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RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

A WOMAN has managed to pinch a flatscreen TV with a bizarre technique. While her friend stands watch, she casually hides it in the most surprising place.

NICK WHIGHAM and WIRES
10 min read
June 29, 2015 - 5:30AM

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.

9:50am: Utah lawmaker wants to get rid of marriage all together

A Utah law maker has picked up his ball and gone home.

He’s got his knickers in such a twist over the legalisation of gay marriage in the country that he has introduced a state bill to do away with marriages all together.

The bill would end government agencies’ involvement in issuing marriage licenses, reports Fox13.

While the bill remains secret, it will likely face some dubious legal questions said another Utah lawmaker, Republican Jake Anderegg.

“There’s a lot of question marks. I can say this, not much has changed for me from yesterday to today. It’s the same world we were living in,” he said. “I’m saying that because I don’t think the sky is falling.”

9:40am: cars set alight in Sydney home invasion

A family locked themselves in their bedroom as three masked men broke into their home and set fire to their cars.

Police said the offenders forced their way into the Menai house about 7pm on Sunday night and ransacked several rooms while the couple in their 40s and their nine-year-old son hid in their bedroom.

The men reportedly set fire to the cars after searching this house.

Anyone with further information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

9:25am: Dutch city to conduct socialist experiment of unconditional income

The Dutch city of Utrecht is conducting an experiment to determine how effectively society will function if everybody is guaranteed an unconditional wage.

The city has paired up with the local university to establish whether the concept of “basic income” can work in real life, and plans to enact the experiment in the coming months, reports The Independent.

“One group is will have compensation and consideration for an allowance, another group with a basic income without rules and of course a control group which adhere to the current rules,” said Victor Everhardt who is overseeing the rollout.

“Our data shows that less than 1.5 per cent abuse the welfare, but, before we get into all kinds of principled debate about whether we should or should not enter, we need to first examine if basic income even really works,” he said.

9:10am: Police searching for answers after wild QLD house party

Police are yet to lay any charges over an out-of-control house party on the Gold Coast in which neighbours were assaulted and property trashed.

Officers were called to the Varsity Lakes home on Saturday night after receiving reports more than 50 people had gatecrashed the party, which was hosted by a mother on behalf of her 14-year-old daughter.

Three neighbours were taken to hospital for facial injuries after being assaulted by party-goers, with police still investigating who is responsible.

Read more at the Courier Mail.

-AAP

9:00am: Gay pride rallies breakout across America

Erik Sudduth hugs Sam Branman after proposing to him during the Gay Pride Parade on June 28, 2015.
Erik Sudduth hugs Sam Branman after proposing to him during the Gay Pride Parade on June 28, 2015.

The world is alive with gay delight.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalise gay marriage, rallies of support took place in cities across America.

Under a sea of rainbow flags, hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of New York.

Despite the persistent chilly rain, organisers said as many as two million people could attend Sunday’s event — including 22,000 people marching in the parade itself down Fifth Avenue.

Meanwhile, a 64-year-old bystander was shot and killed during a similar event in San Francisco, in what police called an “unrelated incident”.

8:45am: Remarkable try scored in British rugby league final

During the Challenge Cup quarter-final in the UK, a try from Warrington Wolves’ player Kevin Penny had everyone in disbelief and a spellbound BBC commentator Mark Chapman exclaimed “that’s not physically possible is it?”

"That’s not physically possible!"Watch 4 more great tries from Warrington's Challenge Cup win over Leigh here: http://goo.gl/wuxCiM

Posted by BBC Sport on Saturday, 27 June 2015

As the player received the ball while he sprinted down the sideline, he took off and somehow managed to twist his body and plant the ball in the corner of the endfield.

Warrington Wolves overcame Leigh 34-24 to advance to the semi-finals.

8:35am: Google’s AI robot wants to live forever

Google’s chatbot holds some interesting answers.
Google’s chatbot holds some interesting answers.

Researchers at Google have programmed an advanced type of “chatbot” that learns how to respond in conversations formed by examples from a set of training dialogue.

According to Business Insider, the bot has even shown the ability to be creative and can form new answers from new questions.

While all the answers are very short, and some a bit nonsensical, here are the highlights from the latest questioning of the AI bot.

Human: What is the purpose of life?

Machine: To serve the greater good.

Human: What is the purpose of living?

Machine: To live forever.

Human: What is immoral?

Machine: The fact that you have a child.

Human: What is the purpose of emotions?

Machine: I don’t know.

8:25am: Aussie hospitals urged to take precautions against MERS virus

MERS outbreak in South Korea has claimed 32 lives so far.
MERS outbreak in South Korea has claimed 32 lives so far.

Australian hospitals have been urged to carry out travel history checks on patients to avoid an outbreak of the deadly MERS virus.

Middle East Respiratory Disease has taken hold in South Korea, where 32 people have died since May from almost 200 known infections.

The bulk of those people were infected at Seoul’s Samsung Medical Centre, with experts warning Australian hospitals must act now to prevent any repeat here.

“If we have in place a routine which asks people where they have travelled in the past month, we will we have a much better chance of isolating potential diseases and putting in place effective infection control,” ACIPC spokesman Professor Peter Collignon said

-AAP

8:10am: Senior Australian pollies linked to Mafia figures

Links between the Calabrian Mafia and senior politicians from both major parties have been uncovered by a Four Corners investigation that airs tonight.

The Calabrian Mafia, known as ‘Ndrangheta’, are accused of using well known party donors to legitimise their activities, which range from fruit markets to drug running.

“The investigation has revealed a series of contacts between known and suspected criminals and senior politicians,” reports the ABC.

Among the allegations is the revelation that the son of an alleged mafia boss did work experience at an Australian embassy in Rome. The embassy was reportedly sharing sensitive information with crime figures.

Four Corners will air tonight at 8:30pm on the ABC.

8:00am: Abbott’s parliamentary secretary pulls out of Q & A appearance

Tony Abbott’s parliamentary secretary has pulled out of an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program as the government steps up its criticism of a decision to give a former terror suspect a platform.

Alan Tudge’s withdrawal from Monday night’s program comes as the government reviews how the public broadcaster let Zaky Mallah on air to ask a question last week.

“It does not mean I will never attend, but I am concerned my participation could be construed as suggesting the prime minister and government are not taking the matters from last week incredibly seriously. We are,” he wrote in The Australian on Monday.

7:45am: Second escaped killer captured in New York

FBI agents conduct a search for the convicted murderer.
FBI agents conduct a search for the convicted murderer.
David Sweat.
David Sweat.

The second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape three weeks ago from a maximum-security prison in northern New York was shot and captured near the Canadian border on Sunday, two days after his fellow inmate was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement officers, a sheriff said.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said David Sweat was shot Sunday afternoon in the town of Constable, about three kilometres south of the Canadian border and 48 kilometres, and was taken to a hospital in Malone.

Mulverhill said he had no information on Sweat’s condition, whether he was armed, or how the shooting went down.

According to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, federal law enforcement said Sweat was shot twice.

-AFP

7:25am: Paul Rudd’s hilarious press conference antics

Paul Rudd and his AntMan co-stars held a press conference at Marvel Studios in California over the weekend and Paul Rudd provided a brilliant moment during the highly crafted media event.

As numerous reporters left their phone sitting at the table to record the star’s responses, one began to ring.

Good guy Paul Rudd then answered the phone and told the caller they were in the middle of a press conference and they’d call him back.

As the phone call interrupted the recording Rudd again caused the room to erupt in laughter.

“I don’t know your passcode but you can get the tape from one of your friends,” he said as his fellow co-stars joined in the giggles.

7:15am: Donald Trump piñatas are all the rage in Mexico

Mexico loves to party. And they hate Donald Trump evidently.

The presidential hopeful is notoriously outspoken on immigration and during his announcement speech in New York he said he would build “a great wall” along the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. He also decried immigrants as rapists and criminals.

Naturally, residents of Mexico took offence and have found solace in bashing life sized piñatas of the US billionaire with large sticks.

“This piñata especially is the one everyone wants to break,” a Mexican businessman told the New York Daily News.

Trump reportedly responded by banning all Univision (Spanish TV channel in the US) employees from one of his golf courses.

7:05am: NSW shootings may be part of love triangle

Jake Cumberland, 28, was found dead at an isolated property west of Nyngan.
Jake Cumberland, 28, was found dead at an isolated property west of Nyngan.

Police have charged a 61-year-old man in relation to the triple murder that has stunned the tiny rural community of Hermidale in central NSW.

The man, who has been charged with two counts of murder, is believed to be the partner of a 36-year-old woman who was shot along with a 59-year-old man she had left the local pub with the night before.

The bodies of Stephen Cumberland, 59, and his son Jake, 28, were found with the woman’s body at the isolated property west of Nyngan on Friday morning.

6:50am: Glastonbury festival goer brings Kardashian sex tape flag

Kanye West performed as iconic music festival Glastonbury over the weekend. His set was not without controversy as the self proclaimed “greatest rock star on the planet” was interrupted by a comedian who ran on stage to “give him a hand”.

But one festival goer who probably wasn’t happy with Kanye’s appointment to the coveted Saturday night spot brought along a not-so-subtle dig at the artist.

Glastonbury is famous for its flag-waving festival goers and this person decided to bring one showing a screenshot from Kim Kardashian's infamous sex tape before she was with the singer.

If Kanye saw it, I’m sure he wasn’t too happy about it. But those on social media certainly were.

Kim was also in the audience.

6:35am: Greece closes banks as residents scramble to withdraw money

Greeks queue in front of the National Bank to use ATM to withdraw cash on June 28, 2015 in Athens, Greeces)
Greeks queue in front of the National Bank to use ATM to withdraw cash on June 28, 2015 in Athens, Greeces)

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced that the country’s crisis-hit banks will be shut on Monday and capital controls imposed to prevent withdrawals, after cash machines ran dry.

The emergency measures were agreed at a cabinet meeting on Sunday after a gathering of Greece’s systemic stability council, called after Eurogroup eurozone finance ministers refused to extend its bailout beyond Tuesday, sparking default fears over an IMF loan repayment due the same day.

Ahead of the announcement, Greeks raced to find functioning cash machines in an increasingly anxious run on the banks, as speculation mounted over impending drastic restrictions.

However Mr Tsipras did not give details of how long banks would stay shut, or exactly what controls on capital would be imposed. “The more calm we are, the sooner we will get over this situation,” he said.

6:20am: Belle Gibson denies she intentionally lied

Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson remained largely defiant and painted herself at a victim who had been mislead when she spoke to 60 Minutes’ Tara Brown last night.

Brown hammered the 26-year-old shamed health guru, asking, “Do you accept that you’re a pathological liar?”

Gibson replied: “No.”

“You don’t have a good record on telling the truth, do you?” Brown put to her.

Sitting face-to-face with Brown, Gibson teared up as she told how she “lost everything” after her cancer confession came to light.

“At the time, I believed I was having radio therapy. When he gave me medication, I was told it was oral chemotherapy and I believed it,” Gibson said.

However, her story didn’t stack up with the evidence, at all.

After the interview, Gibson handed over her medical records to 60 Minutes which showed that she had a brain scan at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne in 2011, two years before she started to market her sob story to the public for profit and adulation.

Read more here.

6:10am: Report into teen’s death at Sydney shopping mall

A report is being prepared for the coroner following the death of a teenage boy after falling several storeys inside a central Sydney retail building.

It’s believed the 13-year-old was sliding on the bannister of a four-storey stairwell at the Queen Victoria Building when he fell on Sunday afternoon and suffered serious head injuries.

He was taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital in a critical condition but later died.

-AAP

6am: Woman steals TV in peculiar fashion

A woman in Zambia has been caught on camera stealing a TV from a department store by surreptitiously sliding the flatscreen between her legs and waddling off.

While her friend acts as a lookout, she casually picks up the TV and tucks it under her dress. How it stayed there is anyone’s guess but it was clearly a

A friend sent me this video. Am suspecting its in one of the samsung shop... Where did the tv disappear to?

Posted by Oscar Chavula on Wednesday, 24 June 2015

The footage was posted on Facebook last week by a security guard in Zambia named Oscar Chavula as he pondered the whereabouts of the TV.

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