Add CategoryThat’s Rush Hour for the day! Check back to our home page for more news updates.
Aussie forces to assist in Mosul
Australian special forces soldiers will assist some of their Iraqi counterparts in the assault on Mosul, Defence Minister Marise Payne has revealed.
Australia is training Iraqi soldiers through a joint task group with New Zealand while a special operations group is continuing its advise-and-assist mission for the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Services.
“That is ongoing through these actions, as indeed it was in the processes in the movement in Ramadi and Fallujah previously,†Senator Payne told ABC radio on Tuesday.
Senator Payne said the 80 Australians had been intensively training the Iraqi unit.
“It’s an important role. Both the Iraqi government and Iraqi senior military officers have remarked to me and to other Australian officials how valuable they find that,†she said.
The minister said she would not go into specific details of how they operated for operational security reasons.
Australian special forces soldiers will assist some of their Iraqi counterparts in the assault on Mosul, Defence Minister Marise Payne has revealed.Source:News Corp Australia
Trump’s ‘rigged election’ claims continue
With two days to go until the third and final debate, Donald Trump isn’t backing down from preaching his message that the US presidential election is “riggedâ€.
The Republican candidate maintains he expects widespread voter fraud in the November 8 election, ramping up his warning despite being yet to provide any evidence that the electoral system is anything other than sound.
Trump spread his theory of a flawed election process over the weekend, mentioning the alleged “rigging†more than 20 times in 48 hours, ABC News reports.
The billionaire continued to question the legitimacy of the election process in a series of tweets overnight, hitting out at Republican leaders who won’t get behind him.
Turkey warns WWIII ‘inevitable’
Turkey has warned it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues.
“If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war,†Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with official Anadolu news agency.
Kurtulmus warned that the Syrian conflict had put the world “on the brink of the beginning of a large regional or global warâ€.
Turkey has warned it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues.Source:AFP
One dead, two injured in Moe stabbing
A woman desperately tried to stop a fellow worker who ambushed two bosses in a vicious stabbing attack at a Moe finance firm today, before apparently turning a gun on himself.
The attacker stabbed two men at RGM Group accountants on Kirk St, Moe in Victoria’s Gippsland region
The stabbing victims include two directors: Joe Auciello, who remains in a critical condition at The Alfred hospital; and Pearse Morgan, 58, who sits on the board of Racing Victoria and is a director and original partner of local accounting firm RGM.
It’s understood their attacker was found with fatal gun shot wounds soon afterward.
Prankster dupes eBay users with “extremely rare†fiver
A prankster duped innocent eBay users into bidding thousands for a £5 note that was “printed upside downâ€.
The seller received 21 offers for the “extremely rare†fiver with the sale price reaching a staggering £7,645 ($AU12,219), The Sun reports.
A prankster duped innocent eBay users into bidding thousands for a £5 note that was “printed upside downâ€.Source:Supplied
The upside down note, which is clearly a flipped normal fiver, was describe as representing an “extremely rare opportunity for the most serious collectorsâ€.
The seller, named Mintros, adds he or she “can confirm that this is the only known upside down £5 note in existenceâ€.
Mintros’ cheap joke has been made on the back of a wave of news stories about freshly-printed fivers selling for thousands.
The item has since been taken down, but Mintros appears to have put a second upside down fiver up for sale.
Fearing for the future of the human race? Join the club.
Brisbane shooting victim fights for life
A man who was shot at a Brisbane caravan park is still fighting for life as a manhunt for his attackers continues.
Police are yet to find two men who went to the Sunnybank Hills property early on Monday and shot the 54-year-old in the torso before fleeing.
The victim remains in the Princess Alexandra Hospital where his condition is listed as critical.
Police say two men drove to the caravan park on Hellawell Road at Sunnybank Hills and briefly argued with the victim before opening fire.
“During a very short altercation, the victim has been shot with a firearm. He’s got severe, life-threatening internal injuries,†police Inspector Tom Armitt has told the ABC.
The men then fled, sparking a manhunt across the Brisbane region.
Turnbull rejects claims of Nauru torture
Malcolm Turnbull has flatly rejected claims the treatment of refugees on Nauru amounts to deliberate and systematic torture.
“I reject that claim totally ... it is absolutely false,†the Prime Minister told ABC radio on Tuesday.
Amnesty International has accused Australia of running an open-air prison on the Pacific island nation.
“What we’ve been able to do is to stop the boats, no deaths at sea,†he said. “We’ve reduced the children in detention from almost 2000 when we came into office to zero.â€
Mr Turnbull said the Australian government provided significant support to Nauru for welfare, health and education services.
The prime minister revealed Immigration Minister Peter Dutton offered himself for a live interview on Four Corners — where the allegations were aired — on Monday night.
“That was rejected,†he said.
Malcolm Turnbull has flatly rejected claims the treatment of refugees on Nauru amounts to deliberate and systematic torture.Source:AAP
Trump hits out at Joe Biden
Donald Trump has tweeted a video compiling various moments of Vice President Joe Biden hugging women and whispering into their ears.
It appears to be an attempt to deflect accusations of Trump’s own history of sexual assault with women.
The video was not created by Trump, but tweeted to him by a fan. Trump promptly retweeted it to his 12.5 million followers.
How a lack of sleep affects your brain
It’s safe to say most of us don’t get eight hours of sleep every single night. Work, social engagements, boozy nights and the occasional daytime caffeine overdose sometimes keep us up, and before we know it we’re setting five alarms and cursing ourselves.
Writing in The Conversation, University of London psychology lecturer Jakke Tamminen has detailed some of the ways a lack of sleep can affect your brain.
Here’s a quick summary:
— Increased irritability, worsening mood and feelings of depression, anger and anxiety
— Heightened emotional reactivity and possible irrational emotional responses
— Increased likeliness to make risky decisions
— Decreased ability to store new memories due to hippocampus impairment
Get snoozing.Source:ThinkStock
NSW baby fighting for her life
A baby girl has been left fighting for her life after allegedly falling from a cot in the NSW town of Lithgow.
The 11-month-old underwent emergency surgery on Monday after she was found with head injuries at a Lithgow home by emergency services on Sunday night. She remains at the Children’s Hospital in Westmead, where she was taken in a critical condition on Monday.
Police were told the girl fell from the cot, but an investigation is underway. They say the girl lived with a carer, reportedly her aunt. The woman was not at home and it was her partner who called emergency services.
Police say the pair is co-operating with authorities and no charges are expected to be laid as yet.
— AAP
Is this Australia’s most controversial party?
The founder of Australia’s newest and arguably most controversial political party wants the country’s compassion to “end at our bordersâ€.
The anti-Islam and anti-immigration Love Australia or Leave party — which boasts a logo of Australia containing the word “full†— was approved and registered by the Electoral Commission on Friday, seven months after it applied for registration.
Party founder Kim Vuga, 48, who unsuccessfully ran for a Queensland Senate seat in the July Federal Election, rose to prominence when she appeared on the SBS program Go Back To Where You Came From.
Her party, which supports an indefinite moratorium on Muslim immigration and a ban on all immigration until “Australia is out of debtâ€, will run in the next Federal Election and the Queensland State Election.
This is the party’s logo.Source:Supplied
Accused ‘bong’ driver gets bail
A young mother who allegedly killed an aged care nurse while driving on a suspended licence and high on prohibited drugs has been granted bail in the Supreme Court.
Mother-of-one Bianca Harrington cried throughout her bail hearing, in which it was revealed police will allege the 20-year-old had a cocktail of illicit drugs in her system when she crashed head-on into a vehicle being driven by aged care nurse Kay Shaylor, 62, on Mann St Gosford about 6am on September 3.
The crash killed the older woman.
The Judge said despite the “really significant risk,†of her driving again he would grant her bail saying the dangers could be addressed by banning her from entering the driver’s seat of a car, putting her on a strict daily curfew and not allowing her to leave home unless in the company of her mother or sister-in-law.
A young mother who allegedly killed an aged care nurse while driving on a suspended licence and high on prohibited drugs has been granted bail in the Supreme Court.Source:Facebook
Kyrgios kicked off ATP tour
Nick Kyrgios has been kicked off the tour effective immediately after a bizarre straight sets loss at the Shanghai Masters.
The 21-year-old Australian won’t play again in 2016 and faces a ban until January at the earliest for what the ATP described a “conduct contrary to the integrity of the gameâ€.
The suspension ends the day before the 2017 Australian Open, meaning a Melbourne Park appearance is still very much a possibility.
Nick Kyrgios has been kicked off the tour effective immediately after a bizarre straight sets loss at the Shanghai Masters.Source:AP
Grace Collier defends Trump tapes
Panellist Grace Collier, a columnist for The Australian newspaper tried to sympathise with Trump during an episode of ABC’S Q&A last night.
“In this era of smartphones and everything, hands up in this room honestly if you’ve never, ever said anything stupid, obnoxious or offensive when you thought you weren’t being taped? Come on, be real, right?
“I mean, I think back at some of the things I’ve said over the years. Horrible. I mean, I’d hate to have somebody sitting there with a tape recorder and pull it out 10 years later. You all say stupid things.
“Having said that ... I’m not sticking up for Trump and Clinton. I don’t care who they elect. I’m not a citizen of the US and I don’t get to vote. But I just don’t think it’s a big deal and I don’t think we should lose any sleep over it because what will be will be.â€
Family found dead on Sydney’s Northern Beaches
Four people, including two children, were found dead inside a home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Monday morning.
Police went to the home in Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive at Davidson at 11.20am after they had been contacted by a friend concerned about the family’s welfare.
Officers forced their way into the home and were confronted by the horrific scene — the bodies of two adults, named Monday afternoon as Fernando Manrique, 44, his wife Maria Claudia Lutz, 43, and the couple’s two children Martin, 10, and Eliza, 11.
Four people, including two children, were found dead inside a home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Monday morning.Source:Facebook
Pauline Hanson cracks down on terrorists’ families
Pauline Hanson wants laws stripping dual-national terrorists of their citizenship to go further, calling for their families to be deported as well.
A dual-national terrorist is set to become the first to be stripped of citizenship after the controversial laws cleared federal parliament last year, but an immediate High Court challenge is expected, News Corp Australia reported on Monday.
The One Nation leader says the immediate family of anyone stripped of their citizenship should be deported as well.
“It has to be a real deterrent to get these people out of the country,†she told the Seven Network.
“I don’t want them here.†Senator Hanson said anyone wanting to become an Australian citizen should have to wait at least seven years instead of four.
If they then commit a criminal offence punishable by more than 12 months’ jail, they should be deported, she said.
Pauline Hanson wants laws stripping dual-national terrorists of their citizenship to go further, calling for their families to be deported as well.Source:Supplied