RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today
POLICE arrested two teens and say they prevented a massacre after making a shocking discovery at the Pokemon World Championship.
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:
The race is on for a death row prisoner in the US, Richard Glossip, as authorities search for a woman who says her father framed him for the murder.
Richard Glossip, 52, was convicted in 1998 of murdering the owner of the motel where he worked as a handyman.
Justin Sneed claimed he was hired by Mr Glossip to carry out the murder and received a plea deal for his testimony. However Sneed’s daughter, O’Ryan Justine Sneed, 21, wrote to the clemency board in Oklahoma claiming that Glossip is innocent, reports the Mirror.
“One innocent life has already been taken by my father’s actions. A second one doesn’t deserve to be taken as well,” she wrote.
He is due to be executed on September 16 and his case is currently being made into a Serial-style podcast.
9:35am:
Mel Gibson has lashed out and both physically and verbally abused a female photographer outside a Sydney cinema.
The Hollywood actor, who has become notorious for his volatile behaviour, reportedly shoved and yelled at Kristi Miller after she snapped the 59-year-old on Oxford Street in Paddington.
“He was spitting in my face as he was yelling at me, calling me a dog, saying I’m not even a human being and I will go to hell,” Miller told the Daily Telegraph.
“He swore and called me a c---, it was non-stop, he didn’t even breath.”
9:25am:
Northern Territory Police are conducting a search and rescue for two sets of missing persons in Arnhem Land. A family of three and two others were travelling in the same vehicle on Friday night when they had difficulty crossing a creek. The family left the car and walked 50km to Oenpelli. The woman and child reportedly felt unwell and were left in the bush by the husband who went to seek help.
Authorities have since recovered the car but there is no sign of the wife and child, or the other two occupants.
Anyone who may know the whereabouts of these people is asked to contact Police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
9:15am:
When your country is famous for its politically neutrality in international affairs, the army can be deployed for the important matters.
The Swiss army has recently completed a 31-day cow rescue mission by providing water to thirsty cows in the Jura and Vaud Alps, reports The Local.
Four Super Puma helicopters and 120 military personnel were involved in the operation, which delivered 1,840 tons of water to the cows during a period of extremely hot weather. In total, nearly 20,000 cows were thought to be in danger of dehydration.
Swiss army ends 31-day cow rescue mission - Crew airlifted water to thirsty cows during dr… http://t.co/BzvU6h8Ekp pic.twitter.com/fenoXpaKer
9am:
The death toll from a weekend air disaster has risen to 11 people, including a man who had just moved to Australia, as police warn further bodies could be found when a vintage jet fighter that crashed into a busy highway is craned off the road.
Hundreds of friends and complete strangers travelled to the site of the crash at coastal town Shoreham in West Sussex to lay flowers where the Hawker Hunter crashed in a fireball during a failed loop aerial display.
As the investigation around the incident continues, dashcam footage has emerged showing the plane crashing into cars on the highway up ahead.
8:50am:
Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg believes it’ll be “bad news” for the economy if the government doesn’t do something to curb bracket creep. Treasurer Joe Hockey has pledged to take personal income tax cuts to the next federal election, warning too many Australians are being pushed into higher tax brackets as a result of wage inflation.
Mr Frydenberg has told ABC Radio bracket creep will discourage people from working for longer and reform is long overdue for a tax system that’s changed little since the 1950s.
The Greens accused Mr Hockey of starting a “tax cuts arms race”. The minor party’s treasury spokesman, Adam Bandt, is worried cutting income tax will just deepen Australia’s revenue crisis and end up with services getting slashed.
8:40am:
Tensions are continuing to bubble over on the Korean peninsula after North Korea said it was prepared to risk “all out war”.
Top-level North and South Korean negotiators talked through the night with no sign of an agreement Monday to exit a high-stakes standoff that has pushed the two rivals to the brink of armed conflict.
After a 10-hour marathon the previous night, the talks passed the 15-hour mark in a second session in the border truce village of Panmunjom, where the 1950-53 Korean War ceasefire was signed.
The second round was clouded by South Korean claims that the North was seeking to undermine the negotiating process by moving additional artillery units to the border and deploying dozens of submarines.
The roots of the standoff lie in landmine blasts on the border earlier this month that maimed two South Korean soldiers.
-AFP
8:30am:
As if Donald Trump leading the Republican pack wasn’t enough, another candidate in the US presidential race is gaining some surprising support — Deez Nuts.
A North Carolina poll had the independent candidate polling at nine per cent, ahead of a number of legitimate candidates. Such is the chat around the candidate that Deez Nuts was at one point the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter.
Part meme, part joke, part serious, the person behind the candidacy is a 15-year-old Iowa farm boy named Brady Olson, reports TheNew York Times.
He has even set up a website outlining his platform and said his motive for entering the race was “to clear the way for a future third-party movement.’’
Meanwhile the internet has had a field day with the ongoing joke with someone compiling a collage of news readers referring to the candidate by name.
8:20am:
A 10-year old boy will face court today accused of starting a fire that destroyed a police shopfront in northwest Queensland.
The boy allegedly sparked the blaze in Mt Isa in the early hours of Saturday, causing at least two gas bottles and ammunition to explode.
He has been charged with arson and will appear in the Mt Isa Children’s Court this morning.
-AAP
8:10am:
If you were nursing a hangover on Sunday morning after a rowdy night, spare a thought for the guy who was run over by a tank during a party on the weekend.
A Californian man has died after being run over by the a vintage army tank during a family party, reports Sky News.
People had been riding the tanks as part of the entertainment at the event, said officer Chris Parker. The 55-year-old man was reportedly sitting on the front of the vehicle when he fell off and was crushed.
Man Dies After Being Run Over By Tank At Party http://t.co/OcXu0HKBTZ
8am:
If Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters weren’t the coolest dudes around before this, they may have cemented their claim to the mantle.
The American rock band responded to Westboro Baptist Church members picketing outside their concert venue by doing some picketing of their own.
As the homophobic protesters stood outside the Sprint Centre in Kansas City — where the Foo Fighters were scheduled to play later that day — the band members cruised by on the back of a pick-up truck blasting Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
One of the band’s Rickrolling crew also donned a purple T-shirt and rainbow budgie smugglers as they held counter signs and generally promoted the power of love.
7:50am:
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke has defended spending almost $2.2 million of taxpayer funds on travel in seven years, including charter planes and flying on VIP jets.
Since mid-2008, the manager of opposition business and opposition finance spokesman had racked up almost $600,000 in overseas travel, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Burke who was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard cabinets, is also a regular charter flight user, claiming more than $400,000 in domestic travel.
“These jobs cannot be done properly from behind a desk in Sydney and any minister not out engaging with community groups and taking a hands-on approach to their portfolio, isn’t doing their job properly,” he said in a statement.
7:40am:
Lebanese riot police battled in the streets of downtown Beirut for a second night Sunday after demonstrators rallied over government corruption and an ongoing rubbish crisis, violence that wounded at least 44 people and 30 police officers, authorities said.
The violence came hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violent protests Saturday that injured more than 100 people. The demonstrations, the largest in years to shake tiny Lebanon, seek to up-end what protesters see as a corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has no functional Cabinet or parliament, nor a president for more than a year.
Protest organisers said they pulled their supporters out of the area after men they described as political thugs began fighting with police, trying to tear down a barbed wire fence separating the crowds from the Lebanese government building.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital’s commercial district into the night as police fired in the air to disperse those who remained after officers used tear gas and water cannons against the crowds.
a police motorcycle on fire #Beirut #Lebanon #طلعت_ريØتكم #YouStink #بيروت #لبنان pic.twitter.com/sizfHTjAwc
7:30am:
Police in Boston say they have thwarted a potential massacre at the Pokemon World Championship held on the weekend.
James Austin Stumbo, 27, and Kevin Norton, 18, were arrested due to “threats they made on social media,” police said. When cops searched their vehicle at the event, they found a shotgun, AR-15 assault rifle, a hunting rifle, and 250 rounds of ammunition, reports The Daily Beast.
“The BPD detectives did a great job in the stop and prevention of a potential tragedy,” said Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald.
The older of the two men, Mr Stumbo posted a photo of the car and guns in a Facebook group entitled “Mayhem Pokemon Crew.”
The caption read: “Kevin Norton and I are ready for Worlds Boston here we come!!!”
“Good luck!” wrote a Facebook user named Joey Faux.
“With killing the competition?” asked Norton.
“Haha yes,” replied Faux.
2 men accused of making threats against Pokemon World Championships in Boston: http://t.co/c8Auz93oqZ #breaking pic.twitter.com/I1EgBKo0Tp
7:20am:
Commuter chaos is expected in the Sydney CBD this morning as crews repair a burst water main that has shut down York Street.
York Street has been closed southbound since the main burst about 10pm at the intersection with Barrack Street.
Drivers should avoid the area as work to repair the water main is expected to continue throughout the morning peak.
7:10am:
An explosion at a U.S. Army depot outside of Tokyo set off a large blaze that lit up the night sky early Monday morning, but there were no reports of injuries.
The blast happened after midnight at the Sagami Depot in Sagamihara, a city about 40 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, Pentagon duty officer Navy Commander Bill Urban said.
Video on Japanese television, apparently shot from an elevated place outside the post around 12:45am, shows a fire in the distance and subsequent explosions shooting small fiery blasts into the sky.
-AP
7am:
A 413kg woman has been airlifted out of her New York apartment window after realising she couldn’t get out any other way.
In order to get Ms Bowman to the hospital for treatment, the Fire Department of New York had to use a crane to lift the woman through the window of her second-floor apartment in Harlem.
It “was the first time I discovered I couldn’t get out of my apartment,” Ms Bowman said.
“I had grown too big. And that was frightening, because you don’t think, never once, that I wouldn’t be able to get through my door.”
6:45am:
It was a bitter sweet moment for Australian captain Michael Clarke in his final Test. A convincing victory but ultimately a series loss.
With his parting message as Australian captain, the retiring Michael Clarke has taken a final pot shot at his old enemy England.
Clarke left Test cricket on Sunday with a heavy victory at the Oval inside four days, continuing a trend of short Tests throughout the series.
With two three-day Tests, both of which threatened to finish inside two, and three that were stretched into a fourth day, the combined total of 18 days of cricket is the shortest for a five-Test Ashes series in history.
It left Clarke to suggest local groundsmen had been leant upon to produce pitches, in particular the green monsters presented at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, which suited the swing bowling of England spearheads Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and ultimately shortchanged fans.
-With AAP
6:30am:
Police in Texas were searching for a thief who stole the body of a 25-year-old woman out of her coffin after her funeral and before it was set for cremation.
“I have never in 22 years in law enforcement ever heard of anything like this,” San Antonio police spokesman Sergeant Javier Salazar said, adding a motive for the crime was unknown.
Julie Mott of San Antonio died earlier this month of cystic fibrosis.
A funeral for her was held last Saturday, which would have been her 26th birthday.
Her body was moved into a private area behind the funeral chapel where workers were to prepare it for cremation, which was set for Monday.
The funeral home was then closed for the day, and when employees returned on Sunday, they found the body was missing from the casket, police said.
“This was not a case of somebody thinking they were stealing an empty casket,” Salazar said. “The body was the clear target.”
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.