The Imams Council is expected to speak to the media this morning after the counter-terrorism raids. Follow the day’s news live Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast A man and a baby are missing in a national park in Sydney’s south, NSW police say. Ben Cullen, aged 39, and Roam Cullen, aged 3 months, were last seen on Sir Bertram Stevens Drive, Royal National Park, about 8.15pm yesterday ..read more

David Pecker testified about his role in buying a story from the model Karen McDougal about an alleged affair with Trump Pecker says he bought story so it did not harm campaign David Pecker spent all day on the witness stand on Thursday in the Manhattan criminal trial against Donald Trump. Pecker, the longtime head of America Media, which owns the National Enquirer tabloid, is a key witness because he was intimately involved in the practice of buying the rights to potentially damaging stories about Trump and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”. The central allega ..read more

Move made after more than 90 demonstrators arrested on campus and university cancels pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speech The University of Southern California (USC) has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony under new safety measures being taken as the campus is roiled by protests stemming from the Israel-Gaza war. The university announced the move Thursday, the day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The ceremony was scheduled for 10 May ..read more

Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop City Police have carried out multiple violent arrests at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, in what appears to be the first campus crackdown in recent days to involve rubber bullets and teargas after students set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City. On Thursday, Emory students set up multiple tents on the campus’s lawns in protest against the university’s ties to Israel, as well Atlanta’s Cop City, a police and fire department training center that is being construc ..read more

Suspects, aged 42 and 68, held on suspicion of murder after discovery of plastic-wrapped lower back, buttocks and thigh Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a torso was found wrapped in plastic at a nature reserve in Greater Manchester. Part of a dismembered body, consisting of the bottom of the back, buttocks and thigh, were found in clear plastic by a passerby at Kersal Dale Wetlands in Salford on 4 April ..read more

World’s largest public company reports $61.86bn revenue after investing billions into artificial intelligence Profits at Microsoft beat Wall Street’s expectations as its heavy bets on artificial intelligence and gaming continued to bear fruit in the second quarter. The technology giant has invested billions of dollars into AI in a bid to turbocharge its growth ..read more

Concern grows over legality of government’s approach as new figures show more than 150,000 carers facing huge penalties A hero – then sacked. The carer’s allowance whistleblower New figures show more than 150,000 unpaid carers are now facing huge fines for minor rule breaches, as MPs, charities and campaigners demanded an immediate amnesty. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, joined calls to write off the vast debts incurred by tens of thousands of people who care for sick, disabled and elderly relatives after experts raised concerns about the legality of the government’s approach ..read more

Court ruled last month that Crystal Mason, initially sentenced to five years in prison, did not know she was ineligible to vote in 2016 A Texas prosecutor will appeal against a court ruling tossing out a five-year prison sentence for a woman who unintentionally tried to vote while ineligible in the 2016 election, an unexpected move that continues one of the most closely watched voting prosecutions in the US. Last month, the second court of appeals, which is based in Fort Worth, threw out the 2018 conviction of Crystal Mason, a Black woman who submitted a provisional ballot in 2016 that ultimat ..read more

Chronic workforce shortages have put nursing staff under unbearable pressure, says union chief Nurses in England took an average of a week off sick last year because of stress, anxiety or depression, NHS figures reveal. The disclosure has prompted concern that the intense strains nurses face in their jobs, including low pay and understaffing, are damaging their mental health and causing many to quit ..read more

Commerce department says gross domestic product growth decelerated to 1.6% at start of year as consumers slowed spending America’s leading stock indices came under pressure on Thursday after official data revealed that US economic growth slowed sharply to its weakest rate in almost two years. But as high interest rates take their toll on the world’s largest economy, inflation continues to loom large ..read more