AM briefing: Bombing survivor becomes mountaineer

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Adrianne Haslet. Photo / AP

1 Off the bucket list
Boston Marathon bombing survivor Adrianne Haslet can check mountaineering off her bucket list. The professional ballroom dancer lost a leg in the 2013 finish line attacks and ran the entire 42km race last spring. Over the weekend, she scaled Ecuador's third-highest mountain. Haslet reached the summit of 5790m Volcan Cayambe with a team of climbers from the Range of Motion Project. The nonprofit group helps provide prosthetic limbs to people around the world who don't have access to them. The expedition summited the snow-capped mountain on Monday. Haslet tweeted: "I can hardly put it into words". She was cheering for the runners in 2013 when she was injured by the second of two bombs planted among the crowds. Three people were killed and more than 260 others wounded.

2 Flooding toll nears 300
Torrential rain lashing northern China in the past week has left nearly 300 people dead or missing and displaced hundreds of thousands. More than half a million people in the hardest-hit provinces of Henan and Hebei had been displaced, with 125,000 people in urgent need of basic assistance, said Xinhua news agency, citing the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The storms have left 164 dead and 125 missing, it added. Flooding is not uncommon during the monsoon season in northern China, but rain has been unusually heavy across the country.

3 Zika baby in Spain
A woman infected with the Zika virus gave birth in Spain to a baby with the brain-damaging disorder microcephaly, her hospital said, the first case of its kind in Europe. The mother, who has not been identified, caught the virus on a trip abroad but authorities have declined to say where. A hospital source said she was infected in Latin America, where the virus is prevalent. Authorities in Colombia have declared an end to the Zika epidemic, the second-hardest hit in the region. The Health Ministry said the number of cases of the virus have been falling steadily to as few as 600 per week compared to more than 10 times that amount at the outbreak's peak in February.

4 Defendant has to cover up
A Las Vegas judge has ordered a cosmetologist to cover up a defendant's neck and facial tattoos that include a swastika and the words "Most Wanted" on each day of his robbery trial. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that District Judge Richard Scotti decided that Bayzle Morgan's tattoos should be concealed in an effort to get him a fair trial. Morgan has tattoos including a swastika inside a clover under his eye, the words "Skin Head" on his eyebrows and "Baby Nazi" written across his neck. It comes after an entire group of potential jurors said last month that they couldn't be impartial after seeing Morgan's tattoos. A new group will see him in makeup starting today.

5 Findings at Mayan ruin
Archaeologists at the Mayan ruin site of Palenque said they have discovered an underground water tunnel built under the Temple of Inscriptions, which houses the tomb of an ancient ruler named Pakal. Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez says researchers believe the tomb and pyramid were purposely built atop a spring between 683 and 702 AD. The tunnels led water from under the funeral chamber out into the broad esplanade in front of the temple, thus giving Pakal's spirit a path to the underworld.

6 Guide unclipped himself
A mountain guide who died in a fall on Grand Teton National Park's highest peak unclipped himself from an anchor while reaching for a rappel device, a National Park Service spokeswoman said. Exum Mountain guide Gary Falk fell about 731m on Sunday. The 42-year-old Falk had just successfully guided four climbers up the Grand Teton, which is more than 4175m high. They were coming back down the Wyoming peak when he fell. A rappelling device became stuck and Falk unclipped his tether from the anchor to reposition himself, park spokeswoman Denise Germann told the Jackson Hole News & Guide. "It appears that Falk fell as he was trying to free the wedge rappel device," Germann said. Another guide safely led the group down the mountain.

7 Missing girl found

Jocelyn, 5, has been found after going missing on the Gold Coast.

Humble mums Bree Johnson and Kylie Maudsley are the toast of the Gold Coast after discovering a missing 5-year-old. Thousands of people helped police and SES volunteers in the hunt for little Jocelyn Lewis after she ran away from her parents in the suburb of Nerang on Sunday afternoon. Almost 24 hours later and with many fearing the worst, it was good friends Johnson and Maudsley who located Jocelyn hiding in scrub near an industrial estate close to where she'd gone missing. Johnson, the daughter-in-law of motorsports legend Dick Johnson, denied any claim that the pair were heroes, however. "There were hundreds and hundreds of people out looking for her which was just amazing," Johnson told radio station 102.9 Hot Tomato. "It just restores your faith in humanity. We were just the lucky ones to come across her." Jocelyn was given the all-clear by medical staff.

8 A rubbish wish
His wish isn't to go to Disneyland or meet a Superhero. No, Ethan Dean has a different wish. The 6-year-old wants to be a rubbish man for a day. And rubbish man he shall be. The Sacramento Bee reports that the Make-A-Wish Foundation has teamed up with Waste Management to make a dream come true on tomorrow. Ethan has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that causes severe damage to the lungs; there is no cure. Ethan will ride on a garbage truck through midtown and downtown Sacramento, stopping at five spots along the way to pick up trash and recyclables. Organisers are hoping to line the streets with well-wishers.

9 Aid stalled
UN aid agencies have procured cranes to hoist large amounts of food and other supplies over an earthen barrier to tens of thousands of Syrians stranded on the border with Jordan, but are still waiting for Jordan's promised go-ahead, an official said. The cranes are to drop a one-off shipment of 30 days' worth of food in two large encampments along a remote desert stretch on the border - an area known as the berm because of two parallel earthen mounds that roughly mark the frontier. Jordan agreed to the shipment in mid-July, but has failed to give the final go-ahead for the operation, said a senior aid official. A Jordanian Government official reiterated that the one-time shipment was approved.

10 Migaloo sightings
White whale Migaloo is expected to appear in the waters off the Gold Coast today after making his way north at a leisurely pace over the past few days. The humpback was expected to pass the Gold Coast on the weekend but now Sea World Whale Watch predicts he'll be in the area today. A Sea World Whale Watch spokeswoman told AAP he was off the coast of Coffs Harbour on Sunday and he's averaging about 2.7km nautical miles per hour.

- agencies