Putin: “Everything is in order. Don’t worry”. Picture: AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin Source: AP

10.10am

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.

10am

Magistrates and lawyers involved in granting bail to Sydney cafe siege gunman Man Haron Monis have received death threats, says the NSW Bar Association.

There has been growing public outcry over why Monis was on bail and not on terror watchlists, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott among those demanding answers.

NSW Bar Association President Jane Needham SC says she understands the fury following such a “terribly upsetting episode” but threatening judges and demanding they be stood down is not appropriate.

Overwhelming outpouring of grief at Martin Place. Picture: Toby Zerna Source: News Corp Australia

9.40am

A German couple visiting Sydney have got engaged at the top of the Harbour Bridge and got a nice big hug from Santa afterwards.

Love was in the air for this German couple visiting Sydney, as they got engaged on top of the Harbour Bridge with some help from Santa. Courtesy: Seven News

Merry Christmas for one couple. Source: Channel 7. Source: Supplied

9.10am

The FBI has confirmed North Korea is behind the Sony hacks, which has seen embarassing documents being leaked, including ones describing Angelina Jolie as “seriously out of her mind”.

Sony decided to pull the movie’s December 25 release date after alleged hackers issued a chilling warning to moviegoers — threatening anyone who sees The Interview to “remember the 11th of September 2001.”

RELATED: The Sony hacks explained

Sony executives bagged Jolie in leaked emails. Source: Supplied

8.50am

A key figure in the AFL doping case has accused the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority of trying to “trap’’ him into supporting its case.

In opening remarks at the tribunal, ASADA counsel said pharmacist Nima Alavi told investi­gators he believed a peptide he supplied to Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank in January 2012 was the banned Thymosin Beta-4.

Mr Alavi told The Australian this was not true. “I felt as though they were trying to trap me into saying that it was Thymosin Beta-4, even though I made it very clear, repeatedly, that I didn’t know what it was,’’ he said.

ALF Players Association lawyer David Grace prepares documents as the ASADA doping witness bid commences in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne. Picture: AAP Image/POOL/Julian Smith Source: Supplied

8.20am

Natalie Portman says appearing in the Star Wars prequels almost ruined her career.

The 33-year-old actress starred as Queen Padme Amidala, in George Lucas’ commercially successful but critically-panned movies.

“Everyone thought I was a horrible actress,” she told New Yorker magazine. “I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade and no director wanted to work with me.”

She managed to revive her career with a part in the stage production of Chekov’s The Seagull and went on to win a best actress Oscar for Black Swan.

Panned for her bad performance in Star Wars prequels. Picture: TM & 2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Source: News Corp Australia

8am

Two girls accused of stabbing a classmate to please the fantasy web character Slender Man are fit to stand trial, a judge ruled Thursday.

Prosecutors have charged both girls with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the attack in May. They say the girls plotted for months to kill classmate Payton Leutner, luring her to a wooded park after a sleepover and stabbing her 19 times. All three girls were 12 at the time of the incident.

State experts concluded that both girls were competent, but their attorneys contested those conclusions. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ruled that they were.

Bohren’s decisions mean both cases will continue to preliminary hearings, where a judge will decide whether there’s enough evidence for trial.

An artist's impression of Slender Man. Credit: Imgur Source: Supplied

Wisconsin law requires suspects who are at least 10 years old to be charged as adults in severe crimes. But their attorneys have said they may still try to move their cases into juvenile court, where proceedings are secret.

7.40am

The Miss World pageant has decided to get rid of its swimsuit competition after 63 years.

According to ABC, the organisation’s chairwoman Julia Morley has announced that Miss World, which started in 1951 and now features more than 120 contestants, will no longer feature a swimsuit round in their competition.

“The organisation has decided to take itself out of the swimsuit world because it isn’t the path they’re trying to take,” said US director Chris Wilmer.

“It’s not just a beauty contest, it’s ‘beauty with a purpose’. There didn’t seem to be a purpose to have the swimsuit.”

Miss South Africa and the 2014 Miss World, Rolene Strauss, poses after being crowned. Picture: AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL Source: AFP

7.30am

ABC 7.30 host Leigh Sales won the internet overnight after poking fun at the “spectacular screw up” which saw soon-to-be The Project co-host Waleed Aly mistaken for comedian Nazeem Hussain.

Fairfax Media accidentally inserted a caption of Aly in a TV column with the line: “Waleed Aly joins The Project”. Enter Sales who tweeted this:

7am

Toni Johnson’s partner Thomas Zinn has spoken to the Today show.

“We cannot undo the events of December 16 but it has made our diverse community even stronger and even more unified,” Mr Zinn said.

He said he would like Johnson to be remembered as a humble and very generous person.

“He made it clear that family is the most important thing.”

Tori Johnson's partner Thomas Zinn on Today show. Source: Supplied

“He made it clear that family is the most important thing”. Tori Johnson at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe Source: Facebook

6.30am

Sydney’s chief Islamic ­funeral director yesterday declared no Muslim funeral home would accept the body of terrorist Man Haron Monis and authorities should just dump his corpse at sea or “chuck him in the bloody sh**house”.

The 50-year-old extremist’s body remains in the morgue and is awaiting a complex ­autopsy. His body will be ­released before Christmas, but nobody has yet claimed it.

If Monis’s partner does not claim his body he will be given a “destitute funeral” by the Department of Health.

RELATED: Inside the junk filled home of Monis

Nobody wants Monis’s body. Source: News Limited

The Daily Telegraph contacted a number of Islamic groups around the state, who all distanced themselves from the gunman and derided the Martin Place siege as an act of bastardry.

“We don’t care about him, we don’t know him, chuck him in the bloody sh**house,” said Amin Sayed, funeral director with the Lebanese Muslim ­Association.

“Nobody’s going to do his funeral, No Muslim funeral home will accept him.

“They can throw him in the bloody sea.”

6.10am

Russian President Vladimir Putin let slip during his annual news conference Thursday that he “loves” and is loved in return, but refused to reveal the identity of his mystery partner.

A young female journalist from a provincial television channel put the question to Putin, saying that “the friends of my aunt” had all badgered her to find out the relationship status of “Russia’s top bachelor”.

He bizarrely recounted a conversation he had with a friend he described only as a top boss in Europe.

-- “Listen, do you have a love?” the friend asked.

-- “In what way?” Putin responded.

-- “Well do you love someone?” -- “Well yes.” -- “And does someone love you?” -- “Yes.” -- “Well thank God.” The friend was so pleased at the news that he “downed a vodka,”

Putin said. The Russian leader refused to give any more details, only reassuring his supporters: “Everything is in order. Don’t worry.” Putin has been linked to Alina Kabayeva, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast 31 years his junior who until recently was an MP in Russia’s ruling party.