RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

TOPLESS protesters stormed the stage at a controversial Muslim conference on the role of women.

• Topless activists disrupt controversial Muslim event
• Speculation over Coalition leadership spill intensifies
• Activists film dolphins being hunted by Japanese fisherman
• Petition to create nude beaches lodged with QLD’s parliament

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.

9:45am:

North Korea says its human rights record is fine, but the United Nations is far from convinced.

A new inquiry by the UN found the hermit kingdom’s human rights abuses include murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, and rape.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The UN plans to discuss the human rights record of the country on September 21 during the 30th regular session of the Human Rights Council but a North Korean spokesman has hit back saying the evidence is “nothing more than lies from North Korean defectors, whose testimonies cannot be corroborated.”

According to Quartz, the country’s leadership called inquiries by humanitarian groups into human rights abuses as “a political manoeuvre aimed at overthrowing our regime.”

9:30am:

Victoria Secret model Candice Swanepoel took a tumble on the New York catwalk over the weekend.

Striding down the catwalk for French luxury designer Givenchy, the 26-year-old tripped over her high heels and face-planted. Front-row attendees helped the fallen supermodel, despite her attempts to brush them away.

Model Candice Swanepoel falls on the runway wearing Givenchy Spring 2016 during New York Fashion Week.

The South African stunner gave an embarrassed bow to the audience after the tumble, before finishing her strut past celebs that included Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj and Anna Wintour.

“Thank you to whoever picked me up off the runway tonight,” she wrote on Instagram after the show, along with a photo of her injuries. “Left with little scratches but mostly a bruised ego.”

See more at The New York Post.

9:20am:

Those who photograph or distribute naked images without consent could face up to three years in jail under new revenge porn legislation.

The Abbott Government has confirmed it will introduce a bill today to make it a federal offence to distribute, or threaten to distribute, intimate and pornographic images or videos without consent.

The push to criminalise “revenge porn” follows the case of over 500 Adelaide women who had intimate images published on a US website, including AFL great Graham Cornes’ 21-year-old daughter Amy.

Currently, no federal laws exist in Australia to stop the publication or distribution of private sexual imagery without the consent of one or more of the parties involved.

9:10am:

The governor of California has declared a state of emergency as raging wildfires spread in the northern part of the drought-ridden US state, forcing thousands to flee.

Firefighters monitor a backfire while battling the Butte fire near San Andreas, California.

Twelve blazes are now burning but two — one about 160 kilometres west of the state capital of Sacramento and one about the same distance east — have been particularly damaging over the last week, destroying hundreds of homes and mobilising thousands of firefighters.

Over 5,000 firefighters have been called in to help fight the blaze.

More than 80 homes have been destroyed there and some 6,400 other structures are threatened.

— With AFP

9am:

The federal government could raise up to $30 billion a year with changes top the GST, according to a new report.

The report by Deloitte Access Economics said the significant sum would be raised even after low income earners were compensated, reports the ABC.

The group said it was hoping to add some urgency to the debate about tax reform by addressing some “misconceptions”.

“We allowed enough compensation to make sure the poorest Australian families were actually better off, rather than worse off, and you were getting under one scenario, an extra $30 billion a year,” DAE partner Chris Richardson told the ABC’s AM.

The report modelled raising the GST to 15 per cent as well as raising the tax to 12.5 and broadening the base to include fresh food.

8:45am:

Countless people have proved happy to risk life and limb in an effort to win a GoPro video contest by filming outrages stunts with their action sports camera.

One of the latest entries to be uploaded to the GoPro World YouTube channel shows a BMX rider zooming down the nearly vertical face of a dam in Slovenia.

The breathtaking video has been watched nearly four million times and is a part of a competition by the camera company which is scouting for videos until October 31, awarding $1,000 for the best video each month. The best of these will then be selected as the winner of a grand prize with the daredevil receiving $US20,000.

8:30am:

Some of Queensland’s most senior police officers say new recruits lack the ability to resolve volatile situations without resorting to violence.

As the spotlight shines on a number of disturbing incidents involving heavy-handed tactics by Gold Coast police officers, some of the state’s top cops have called for an overhaul of teaching practices at the Police Academy, reports The Courier Mail.

“Of course there are life or death situations, but when you are dealing with drunks in Surfers Paradise you shouldn’t have to resort to whacking blokes all the time,” said one veteran officer.

He believes the new generation of Queensland Police Service officers were too quick to resort to violence, helping to fuel a growing fire around claims of police brutality.

8:15am:

Melbourne Airport has lost its water supply after a burst water main.

It happened early this morning and means there is no running water in the airport, but water is available for the toilets, Melbourne Airport communications manager Anna Gillett says.

It hasn’t affected flights at this stage and it’s hoped it will be repaired as quickly as possible, but it’s not known when things will return to normal.

Water supply is returning to the main terminal @Melair. Work continues on supply to remaining areas. We thank everyone for your patience.

— Melbourne Airport (@Melair) September 13, 2015

-AAP

8:05am:

Supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkish nationalists have clashed during a number of protests across Europe over the weekend.

A two-year ceasefire between the PKK and Turkey’s government was broken in July after PKK militants killed two police officers. Periodic clashes between the two sides have continued to break out in the country since the end of the ceasefire.

The video below filmed at a protest in Switzerland shows a black Mercedes ploughing into a group of Kurdish protesters, brazenly running over about five people.

Bu gun Bern de Fasistler arabayla insanlari boyle ezerek katliamci yuzlerini gosterdiler....

Posted by Servet Demirpence on Saturday, 12 September 2015

7:50am:

Jarryd Hayne has signed his first major sponsorship deal in the US before playing a regular season game in the NFL.

The 49ers running back has agreed to a deal with apparel giant Under Armour, who count the likes of NFL superstars Tom Brady and Cam Newton among their stable along with other sporting luminaries including Jordan Spieth, Steph Curry, Michael Phelps, Andy Murray.

“This partnership was a natural fit for me — Under Armour is a powerful global brand with a deep history in American football,” Hayne said.

The terms of the deal have not been made public.

Read more at The Daily Telegraph.

Proud to add @JarrydHayne_1 to the @UnderArmour roster. #TeamUA #ProtectThisHouse #IWILL @UnderArmourAust pic.twitter.com/OGGaU5fwGI

— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) September 13, 2015

7:40am:

The good news for a Chinese visitor to Bangkok was that a doctor had successfully removed a foreign object from her large intestine that could have damaged her digestive system.

The bad news: It was a 10 million baht ($392,000) diamond the woman was accused of stealing from a jewellery fair, adding a piece of rock-hard evidence to the case against her.

Thai Police said Sunday that authorities got to the bottom of the theft when a doctor wielding a colonoscope and the medical equivalent of pliers pulled the 6-carat gemstone from the large intestine of the woman alleged to have pinched it, after nature and laxatives failed to get it out.

The woman, identified as 39-year-old Jiang Xulian, and a Chinese man were arrested Thursday night at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on their way out of Thailand on the basis of surveillance video from the fair just outside Bangkok, where earlier that day the duo allegedly switched a fake stone for the real one after asking to inspect it.

-AP

7:30am:

Canadian police are investigating after a video circulating online claims to show an Ottawa taxi driver violently threatening an Uber driver and their passenger.

“If I see you again, you’re dead meat. Go follow the law and get a real job. I’m not joking with you,” the man tells the driver before holding open the back door and shouting at the passenger.

“Take a real taxi you f---ing cheapskate,” he yells at the passenger.

Last week taxi drivers took to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to protest the Uber service and the video serves to highlight the mounting tension the ride sharing app has generated with taxi services around the world.

7:15am:

A petition calling for the legalisation of nude beaches on the Fraser Coast in Queensland has been lodged with the state’s parliament.

Queensland and Tasmania are the only states in the country where nude bathing is illegal, despite a number of efforts to overturn the ban in the sunshine state. The petition was started by Poona man John Hart who hopes to reverse the tide.

The beach would be “for the recreational use of those who so wish to sunbathe or swim nude without the fear of prosecution”, the petition states.

Poona Community Progress Association President Peter Heit has expressed shock and disgust at the suggestion.

“My thoughts are that it would be a joke around this area,” Mr Heit told Fairfax. “Because most people here are 60 plus ... so I don’t think it would be a pretty sight.”

He also expressed concern it would attract “perverts”.

7am:

Tasmania’s top public health expert will give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry investigating the feasibility of laws that will create a tobacco-free generation. Dr Mark Veitch is the state’s acting director of public health and will today address a hearing in Hobart.

The inquiry comes on the back of a proposal put to the Tasmanian parliament that the sale of tobacco products should be outlawed to anyone born in or after 2000, starting when they reach adulthood in 2018.

The idea has attracted international backing from anti-smoking groups, some of which believe the adoption of legislation in Tasmania could set a precedent for similar strategies elsewhere.

-AAP

6:50am:

Confronting footage of dolphins being herded into a cove and killed or captured by Japanese fisherman has been posted online and shows a distressed dolphin throwing itself at the feet of those on the shore in an effort to escape the fisherman.

The vision was being filmed by conservationist Ric O’Barry from the Dolphin Project. As he loudly laments the practice and criticises other Japanese journalists for “gawking”, he can be heard saying; “this dolphin is panic-stricken, he is trying to find a way out.”

“I cannot go in to the water and help him or I will be arrested, put in jail and deported. This is heart breaking. Awful.”

According to Animals Australia, the annual practice sees hunters travel out to sea by boat and herd dolphins into Taiji cove. Some are killed and sold for meat while others are captured and sold to aquariums.

6:40am:

Germany introduced temporary border controls Sunday to stem the tide of thousands of refugees streaming across its frontier, sending a clear message to its European partners that it needs more help with an influx that is straining its ability to cope.

German officers have begun carrying out the first passport checks at the country’s border with Austria, after Berlin’s shock decision to reintroduce such controls to halt a surge in refugee numbers.

Police on Sunday stopped all cars and pedestrians at the Freilassing crossing, with three Syrian migrants, who were on foot, told to remain on the side of the road after officers looked at their documents.

German federal police had said hundreds of officers were being deployed to carry out the newly reintroduced border controls.

-AFP

6:30am:

A Newcastle woman has left her $2 million dollar home and all its contents to charity.

Lily Fardell died earlier this year but in one final act of generosity, the 96-year-old wanted all her belongings to go to the homeless.

Ms Fardell was unable to have children herself but she ordered that her home be auctioned along with its contents, with all the proceeds going towards services for homeless children run by St Vincent de Paul in Newcastle.

The house sold for $2.35 million in June and yesterday collectors turned up droves to the Terrace home as her vast collection of antiques and fine Victoriana went under the hammer. Along with her share portfolio, the expected donation will total $4 million.

6:20am:

Turnbull is refusing to rule out challenging Tony Abbott for the prime ministership as Liberal tensions again reach boiling point ahead of a crucial by-election.

MPs flying into Canberra ahead of the sitting week were last night holding informal talks to try to find a way to end the outbreak of destabilisation that is gripping the party.

Some MPs believe Communications Minister Turnbull is contemplating a leadership spill in the belief the party’s standing with the voters is “terminal’’ under Mr Abbott.

But critics of Mr Turnbull say he was “panicking’’ that he was running out of time to wrest the leadership from Mr Abbott and was trying to build momentum for change.

Read more here.

6:10am:

Police are investigating a fire that caused significant damage to several classrooms and a storage shed at a school in Seaforth, in Sydney’s northern beaches last night.

Firefighters were called to Seaforth Public School on Kempbridge Avenue at about 10pm to battle the blaze.

While there were no reports of injuries, the kids have been given the day off school and a crime scene has been established as investigators try to determine the cause of the fire.

Fire has destroyed two buildings in the Seaforth Public school.

6am:

Australia’s weary and injury-hit cricketers have crushed England with a powerful performance in the decider of the one-day series at Old Trafford, to take away a well-deserved consolation prize from the disappointing Ashes tour.

However, in the midst of a triumphant bowling performance by the World Cup champions led by star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, Australian players were forced to deal with perhaps the most distressing on-field incident that’s confronted them since Phillip Hughes.

It was particularly harrowing for Mitchell Starc, who was not only the bowler who struck England batsman Eoin Morgan on the side of the helmet with a bouncer, but was the only Australian in the current team also present on that fateful day at the SCG last year.

Read more here.

5:45am:

Two topless women have been dragged off stage after protesting a controversial religious conference near Paris.

The activists from a group called Femen were naked from the waist up with the words “nobody makes me submit” written on their torso. They stormed the stage and commandeered the microphone at a Muslim event in Pointoise which was arranged to discuss the role of women in the Muslim faith.

According to Inna Shevchenko, a spokeswoman for the feminist protest group, two fundamentalist preachers were discussing the question of “whether wives should be beaten or not” when the activists ran on stage, reports The Telegraph.

“No one can enslave me, no one can possess me, I’m my own prophet!” they yelled to the crowd.

The pair were dragged off stage by security and a video of the incident shows a man kicking at them before they were handed over to French police.

Prior to the event, nearly 6,000 people signed a petition protesting the conference.

On Facebook, the conference organisers said they were the “the victim of an anti-Muslim media frenzy” while others on Twitter reportedly called for the protesters to be stoned.

Protesters disrupt French event.