RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
THIS woman suspected her boyfriend of cheating and scratched a sexual slur into another woman’s car. She thought she’d outsmarted police but then did something even more stupid.
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.
9:45am:
A mother has forced her 3-year-old son to swallow live frogs in hopes that it would cure his epilepsy.
The unnamed woman from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province was told of the folklore panacea by a friend and thought she’d try it out when she became concerned over her son’s symptoms. After three frogs were captured, the family held the boy down and made him swallow them, reports GB News.
Shortly after the child was admitted to hospital when abnormal masses started growing on his body. Doctors removed the growths from the boy’s stomach and scrotum which they said were likely caused by swallowing the frogs.
It is unclear if the boy actually sufferes from epilepsy.
9:30am:
Relatives of missing Queensland teenager Jayde Kendall say the love and support from the community is keeping them focused on finding their beloved 16-year-old.
It’s been almost two weeks since Jayde was last seen getting into a red car at Lockyer District High School in Gatton on Friday, August 14.
Hundreds of supporters gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Peace Lutheran Church in Gatton on Wednesday evening.
Jayde’s family hoped the ceremony would guide the teen back to them, her aunt Jenny Morrissey said on Thursday.
“The love and support of family and the whole community has been overwhelming,” she wrote on Facebook.
“It fills our heart and keeps us focused on finding our beautiful girl.”
Read more at the Courier Mail.
9:15am:
In an effort to keep up with the changing cultural, political and social norms of a rapidly changing society, the Oxford Dictionary has included a raft of new words.
Hangry (angry due to hunger), manspreading (encroaching on a neighbour’s seat with your legs), snackable (an easy read) brain fart and pocket dial were among the thousand new words and phrases added.
“It’s not about dumbing down, it’s more creative ways people are using language,” editor Fiona McPherson said.
Can't believe they added "bruh" to the Oxford dictionary
Oxford Dictionaries Adds ‘Fat-Shame,’ ‘Butthurt’ and ‘Redditor’ http://t.co/OHvdTm5YcK
9am:
Warragamba Dam in Sydney’s west has started spilling over and Western Sydney residents are being warned to prepare for minor flooding.
“Following the spill the water level in the dam will be lowered down to just below full supply level with small discharges from the dam. This is part of post-flood procedures,” the Sydney Catchment Authority said this morning.
8:50am:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging world leaders to “accelerate” negotiations ahead of a December climate conference in Paris.
At a press conference in Paris Wednesday, Ban said climate change is happening and “We don’t have time to waste. We don’t have time to lose.”
He called on negotiators to “look beyond their national interest.”
A key U.N. conference in Paris is aiming at reaching a deal with more than 190 nations to keep global warming from reaching dangerous levels.
-AP
8:40am:
All-Blacks legend Jonah Lomu has bewildered and delighted patrons at a pub in Ireland after hiding in an electronic prize machine.
As the former rugby player hid inside, he signed balls with personal messages to people who played the game. For example, when the ball dropped out with the message; “To Karl, like the beard. Jonah”, Karl was quite surprised.
As a buzz developed around the pub, eventually Lomu emerged from the machine as the crowd cheered in delight.
The stunt was a Heineken promotion for the upcoming World Cup.
8:25am:
A Queensland man has been charged over a stabbing at a Brisbane primary school.
The 36-year-old allegedly became involved in an argument with another man, aged 45, in the car park of the Wynnum State School on Boxgrove Avenue about 2.45pm on Wednesday and allegedly stabbed him in the chest and wrist.
The victim was taken to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital with non-life threatening injuries while the younger man will face the Wynnum Magistrates Court this morning.
-AAP
8:15am:
The father of the controversial Duggar family has checked himself into rehab for sex addiction.
The disgraced reality star has checked into a long-term treatment centre a week after it came out that he had an Ashley Madison account and had cheated on his wife, his family said in a statement on their website Wednesday.
“His wrong choices have deeply hurt his precious wife and children and have negatively affected so many others. He has also brought great insult to the values and faith we hold dear,” it read.
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” a statement posted on the family’s website reads. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife,” he said in a statement.
Read more at The New York Post.
8am:
A woman in the US has been arrested for vandalising the car of a separate woman who she accused of sleeping with her boyfriend.
Shannon Csapilla, 20, was charged with criminal mischief after she scratched the word “wore” into the side of the woman’s car.
Presumably she was going for a different word but the misspelling wasn’t the only time her wits let her down. After being taken in by the police on suspicion of committing the crime, she quickly incriminated herself upon release by taking a selfie with the caption “Stamford police have nothing on me,” reports the Stamford Advocate.
“Unbeknownst to her, we did have enough and we obtained two arrest warrants from a judge and took her into custody at her home,” police officer Diedrich Hohn said.
7:50am:
A Korean man has been charged with murder after a body was found crammed inside a Sydney garbage bin.
The body of a 26-year-old man was found in a suburban waste bin in Epping on Saturday, and police arrested and questioned the Korean man on Monday before handing him over to immigration officials.
The 26-year-old was rearrested at a detention centre at Villawood yesterday, and has now been charged with murder. He was refused bail, and is due to appear at Fairfield Local Court today.
-AAP
7:40am:
Dramatic footage has been captured on CCTV cameras in China showing the moment a sink hole opens up and swallows four people.
The vision shows a number of people waiting at a bus stop in China’s Heilongjiang Province when the ground gives way underneath their feet.
Sinkhole opens near NE China bus stop, 4 people fall in #XinhuaTV pic.twitter.com/X77aAl2ixz
Passers-by helped pull the victims to safety and no major injuries were reported.
7:25am:
“Oh sh*t, you’re kidding me.”
That was the response magician Neil Henry got when he proposed on stage using alphabet soup during his show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
A video of the emotional scene was posted to the magician’s YouTube channel this week. After ingesting a can of the Heinz alphabet soup, he calls his girlfriend Charlie Gardner on stage. He then begins pulling letters out of his mouth on a piece of string while he motions her to spell them out on the microphone.
When he gets to M-A-R, she begins to realise what’s happening. “You’re not are you?” she says.
When the remaining letters are dragged from his mouth to spell “marry me” she bursts into tears.
He then gets down on bended knee to produce a flaming box containing the ring as the crowd roars in delight.
Best. Proposal. Ever.
7:10am:
Melbourne commuters are in for a day of public transport chaos as tram workers strike over stalled pay negotiations with Yarra Trams.
Buses will replace trams during the four-hour stoppage between 10am and 2pm today.
The Rail, Train and Bus Union (RTBU) gave Yarra until midnight on Wednesday to return to the bargaining table and convince it to call off the strike. But on Wednesday afternoon the union said no progress had been despite the operator being given a chance to address the union’s concerns.
“While we don’t want to inconvenience the public of Melbourne, we feel that we’ve gotten to the end of the line,” RTBU divisional secretary Phil Altieri said.
-AAP
7am:
A Sydney bar has sparked outrage with a particularly salacious table setting. Cruise Bar in Circular Quay hired nude women to lie on tables with nothing but fruit covering their bare bodies during an event last night.
Some at the bar were even hand fed by the scantily clad women, reports the Daily Telegraph.
This is the display tonight at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal Cruise Bar - unacceptable. #destroythejoint pic.twitter.com/aasWBgSQO2
The hired help were part of a relaunch party for the popular bar but not everyone was happy with the display and some took to social media to call it “appalling”, “unacceptable” and “sexist”.
Not sure how I feel about this #etch
6:50am:
The annual La Tomatina festival attracted tens of thousands of tourists for the 70th anniversary
Some 22,000 people have celebrated the event armed with a record-breaking 150,000kg of tomatoes.
The festival involved the usual scene of trucks full of tomatoes being driven through the streets of the small town of Buñol, outside Valencia as eager participants engage in the world’s biggest food fight.
This year’s La Tomatina is the third edition to charge an entrance fee and the second to limit the capacity to 22,000, while it at one time hosted as many as 45,000 people.
Lasting an hour, the streets were saturated with vibrant red tomato juice before people began sharing their amazing photos on social media.
6:40am:
Former prime minister Julia Gillard’s change of heart on same-sex marriage shows others can do it too, supporters say.
Ms Gillard, who previously voted against gay marriage in parliament, has announced she’s changed her mind and given the chance again would vote yes.
Australian Marriage Equality said Ms Gillard’s announcement was proof even high-profile opponents could shift positions.
But the group urged political leaders not to leave it too late for them to act, as Ms Gillard had done. Others took to Twitter to denounce Ms Gillard’s changed position as belated, asking why she didn’t do more in power.
Gillard has changed her position; I don't congratulate or applaud her. She had a chance to do something meaningful and she did nothing
Now Julia Gillard's pro-marriage equality, all we need is Edmund Barton's support and we can really get some steam behind this movement
6:30am:
A disgruntled former TV station employee has shot dead a journalist and cameraman live on air before posting a video of the murders on social media.
Vester Lee Flanagan II, who went by the name Bryce Williams on air, killed Alison Parker and Adam Ward of a local TV station in Virginia.
“I filmed the shooting, see Facebook,” the former reporter tweeted along with the chilling video.
He shot himself about five hours after the initial killings and has been pronounced dead by US authorities.
Heartbroken and angry. We must act to stop gun violence, and we cannot wait any longer. Praying for the victims' families in Virginia. -H
Flanagan, who was gay and African American, claimed on Twitter that he was the victim of workplace harassment, accusing Parker of being “racist” and claimed the attacks was “revenge” for the Charleston church shooting.
6:15am:
Queensland police have confirmed they have retrieved a child’s body from the Johnstone River, believed to be that of missing three-year-old, Jamal Little. Divers pulled the body from the water yesterday.
Reports indicate there were no signs of trauma and that he probably wasn’t attacked by a crocodile but drowned.
An autopsy will be carried out today and a report is being prepared for the coroner.
Jamal was playing with other children near the wharf when he vanished.
6am:
A video of a street fight which took place between an Irish tourist and a group of shopkeepers in Istanbul has become a viral sensation in Turkey. The footage shows one man seemingly take on an entire neighbourhood of men who attack him with chairs, sticks and other blunt objects.
The footage appeared on Haberturk TV and went viral on Turkish social media after it was posted to the channel’s Twitter feed, which has 500,000 followers.
The fight appears to erupt after the man identified as an Irish tourist knocks over a fridge containing bottled water.
The resulting confrontation spills on to the street where the tourist defends himself as the shopkeepers take in turns to randomly attack him. The tourist is unphased by his numerical disadvantage and begins picking his opponents off. At one point he is able to knock one man down with a single punch.
Towards the end of the video the mob of shopkeepers appear keen to continue fights but the man is eventually calmed and led away.
The tourist, who some have speculated is a former professional boxer has even been labelled a hero on social media.
A source at the Irish consulate in Istanbul told The Independent that the “fun incident” had been tweeted about 75,000 times in Turkey in less than 24 hours.
Irish tourist (a boxer) who beat up a herd of shopkeeper jackals in Istanbul has gained much sympathy from many Turks, including me.
Man reported to be an Irish tourist called a hero after fighting off a mob in Istanbul http://t.co/vdTbB3xfcD pic.twitter.com/sLEYstNUlF
Inside feud that brought Sydney to a halt
Five months of transport disruptions and chaotic commutes were brought to an abrupt halt this week after a fiery fight between the unions and the government.
Driver charged over meat cleaver incident
A man has been charged after reports a driver allegedly wielded a meat cleaver at other drivers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Commuters warned of further travel chaos
Commuters are being urged to brace for another day of cancellations and delays as the rail union and the NSW government take their fight to court.