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RUSH HOUR: The stories you need to know today

A FLYER for a Koran reading competition under the Islamic State has surfaced on Twitter and the prizes it boasts are chilling.

NICK WHIGHAM and WIRES
11 min read
June 24, 2015 - 5:35AM

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.

10:00am:

That’s it for this morning’s #RUSHHOUR blog. Stay up to date with the rest of today’s headlines at news.com.au.

9:50am: Teacher who put autistic boy in trash wanted to calm him

A Georgia special education teacher who was accused of holding an autistic boy upside-down and lowering him headfirst into a trash can while comparing him to Oscar the Grouch says she was trying to calm the boy, not hurt him.

At a school system hearing this week near Atlanta, Mary Katherine Pursley said the second-grader was screaming and upset, and she was trying to “shake out the grouchy.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a panel of former educators at the hearing will decide whether she’s dismissed from the County’s school system.

Separately, Ms Pursley faces a felony charge of first-degree cruelty to children.

-AP

9:40am: Bam Margera recovering after being bashed

Bam Margera in bad shape.
Bam Margera in bad shape.

Bam Margera is recovering after being brutally attacked by a group of Icelandic rappers, leaving him with a black eye and cuts to his face.

According to reports, Icelandic rapper Gísli Pálmi was questioned by police as part of an investigation into the brawl that happened in a restricted backstage area during the Secret Solstice Festival in Iceland over the weekend.

A festival spokesman claims the former Jackass star was in a “really weird condition” and tried forcing entry into a production room prior to the incident, according to TMZ.

The spokesman blamed Margera for heckling two women blocking him prior to the violent encounter.

The photo above was posted to his Instagram account overnight and shows his healing wounds.

9:30am: Mum gets adorable billboard for graduating son

A mother in New Jersey is so proud of her son she thought she’d let the whole street know.

Ovella O’Neal is so over the moon about her son’s upcoming graduation and is clearly pretty chuffed with her parenting skills, that she hired a billboard to commemorate the moment.

“He has always been a super kid,” O’Neal told ABC News of son, AJ. “He is always on the right track.”

The billboard reads: “A mother can’t raise a man but I raised a gentleman. We have the total package.” She said that message is about respect and owning your actions.

The ABC report didn’t mention how embarrassed AJ was.

9:20am: TV presenter and explorer survives polar bear attack

A BBC and National Geographic reporter was woken by a polar bear jumping on him.
A BBC and National Geographic reporter was woken by a polar bear jumping on him.

A BBC presenter and National Geographic expedition leader has survived after a polar bear jumped on his tent at 2am while he slept in the Arctic.

Paul Rose said: “I was woken up by this heavy weight on my head, neck and shoulder. Then the tent sprang back up, so I knew it was a polar bear,” reports the Mirror.

“I opened up the door a few inches and poked my head out — 18 inches away was this vast white head looking at me.”

As the Mr Rose tried to slow his heartbeat to hide his panic, the bear circled the tent a number of times before wandering off. While the bear did return, she wasn’t overly interested in the man.

“I’m one of a handful of people who have come face to face with a bear and survived. I feel privileged, although I have a very ripped up tent,” he said.

9:05am: Heartwarming photo goes viral in wake of shooting

A photographer’s photo of a moment which he called “probably the most beautiful hug I’ve ever witnessed,” has gone viral and warmed hearts all over the internet.

The photo shows a young boy hugging an older woman who is holding “free hugs” signs in an effort to spread joy and warmth in the Charleston town that suffered a racially motivated shooting last week.

The photo causing a stir.
The photo causing a stir.

“This picture was hard to take and hard to edit ... because Parker doesn’t understand how powerful that hug is. To him it’s just a hug,”the photographer posted on Facebook.

“He doesn’t understand that he’s hugging a black woman and that he’s a white boy. He doesn’t understand that just last week there was another white boy who decided to murder several black people — just because they’re black.”

At the time of writing the photo has been shared over 1,150 times.

8:55am: New harrowing video released by ISIS

Islamic State jihadists have released a video showing members of the group murdering 16 men by drowning them in a cage, decapitating them with explosives and firing a rocket-propelled grenade into a car.

The video, apparently shot in Iraq’s Nineveh province, was one of the most brutal yet in a series released by the jihadists of killings of opponents in areas under ISIL control.

First, the militants lead four men to a car and close the doors, after which one fires a rocket-propelled grenade under the vehicle, setting it alight.

A militant is later shown locking five men inside a metal cage, which is then lifted by a crane and submerged in what appears to be a dirty swimming pool.

-AFP

8:40am: New Spiderman announced, some have strange reaction

Tom Holland has been cast as the new Spider-Man
Tom Holland has been cast as the new Spider-Man

The new Spider-Man has been announced — and he’s just 19.

After months of speculation, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced British actor Tom Holland has snagged the coveted part of Peter Parker, most recently played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.

The announcement comes after leaked documents between Marvel and Sony specified that Parker must be cast as caucasian and heterosexual. But that hasn’t stopped some people taking to Twitter to express their discontent at the fact the official choice wasn’t more racially diverse.

8:25am: Police smash ice ring in north QLD

Sixteen arrested in police sting.
Sixteen arrested in police sting.

Police say they have smashed a multi-million dollar drug ring in far north Queensland.

Drugs, guns and a large amount of cash were seized in raids across Cairns during the 12-month operation, which culminated on Tuesday with the arrest of 16 people.

Four have already appeared in court on charges including trafficking ice and other drugs, with the remaining 12 to face the Cairns and Atherton Magistrates Courts over the coming weeks.

-AAP

8:15am: You can ‘unsend’ e-mails now

Gmail now has a feature which allows you so unsend an e-mail in the immediate aftermath of clicking send.

According to Business Insider, Google officially announced on Tuesday the “undo send” option.

To enact the feature you will have to go into the setting and activate it before reloading Gmail.

The next time you send an email, you’ll notice a subtle new “undo” option in a yellow box that appears at the top of the Gmail window.

So if you’ve accidentally hit ‘reply all’ to the entire office when you’ve made a vastly inappropriate joke about your boss, you can click the “undo” link, and your email will reopen in the “compose email” box for you to edit.

However you’ll have to be on your desktop as there is no such feature in the iOS or Android Gmail mobile apps.

8:05am: Vet arrested for using puppies to smuggle heroin

A photo released by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration shows five of the ten puppies who were used by Colombian drug Traffickers as canine drug mules back in 2005.
A photo released by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration shows five of the ten puppies who were used by Colombian drug Traffickers as canine drug mules back in 2005.

A Venezuelan veterinarian wanted by the US for allegedly using puppies to smuggle cocaine and heroin into the US from Colombia has been arrested.

Andrés López Elorza, 33, was found in the north-western town of Santa Comba where he had been hiding after the country’s national court authorised his extradition last month, reports the Guardian.

Police said Colombian authorities discovered 3kg of heroin implanted in three puppies during a 2005 raid on a Medellín clinic ran by the vet.

He will now be extradited to the US.

7:50am: Man denies knowing of dead babies in garage

Megan Huntsman appears in court.
Megan Huntsman appears in court.
Megan Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West.
Megan Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West.

US Police have given up pursuing charges on a man who says he didn’t know his wife, Megan Huntsman, killed six of their babies and stored them in their garage.

Investigators didn’t have any evidence to pursue charges and eventually concluded he may have been so high on drugs he didn’t realise what was happening.

Under intense questioning from detectives after the April 2014 discovery in Utah, Darren West repeatedly denied knowing of his estranged wife’s shocking actions, according to transcripts of police interviews obtained through a public records request.

Mr West acknowledged that he knew of a couple of Megan Huntsman’s pregnancies from 1996 to 2006, but said she told him she had miscarriages. West said he had no idea what his wife did with the foetuses or bodies.

Read more at the New York Post.

7:40am: Abbott likens stripping of citizenship to modern-day banishment

People who leave Australia to fight with terror groups in the Middle East are committing a modern form of treason and deserve a modern form of banishment, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

The government will introduce legislation to parliament today to block the return of dual citizens suspected of terrorism and deport court-convicted terrorists from Australia.

“There will be judicial review and I am sure there will be all sorts of pro bono lawyers who will be rushing to help the first person for whom this takes place,” Mr Abbott told the Nine Network.

7:20am: UFC super fight in jeopardy

'The Notorious' McGregor of Ireland.
'The Notorious' McGregor of Ireland.
Jose Aldo of Brazil gestures for Mcgregor.
Jose Aldo of Brazil gestures for Mcgregor.

It’s one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history. The build up and hype has been second to none and the UFC has spent more money to promote the bout than any other fight in its history. But it might not be going ahead. Well at least not on July 11th (July 12, in Australia) as planned.

Reports have emerged that current featherweight champion Jose Aldo has fractured his rib just over two weeks out from the fight.

No official announcement about the fate of the fight has been made by the UFC but depending on the severity of the injury, it is difficult to imagine Aldo committing to the fight date with a fractured rib.

Stand by for more.

7:15:am: Facebook’s crazy new ability

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

People were a little uneasy when Facebook’s facial recognition algorithm album meant they could be identified and tagged in photos almost automatically. Well now, they don’t even need your face to appear in the photo to be able to tell it’s you.

Taking it to an even creepier level, the social network has developed a new algorithm that can recognise people based on things like hair, personal style, and body shape.

“There are a lot of cues we use. People have characteristic aspects, even if you look at them from the back,” said Yann LeCun, the head of artificial intelligence at Facebook. “For example, you can recognise Mark Zuckerberg very easily, because he always wears a grey T-shirt.”

Facebook researchers presented the new system at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference in Boston earlier this month.

7:05am: Man in hospital following hostage event at Perth home

A hostage event at a Perth home has come to an end this morning with one man in a critical condition and being kept under police guard in hospital.

Two shots were reportedly fired before police pulled a bleeding and unconscious man from the Mosman Park home.

Five hostages with their hands and feet bound were also pulled from the house by police.

Neighbours told the Seven Network this morning that they called police after hearing screaming from the house around 9pm.

Two hours later, there were reportedly two shots and police yelling at the man to put the gun down.

“I just heard a lot of noise and yelling. Next thing we heard was some shots and that was the point where I decided it would be a good idea to just make sure that I stayed inside,” one neighbour told the Seven Network.

6:50am: Amazing videos of Aurora Australis captured in NSW

Star gazers in New South Wales were treated to the unusual sight of the Aurora Australis early on June 23 and some breath taking time lapse videos of the phenomenon have begun appearing online.

If you’re not in NSW or simply didn’t get the chance to catch the spectacular event, these short videos are well worth a watch.

6:40am: Sydney man steals boat, gets drunk

A man who allegedly stole a 58-foot boat from a marina in Sydney’s south has been arrested.

Police say the 20-year-old boarded a motor cruiser that was moored in Cronulla yesterday morning and steered it out to sea towards Jibbon Point.

Once on the high seas, it’s alleged the man consumed alcohol which was on board the vessel.

Marine officers spotted the boat late yesterday afternoon and arrested the man.

He was taken to Sutherland Hospital for a psychiatric assessment and later released and charged. He was refused bail and is expected to appear at Sutherland Local Court today.

-AAP

6:30am: Internet divided over Waleed Aly interview with Zaky Mallah

A fiery exchange between The Project’s co-host Waleed Aly and former terror suspect Zaky Mallah has divided viewers, with many shocked at the strong direction taken by the host during the interview.

On The Project, Mallah was initially asked if he was worried that maybe somebody watching Q&A saw his comments as a call to arms.

Mallah replied: “Look, there are some young radicalised Muslims in the community at the moment who have always hated the Abbott Government, from the get-go.

“Last night’s incident from the Minister who suggested that stripping Australians from their citizenship escalated things to a whole new level.”

An angry Aly then jumped in, accusing Mallah for “not taking responsibility for this”.

A defiant Mallah promptly lashed out: “I don’t hold myself responsible for the stupidity of the Abbott Government. And his Minister.”

The incensed host continued to interject throughout the testy exchange as the heated interview continued with the pair going back and forth on the issue of citizenship.

Read more here.

6:15am: Woman unknowingly carried foetus for 50 years

A 90-year-old woman has been pregnant for fifty years without knowing it. The woman from Chile has been carrying a calcified foetus for half a century.

The woman discovered she was pregnant when she went to a hospital after having a fall and X-rays showed she was carrying a foetus that weighed about two kilograms.

Even crazier, this phenomenon has happened before and has a name: It’s called lithopedion, and it occurs when a foetus dies during pregnancy and becomes calcified.

How is this even possible? Board-certified ob-gyn Pari Ghodsi, M.D., says lithopedion happens when pregnancy happens in the abdomen instead of the uterus, reports the New York Post.

Essentially, the sperm meets the egg and fertilises it but it implants outside of the uterus in a form of ectopic pregnancy.

6:00am: Koran reading competition winners get sex slaves

Flyers for a Koran recital competition under the Islamic State have surfaced on Twitter with a chilling prize for the winner.

The competition is aimed at young males and is apparently offering Yazidi sex slaves as grand prizes to the most well-versed in the religious text.

According to breitbart.com, the opening sentence of the flyer translates to: “Soldiers of the Islamic State, Commanders and Troops, Greetings and salutations upon the advent of Ramadan, May it be the will of Allah to accept our fasts and prayers May Allah protect us all from the fires of hell.”

It then goes on to outline which mosques will be holding the event.

The grand prize is a “sabia” (a young girl) while second and third place are to be awarded a teenage girl.

Fourth through to 10th place get prize money.

It is difficult to verify the authenticity of the flyer and while it is possible the document could’ve be created at anti-ISIS propaganda, the group’s use of young sex slaves is well documented.

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/rush-hour/rush-hour-the-stories-you-need-to-know-today/news-story/f1bfb8df26d483b9124b0c3e4b5156b3