Jesse Baird and Luke Davies disappearance: NSW police officer Beau Lamarre arrested amid search for missing couple

Lamarre, 28, turned himself to NSW police on Friday morning and is assisting with inquiries at Waverley police station

A serving police officer has been arrested as New South Wales homicide detectives continue investigating the disappearance of the former Channel Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his Qantas flight attendant partner, Luke Davies.

Const Beau Lamarre – a former celebrity blogger – handed himself in at Bondi police station about 10.30am on Friday. No charges have been laid.

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Samantha Murphy: police suspect ‘one or more parties’ involved as targeted search begins for missing Ballarat woman

New mobile data leads police to comb Mount Clear area for clues nearly three weeks after 51-year-old was last seen

Victoria police suspect “one or more parties” were involved in the disappearance of Samantha Murphy nearly three weeks ago, saying it was “very doubtful” she was still alive amid a renewed ground search.

Mobile phone data has provided a new lead in the search for Murphy, with a previously examined area the subject of a targeted hunt for clues as to her disappearance.

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TV presenter Jesse Baird and partner Luke Davies missing after blood found at home and in skip bin

NSW police searching for former Channel 10 presenter, 26, and Qantas flight attendant, 29, after blood discovered at Paddington property and on personal possessions in Cronulla bin

New South Wales police are investigating the suspicious disappearance of the former Network Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs after bloody items were found in a skip bin.

Police said Baird, 26, and 29-year-old Davies, who works as a flight attendant for Qantas, were last seen in Paddington on Monday.

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Australia detains alleged key player in North Korean tobacco smuggling scheme after US request

Exclusive: Jin Guanghua was arrested by the AFP in Melbourne last year and is facing extradition to the US

A Chinese national has been quietly arrested and detained in Australia for 11 months at the request of US authorities investigating an alleged tobacco smuggling conspiracy that generated an estimated A$1.1bn (US$700m) in revenue to North Korea.

Jin Guanghua, 52, was arrested by the Australian federal police in Melbourne last March. Described in US court documents as an Australian resident, Jin was kept in custody in Melbourne for several months before being transferred to immigration detention while awaiting extradition.

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Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’

Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021

In the final frantic days before she was murdered, Kelly Wilkinson visited multiple police stations, warning she was in danger. Official police notes say she was “cop shopping”.

On Wednesday, Wilkinson’s estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, a former US Marine, pleaded guilty to her murder. A court has previously heard that Johnston tied Wilkinson to a clothesline and set her on fire on 20 April 2021.

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Former LNP candidate Vivian Lobo fronts court accused of giving false details to Australian Electoral Commission

Candidate in 2022 federal election facing up to 12 months’ prison if found guilty of knowingly providing false or misleading information

A Liberal National party candidate in the last federal election has faced court accused of providing false information about his residential address to the electoral commission.

Vivian Rakesh Lobo was issued a summons to appear in Brisbane magistrates court on Friday after a federal police investigation followed a referral from the Australian Electoral Commission.

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Victoria police were asked to look at HyperVerse information in 2020 – but sent case back to Asic 22 months later

Australian financial regulator says it referred crypto scheme to police for alleged ‘possible fraud’ and believed matter was under ‘active consideration’

Australia’s corporate watchdog referred information about the alleged US$1.89bn “Ponzi scheme” known as HyperVerse to Victoria police in 2020, only for it to be referred back almost two years later without any action being taken.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission made the referral to Victoria police for alleged “possible fraud offences” after concerns were raised with the corporate regulator about a related company, Blockchain Global. Asic did not provide detail on what prompted the referral.

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Australia politics live: Queensland introduces bill for carbon reduction target; Garnaut argues for zero-carbon exports

‘Export of zero-carbon goods can underpin a long period of high investment, rising productivity, full employment and rising incomes,’ economist tells press club. Follow the day’s news live

When it comes to treaty and truth-telling though, things are a little less clear. For all intents and purposes the government seems to be backing away from a designated federal process. We heard some of that yesterday, but Linda Burney continues it today.

For all Jacinta Price is accusing the Labor government of doing treaty “by stealth” that doesn’t appear to be the reality. Instead, existing processes look like being utilised.

I am having discussions with the cabinet about that, and I’m not going to go into those discussions. But the issue of truth-telling is incredibly important. And there are many, many ways in which that can happen, including the school curriculum.

The reality is the treaty process is well under way at a state and in many ways at a local level. You look at the Noongar agreement in and around Perth. For all intents and purposes, that’s a treaty.

What I’m suggesting is that we will listen to what people are saying.

I know that there are some people in the media, but I want to talk also to community leadership. I’m meeting with land councils today, for example, who are in Canberra this week for estimates. Those are the organisations that really worked very hard towards the referendum and I want to hear from them where they believe the next steps should be.

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Third man charged in NSW over alleged plot to kill OneFour rappers

Police charge 28-year-old over alleged criminal cell plan to murder members of Sydney rap group

A third member of an alleged criminal cell allegedly hired to kill gang rivals is being held by police.

Police believe the group is behind multiple contract kidnappings and a plan to target Sydney-based drill rap group OneFour.

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Psychics and amateur sleuths toss unfounded theories into search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy

As the police investigation enters its second week, wild speculation and conspiracy theories spread on social media

A CCTV image of her moments before she left home for an early morning run and a ping on a mobile phone tower 11km south of Ballarat – these are among the few clues to Samantha Murphy’s disappearance.

Yet, from these two pieces of evidence, psychics, armchair detectives and online sleuths have created and fuelled theories about how the Ballarat woman vanished, as the investigation enters its second week.

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Advocates call for national ban on spit hoods after NSW becomes second state to outlaw their use

Legislation banning the use of the devices, which have been linked to deaths in custody, passes in NSW with cross-party support

Advocates are calling for a nationwide ban on spit hoods – which have been linked to deaths in custody – after New South Wales became the second state to outlaw the use of the restraint devices.

The Ban Spit Hoods Coalition, which works to end the use of the fabric device which is placed over people’s heads in custodial settings, said spit hoods were an unacceptable threat to human life and dignity and that all states and territories should follow the lead of NSW and South Australia, with the latter state the first to ban its use in 2021.

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Victorian government condemns protesters who clashed with police at pride march as Midsumma blames ‘both sides’

Group of up to 50 protesters allegedly tried to stop police contingent from joining annual pride march in Melbourne

The Victorian government has condemned protesters who confronted police at Melbourne’s Midsumma Pride March as thugs, and called on event organisers to follow suit.

A contingent of about 100 people from Victoria police, including the chief commissioner, Shane Patton, were among the more than 15,000 marchers who participated in the event in St Kilda on Sunday.

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NSW police say analysis shows pro-Palestine chant in viral Sydney Opera House video was ‘where’s the Jews?’

Independent expert says with ‘overwhelming certainty’ the phrase was not ‘gas the Jews’, as was widely reported around the world

New South Wales police say an independent investigation has found no evidence pro-Palestine protestors used the offensive phrase “gas the Jews” during a march near Sydney’s Opera House two days after the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The investigation by an “eminent expert” from the National Centre of Biometric Science examined a compilation video containing a number of audio and visual files.

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Celeste Manno murderer Luay Sako faked psychosis symptoms, Victorian supreme court hears

Man who stalked 23-year-old Melbourne woman pretended he was experiencing psychosis when he killed her, psychiatrist tells court

A man who stabbed a young woman to death repeatedly faked symptoms of psychosis while being assessed for a mental impairment defence, a court has heard.

Luay Sako, 39, told three psychiatrists there was a being called “Isha” who encouraged him to kill 23-year-old Celeste Manno in the early hours of 16 November 2020.

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War crime accused seeks bail change to fly across Australia

Oliver Jordan Schulz, who is accused of murder over the shooting of a young Afghan, applied for his bail conditions to be loosened

A former SAS soldier and accused war criminal requires assessment by police checking in on him while on bail because his military training presents a physical danger, a court has heard.

Oliver Jordan Schulz, 42, is expected to be able to fly to Perth to visit his lawyers after a bail variation hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Monday.

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NSW premier warns ‘pathetic’ neo-Nazis they will be exposed after attempted rally in Sydney park

Gathering of at least 20 black-clad, masked men at Artarmon Reserve follows confrontation with police resulting in six arrests on Friday

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has doubled down on his push to tighten anti-vilification laws after a group of neo-Nazis attempted to hold another rally in a public park on Sunday morning.

Police responded to the gathering of at least 20 black-clad, masked men who gathered at Artarmon Reserve at 9am on Sunday.

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Queensland police launch internal investigation after officers fatally shoot man during ‘mental health incident’

Man declared dead at the scene in Mount Louisa on Sunday, with ethical standards command to investigate the death

Queensland police have launched an internal investigation after a man was shot and killed by officers during a “mental health incident” in suburban Townsville.

In a statement, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) claimed the man was armed with a knife and had “threatened” officers who had been called to attend a home at Mount Louisa just after midnight on Sunday. Police officers arrived at the scene an hour later.

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Albanese condemns actions of balaclava-clad neo-Nazis arrested by police after swarming Sydney train

Six members of the neo-Nazi group were arrested after dozens of men wearing black hoods and brandishing Australian flags were stopped at North Sydney station

Anthony Albanese has condemned the actions of a group of neo-Nazis, who wore black balaclavas while brandishing Australian flags when they swarmed a Sydney train on Friday, as “shocking” and having “no role in Australia”

The group of about 60 hooded men were seen at Artarmon station just before midday on Friday.

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Cairns watch house worker sounds alarm over ‘massive deterioration’ in children’s physical and mental health

Exclusive: anonymised notes reveal concerns about injuries, self-harm, security incidents and sickness in overcrowded cells

A child locked in the Cairns police watch house is self-harming by banging his head against the cell walls.

Anonymised notes about more than a dozen children in the far north Queensland watch house last week, seen by Guardian Australia, detail concerns about sickness spreading in the overcrowded cells, injuries and serious security incidents.

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Disgraced NSW detective Roger ‘The Dodger’ Rogerson dies in jail aged 83

Former police officer was serving a life sentence for the 2014 murder of Sydney drug dealer Jamie Gao

Disgraced former New South Wales police officer Roger Rogerson has died in hospital aged 83.

Known as “The Dodger”, the controversial and charismatic tough cop turned killer was moved from Long Bay prison to Sydney’s Prince of Wales hospital last Thursday where he was receiving end-of-life care.

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