t know the GST was set at 10 per cent, has not been kind.
But things aren’t any better for Liberal State Premier Campbell Newman, who has flown back to Brisbane to defend his seat of Ashgrove after polling showed he was dangerously close to losing his seat.
The leaders are expected to face off at a debate organised by the Queensland Media Club today.
9.20am
A parliamentary inquiry into a long-running NSW police bugging scandal has begun.
“We the police would not treat criminals this way, and nor should we,” Mr Kaldas said. “What happened to me and my family ... was wrong.”
Mr Kaldas was one of more than 100 police allegedly spied on more than a decade ago as part of a covert internal corruption investigation.
The inquiry is examining a NSW ombudsman investigation into the bugging claims and their subsequent handling by police. Mr Kaldas has alleged false information was used in swearing affidavits for warrants to bug himself and colleagues.
Mr Kaldas, who is tipped to be in the running for the state’s top policing job, said the intense level of surveillance was “unjustified” and part of a campaign to discredit him.
9.10am
UPDATE: A 19-year-old gunman who stormed into the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS demanding airtime Thursday night claimed to be from a “hackers’ collective,” according to a reporter who spoke to the man.
NOS was off-air for around an hour. When it came back, it showed recorded footage of the young man, wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and carrying a pistol.
Speaking calmly to someone off-camera, the man said, “We are hired in by intelligence agencies.” Shortly after, police arrived with their guns drawn and ordered the man to drop his weapon and put his hands up. At least five police officers then ordered him to turn around and lie down, which he did and he was arrested without a struggle.
8.50am
Australia has been named and shamed on a list of the world’s worst human rights offenders — but it’s not just our treatment of indigenous people and asylum seekers that has landed us there.
According to Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2015, we share the dubious honour with the likes of Syria, Nigeria and Egypt.
Our counterterrorism laws — hastily introduced by the Abbott government last year — have been slammed as “vague” and “over-broad” in the damning report, infringing on the basic rights of all Australians.
8.20am
Police have charged a former student for filming a pornographic video in a university library.
According to KEZI 9 News, police arrested Kendra Sunderland, 19, and charged her for public indecency in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest of the US.
It was not clear whether the student, who did not enrol in classes this term, intended for it to appear on PornHub.com. However, the video filmed in the library at Oregon State University has since been removed.
According to the New York Daily News, Sunderland bares her breasts several times and briefly masturbates in front of a camera while sitting at a desk in the library, as students walk by in the background. The report suggests that the clip only lasts for five minutes and is watermarked with a logo for ReptCams, a live sex chat site.
8am
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is spruiking yet another health treatment - this time she wants you to get a vagina steam.
In a post on her Goop website, the 42-year-old raves about the Tikkun spa in Los Angeles which offers a rather unique service.
“The real golden ticket here is the Mugworth V-Steam,” wrote Paltrow.
“You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infra-red and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al.
“It is an energetic release — not just a steam douche — that balances female hormone levels. If you’re in LA, you have to do it.”
7.45am
An Aussie company is set to roll out hot chip vending machines across the country.
Perth-based The Hot Chips Company spent more than five years developing the one-of-a-kind machine with WA potato processor Bendotti Exporters.
“You put your money in and it (the chips) goes from frozen to the fryer and in your cup within two minutes and 20 seconds,” Bendotti Exporters director Stephen Bendotti told ABC.
Hot chip vending machines already exist in Australia but The Hot Chips Company says it is undertaking the first commercial rollout of its kind in the country.
hot chip vending machines pic.twitter.com/e707E4uAuW
— Daryl Hopkins (@Formula1daryl) January 29, 20157.30am
‘I put money on it, we won’t be talking about this issue at the next election,’ the agriculture minister told ABC TV on Thursday.
He said voters would have forgotten what happened on Australia Day, when the prime minister was ridiculed for his decision to confer a knighthood on Prince Philip.
‘It will be lost in the fish-and-chip wrapper where it belongs,’ Mr Joyce said.
The Nationals deputy leader is among a number of senior government figures publicly supporting Mr Abbott as leader as the fallout from his ‘captain’s call’ continues.
7.10am
Australia’s visa privileges have been up for debate with both the UK and the US looking at changes.
During a debate in parliament, there was a push to ease visa restrictions on Aussies entering the UK, with some highlighting that countries that still have the Queen as a Head of State do not receive any extra “privileges” handed to European nations.
“Being a subject from one of Her Majesty’s realms or being from a Commonwealth nation should count for something when looking to visit, work, study or live in the United Kingdom, at the moment it appears to count for little,” MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell said.
Meanwhile there has been debate in the United States over whether to scrap a visa waiver program for partner countries including Australia, New Zealand and many European countries.
There have been increasing calls to dump the program, which allows travel to the US without a visa for stays of 90 days or less, following recent attacks in Paris, Ottawa and Sydney.
6.50am
BREAKING: A lone gunman interrupted a live broadcast on Dutch national TV before being overpowered, according to reports.
Express reported that a man entered a broadcast studio around 7pm local time in the city of Hilversum and demanded airtime.
Broadcasting was suspended during the incident, and people in the building were quickly evacuated.
6.30am
The mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 has officially been declared an accident by Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation.
Director-General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told a press conference all 239 passengers and crew were “presumed to have lost their lives”.
He said Malaysia Airlines was immediately ready to proceed with compensation payments for families of the victims.
The investigation was now in the “search and recovery stage” but no hope was held of finding survivors.
6.10am
An independent candidate on the Sunshine Coast is under police investigation after allegedly hitting his young son in front of shocked diners at a cafe.
Prominent engineer and PhD scholar Jason Deller, who developed the Sunshine Coast Sustainable Transport Strategy, is taking on Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Jarrod Bleijie for the seat of Kawana in this weekend’s Queensland election.
A diner, who recognised Mr Deller from his election signs, called police after they allegedly saw him leave his chair and slap his son across the head “with a full swing”.
The witness reported the action was so severe it stunned diners and staff.
5.50am
It looks like Andy Murray has scored himself a perfect match with his fiancee’s expletive outbursts matching his own.
Viewers could not help but notice Murray’s fiancee, Kim Sears, swearing from the player’s box while he was playing Tomas Berdych at the Australian Open last night.
As journalist Richard Osley noted in his Vine mashup: “Andy Murray and his girlfriend look like they love a good swear”.
Kim Sears dropping a military level of F-Bombs ☺☺☺☺☺☺
— Paul Williams (@thepaulwilliams) January 29, 2015Although there is no confirmation about what Sears said, some have interpreted it as: “F***ing have that, you Czech flash f***”.
Asked at a news conference about Sears using “Anglo-Saxon adjectives,” Murray said media hype in the lead up to the match added to the tension for everybody involved.
“It’s completely normal that, yeah, the whole first set everyone was tight. My physical trainer, physio ... Even Tomas, who very rarely says anything on the court, there was tension there for him, as well,” Murray said. “Yeah, in the heat of the moment you can say stuff that you regret. And, yeah, that’s it.”
Didn't think I could love Kim Sears more
— Ellen Butler (@ellensophia93) January 29, 2015Murray went on to win against the Czech player in the Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open - 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5.
Murray will be playing in his fourth final at Melbourne Park against either Novak Djokovic or Stan Wawrinka, who play their semi-final on Friday. He’s still looking for his first title here.
Tensions were high before the match because Murray’s former coach, Dani Vallverdu, is now in Berdych’s camp performing the same duties. Murray acknowledged the acrimony on the court, but blamed the media for making a bigger deal of Vallverdu’s move from Murray to Berdych in November.
Kim Sears has gone up in my estimation, the girls got passion 👌
— Samantha♥ (@xSammy_Rx) January 29, 2015
Horror moment Qantas worker fell 6m
The daughters of a Qantas employee who suffered catastrophic and lifelong injuries after falling 6m from an airbridge are demanding answers.
ABC expected to axe major panel show
The ABC is reportedly set to put the longstanding current affairs panel program Q+A on the chopping block after 17 seasons on air.
‘Weird:’ Kean unleashes on Coalition MPs
The former NSW treasurer Matt Kean has urged the Coalition to listen to voters, or risk “electoral oblivion” taking aim at prominent MPs.