RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
A MULTI-MILLION payout to the Australian woman horribly burnt while running a marathon in the outback is apparently a lot less than the $10 million being reported.
TODAY:
• Shane Warne has gone public over his new romance with buxom Sydney lads magazine model Emily Scott. Click here to see the photos.
• The ultra-marathon fire victim Turia Pitt has reportedly reached a multi-million settlement with Racing the Planet organisers.
• News that the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is not in the zone authorities have been searching has shocked people around the world.
10am
That’s it for our Friday morning live #RUSHHOUR news blog.
You can get across the stories you need to know today below, in the meantime all the latest headlines are right here on news.com.au. See you bright and early Monday morning.
9.45am
An insider’s account from Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s wedding reveals that their gold toilet block, nicked named the Gold Toilet Tower, was the “star of the show”.
To read all the over-the-top details, click here.
9.30am
Fans of the popular chilli sauce Sriracha are celebrating after a lawsuit to halt its production in California, and to declare it a ‘public nuisance’ was dropped.
Those living near the factory complained that fumes released during the chilli harvest season were like “respiratory napalm” and burned their throats and eyes.
According to the Pasadena Star-News, the local council filed the lawsuit against maker Huy Fong Foods and declared the factory a public nuisance, but decided to drop both actions when the sauce’s creator said issues would be addressed and suggested taking his business to Texas.
The sauce is so popular that it has inspired cookbooks and worried fans had been stockpiling bottles during the dispute.
9.15am
An oil tanker has exploded off the Japanese coast. The 64-year-old captain is missing, while four of his crew were in hospital being treated for severe burns, the coastguard said.
9am
A sightseer’s worst nightmare came true on Thursday night, when the surface of a glass skywalk he was on began to shatter beneath him.
Alejandro Garibay, 23, was 103 stories up on the Ledge on Chicago’s Willis Tower.
“I had my palms on the floor and I could feel it cracking,” said Mr Garibay, who was posing for pictures at the time. “Honestly, I was in shock, in disbelief. I was scared.”
8.45am
The CEO of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, says he is “mortified and embarrassed that my idiotic emails during my fraternity days were made public”.
In the leaked emails Spiegel described female students as “soroisluts”, made references to oral sex, drug use and peeing on women.
In a statement released to TechCrunch he said: “I have no excuse. I’m sorry I wrote them at the time and I was a jerk to have written them. They in no way reflects who I am today or my views towards women.”
8.30am
Virgin Australia has again threatened to pull out of Queensland after discovering it was locked out of a route for fly-in, fly-out mine workers, allowing Qantas a monopoly.
The Courier Mail has obtained documents under Right to Information laws that show the Government in January was preparing to announce deregulation of the Brisbane-Roma-Charleville route.
This would have allowed competition with QantasLink, but in February the decision was reversed without explanation.
8.15am
Two teenage girls have been found hanging from a tree in a northern Indian village after they were gang-raped by five men, police say.
“The report suggests ante-mortem hanging, which means the girls probably committed suicide,” said Budaun police chief Atul Saxena.
The girls were from the low-caste Dalit community and police are searching for the offenders.
One alleged attacker was arrested after an initial police complaint from the girls’ relatives against five men for gang-rape, murder and child sexual abuse.
8am
Sydney is now the most feared team in the AFL after humiliating Geelong at the SCG last night with a record 110-point thrashing. The Swans previous biggest win over the Cats was 109 points at the Lake Oval, South Melbourne in 1933.
7.50am
A Sydney man is dead after being bashed by a baseball bat in what is believed to have been a robbery gone wrong.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the man aged in his late 60s was believed to have been bashed by up to three men in his Badgerys Creek home this morning.
A woman believed to be his wife was also bashed by the intruders and rushed to hospital suffering lacerations to the head, as well as a broken arm and wrist.
7.35am
Rolf Harris’ daughter Bindi banged her head against a wall she was so beside herself with shock when she was told her father sexually abused her childhood friend.
She also destroyed some paintings he’d given her, a Southwark Crown Court has heard.
7.20am
NSW five-eighth Josh Reynolds has avoided a suspension for a dangerous throw on Maroons winger Brent Tate during Wednesday’s Origin opener. The NRL judiciary downgraded his charge, which means the Bulldogs playmaker will be free to play in Origin II.
7.05am
Ultra-marathon fire victim Turia Pitt has reportedly reached a $10 million settlement with Racing the Planet organisers.
But news.com.au understands that the settlement figure is less than half this amount.
Ms Pitt was left with horrific injuries after being caught in a fire that swept across the 100km course in the Kimberley in 2011. She suffered life-threatening burns to 60 per cent of her body.
According to the West Australian, Ms Pitt has reached an out-of-court settlement with race organisers.
In an interview with 60 Minutes to air this Sunday, Ms Pitt’s boyfriend Michael Hoskin said there were no real winners.
“It got settled through mediation and you could say, you can’t really speak about whether it was a good or great outcome, there’s no winners, it’s just an outcome you know, but it’s really good to have that behind us now, so we can move forward. We don’t even have to think about that ever again,” he said.
He said negotiating the settlement was the only thing that got Ms Pitt upset.
“I haven’t seen her upset since that, since the day it got settled.”
Ms Pitt says: “It’s a good thing. I mean I can move on.”
The interview will air this Sunday at 8pm on Channel Nine.
6.50am
More celebrity couples: film director Quentin Tarantino and actress Uma Thurman are reportedly dating. “He’s loved her for years”, according to Us Weekly.
6.35am
A man screamed “somebody has bombed me!” as his Ford Mondeo exploded in his Melbourne driveway.
The victim, known as Mo, was set on fire as a result of the car blast in the northern Melbourne suburb of Dallas.
He was found rolling around in his front yard desperately trying to smother the flames — his legs a bloody mess from the shrapnel.
6.25am
The parents of California gunman Elliot Rodger are so devastated by the six lives taken by their son that they have started stuttering, a family friend has revealed.
“Literally, their speech is now stuttered,” Simon Astaire said. “They’re unable to really articulate things in a full sentence.”
In a statement issued to ABC News the couple said: “It breaks our heart on a level we didn’t think possible. The feeling of knowing that it was our son’s actions that caused the tragedy can only be described as hell on earth.”
6.15am
News that the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is not in the zone authorities have been searching has shocked people around the world.
Apparently the four pings detected in the southern Indian Ocean were likely to have come from the searching ship or the pinger locator device. Sound crazy? Unfortunately the Australian search team confirmed yesterday the wreckage is not in the search zone.
However, they still believe the plane is somewhere in the Indian Ocean and authorities will continue the search in August, this will probably take about a year.
Understandably, many relatives are angry about this latest development.
6.07am
The man abducted by slain university student Jamie Gao told how he was brutally bashed after a romance turned sour.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Jaiweu Yi, 19, told a British newspaper that he was kidnapped over a love split involving a friend, 18-year-old Alex Li.
“It was because Alex and his girlfriend broke up.” He said they wanted revenge on Alex. “She used Jamie to do it ... to come around and kidnap me.”
6.05am
Shane Warne has gone public over his new romance with buxom Sydney lads magazine model Emily Scott.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the cricket superstar and the 30-year-old model, who also works as a DJ, record producer and sometime reality TV starlet, have been dating for months.
They stepped out together at the 50th birthday party of boxing champ Jeff Fenech on Wednesday night.
6am
Good morning, and welcome to our headlines in a hurry morning news coverage. We will be bringing you the best of what’s happening this morning, so you can get across the news quickly.
Horror crash leaves 2 Aussies dead, 1 in coma
An Aussie mother faces an unimaginable tragedy after a bus crash in India killed her husband and 5-year-old daughter. She is now pleading to medically evacuate her other daughter.
‘Monster’ rain band about to descend
Flood-weary communities in one state are holding their breath as a rain bomb makes its way across the country.
One Nation gets surprise Senate win
One Nation has made a surprise gain in the Senate after its WA candidate nabbed the final spot, while Malcolm Roberts has been returned.