Australian woman has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her Leongatha home in 2023. Follow live updates

• Who are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom murders trial?
• ‘Important you’re all there’: Erin Patterson urged husband to reconsider skipping mushroom lunch, murder trial hears

Simon Patterson is back in the witness stand in the court room.

Erin Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is continuing his cross examination of Simon.

Votes being counted in Labour-held seat with results also due later for six mayors and 24 councils

Zia Yusuf, chair of Reform UK has spoken to BBC Newsnight from the Runcorn by-election count, saying he thinks it will be a historic night for the party.

I think we are going to win hundreds of council seats; we stand a really good chance of taking control of some councils for the first time as Reform UK, and I think that we will win at least one, perhaps even two mayoral races. As I said, I think it is going to be a historic night for Reform, and in the context, I think this is probably the most... important set of council elections in this country’s history because it marks an end to the stranglehold, that duopoly of the two old parties that they have had on British politics for about a century now.”

Ukrainian president says the deal was the result of Vatican meeting with Donald Trump. What we know on day 1,164

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

On the eve of the federal poll, the famed 36-year-old Darwin saltwater croc tips a Peter Dutton victory

On the eve of Australia’s national poll to determine its next leader, two hunks of meat were dangled above a murky pool.

Attached to one line, the picture of prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Upon the other, the man who would dethrone him, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton.

Three-metre shark was found on sand bank near the coastal town of Ardrossan in South Australia

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Tourist Nash Core admits he felt some fear when he and his 11-year-old son waded into the ocean off the Australian coast to help rescue a three-metre great white shark stranded in shallow water.

Three local men managed to return the distressed animal from a sand bank into deeper water after an almost hour-long rescue effort on Tuesday near the coastal town of Ardrossan in South Australia.

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Kosmos 482, weighing 500kg, was meant to land on Venus in the 1970s but it never made it out of orbit because of a rocket malfunction

A Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus in the 1970s is expected to soon plunge uncontrolled back to Earth.

It’s too early to know where the half-ton mass of metal might come down or how much of it will survive re-entry, according to space debris-tracking experts.

City will be wary of a resurgent Wolves, Graham Potter needs a derby win and Roméo Lavia is vital to Chelsea

Six straight wins in a run of seven unbeaten has lifted Wolves to 13th. Now Vítor Pereira’s side pose a problem that Manchester City must solve as the latter chase maximum points from their last four games in the race for Champions League qualification. Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in the last eight in all competitions and buoyed up by last Sunday’s reaching of a third successive FA Cup final, so this should be a close one. Keep an eye out for Guardiola potentially having a complimentary word with Matheus Cunha, as is his habit when coming up against a high-class opposition player. Jamie Jackson

Manchester City v Wolves, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Aston Villa v Fulham, Saturday 12.30pm

Everton v Ipswich Town, Saturday 3pm

Leicester City v Southampton, Saturday 3pm

Arsenal v Bournemouth, Saturday 5.30pm

Brentford v Manchester United, Sunday 2pm

Tech giant exceeded expectations for three quarters in a row, but it is expected to report slowest revenue growth rate since 2022

Amazon reported strong first-quarter earnings for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday after the New York stock exchange closed – results that will be seen in the context of consumer resilience in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff wars.

Amazon reported $1.59 in earnings-per-share (EPS) and revenue of $155.67bn. Analysts had estimated that the company’s EPS would come in at $1.36 on revenue of $155bn. In particular focus: Amazon’s advertising business, which grew 19% in the first quarter of 2025, handily exceeding analyst expectations as well. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for the previous two quarters. At the close of the first quarter last year, the company reported earnings of $0.98 per share on sales of $143bn. In spite of the growth, shares dropped in after-hours trading.

Sony also raised PlayStation 5 price and Nintendo delayed Switch 2 pre-orders as Trump tariffs throw electronics manufacturing into chaos

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it will increase Xbox console prices worldwide, citing “market conditions” just days after Sony made a similar move with its PlayStation 5.

The tech giant also plans to raise prices for some new games developed by its video game subsidiaries.

I personally don’t really want to watch another movie about a billionaire – unless he is in some sort of trap

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It’s important in any healthy relationship to be able to “call each other in” – gently point out issues you are having with behavioural patterns, and ask for some space when needed. I’m thinking particularly about a good friend of mine. Always there when I’m in need, even there when I’m not in need (rarely). That’s right, I’m talking about … television (I’m normal).

I love my television and everything it brings me, but I do have a gripe I need to get off my chest, while I’m lying down on the couch. Mrs TV, love you girl but I’m calling you in: I need TV shows to stop focusing on satirising class only via the lives of rich white people (and occasionally the people around them). This issue has become more obvious since the latest season of The White Lotus, but is not at all restricted to The White Lotus. Recent years have seen TV and movies like Succession, Big Little Lies, The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, Knives Out, Saltburn etc about what is going on with powerful people.

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Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney

With eight minutes to play, Tottenham’s fans must have thought they were almost home and hosed. It had been hard to hear yourself think as the emotions of a frustrating campaign poured out with each goal that went in, with Brennan Johnson’s opener after just 38 seconds setting the tone.

But this being Spurs, things are never quite that simple. Cruising at 3-0 after further goals from James Maddison and Dominic Solanke seemed to have given them a comfortable advantage, a late strike from Bodø/Glimt’s stand-in captain, Ulrik Saltnes, that deflected off the unfortunate Micky van de Ven changed the complexion of the tie in an instant.

Manchester United enjoyed their night in Bilbao so much that they will surely be coming back. They remain the only unbeaten team among the more than 100 that have played this competition over eight long months, and even if they do fall to a first in seven days’ time, the margin of this victory means they should still be there on its final game in this same arena, the season given meaning and potentially a triumphant end, the Europa League their elixir and their escape once again.

They came to the stadium everyone calls the Cathedral and defeated Athletic Bilbao so convincingly that the second leg carries little threat. No one had won here this year in Europe and Athletic had conceded just 10 times in all competitions; United scored three in a quarter of an hour, an opening goal from Casemiro and two from Bruno Fernandes ending this before half-time. All the more so because the second came from the spot, accompanied by a red card for Dani Vivian, infuriating the home supporters and virtually ensuring that they will not play the final they host on 21 May.

First mayoral race results expected around 2am with important Runcorn and Helsby byelection result about an hour later

Polls have closed across England for local and mayoral elections, as well as a key parliamentary byelection, with the first results due to be announced within hours.

It is the first full-scale electoral test for Keir Starmer since the general election, and could have notable repercussions for Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, as well as to a lesser extent for the Liberal Democrats and Greens.

The partying in the stands was at odds with everything taking place on the artificial pitch. There was no irony about the celebrations from the noisy Djurgården fans when their team finally found the back of the net. The roar was deafening and the emotion was genuine. The only problem, though, was that Chelsea were already four goals to the good by the time Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta got the underdogs on the scoresheet in Stockholm.

It was not a great look for a competition that Uefa invented for the benefit of Europe’s smaller clubs. Chelsea against the 11th best team in Sweden for a place in the final of the Conference League? A show of the Premier League’s financial power was inevitable. Enzo Fernández, signed for £106.7m, decorated the contest with early assists for Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke. Nicolas Jackson came off the bench and scored twice. Cole Palmer’s failure to end his goal drought was a sideshow.

This week Nottingham Forest readied themselves for the Champions League, Evangelos Marinakis relinquishing his controlling interest in the club to comply with Uefa’s ownership rules. His other club, Greek champions Olympiakos, have qualified for the grandest stage in the club game but Forest’s bid to return to Europe’s premier competition will likely go to the wire. Will Forest look back on this defeat at home to Brentford as a costly misstep when their season ends here against Chelsea?

Forest, who face Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham before that potential final-day showdown with Chelsea, never really got going on a disappointing evening. Goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa, a January target for Forest, condemned the hosts to successive league home defeats for the first time since the end of last season and Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have now lost four of their past five matches in all competitions, including last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final. At full-time Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams crouched, winded by defeat, and Nuno’s challenge is to lift a dejected group of players. The stakes are a reminder of how far they have come.

Move comes after Waltz lost officials’ confidence, sources say, with Marco Rubio to take on national security job

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts after they lost the confidence of other administration officials and found themselves without allies at the White House, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The exit of Waltz and Wong marked the conclusion of a fraught tenure. In March, Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, to a Signal group chat that shared sensitive information about US missile strikes in Yemen before they took place.

• Europa League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
• Live scores | Read today’s Football Daily | Mail Simon

“If any Spurs fans are thinking of heading to north Norway to sample the atmosphere for the second leg (I assume tickets are long gone), I can confirm that the (12-hour) train journey north from Bergen is absolutely stunning, the highlight of an interrail trip to the arctic circle last year,” writes Stuart Jenkinson, as the referee orchestrates the pre-match coin toss. “Every other house/ apartment was sporting a Bodo/glimt flag, as was the local peak, but unfortunately no home games in the short time we were there.”

The players have joined them, and they’re on their way out! One end of the ground is displaying the Spurs club motto by means of holding up black and white plastic sheeting. Flags wave everywhere. One corner is very, very yellow.

• Europa League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
• Live scores | Read today’s Football Daily | Email Scott

3 min: … but nothing comes of it, Ruiz De Galarreta attempting a shot from distance that bounces apologetically through to Onana.

2 min: Bilbao on the front foot quickly. Nico Williams makes good down the left and looks for his brother Inaki at the far stick. Dorgu is forced to turn it behind for the first corner of the game.

• Premier League updates from the 7.30pm BST kick-off
• Live scores | Read today’s Football Daily | Email Will

Nuno speaks: “All the games are the biggest ones. These ones mean a lot. Nothing else matters, just these games.

“You have to compete against very good teams, they all fight for everything. We have one result in our mind.

Trump said consumer electronics will be exempted from his soaring tariffs on China, though it is unclear for how long

Apple’s second-quarter financials came in slightly higher than Wall Street’s expectations on Thursday.

The tech giant reported revenue of $95.4bn, up more than 4% over last year, and earnings-per-share of $1.65 per share, up more than 7%. Analysts had predicted revenue of $94.5bn and earnings of $1.62. The company, worth $3.2tn, has beaten Wall Street’s expectations for the previous four quarters.

World Liberty Financial’s USD1 will be used to close MGX’s investment in world’s biggest crypto exchange

A stablecoin launched by Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for its $2bn investment in crypto exchange Binance, one of World Liberty’s co-founders said on Thursday.

World Liberty, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said in March it would launch USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by US treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents.

Wife of man unlawfully sent to El Salvador filed protection petition in 2020 after domestic violence allegations

The legal team behind Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man unlawfully deported to El Salvador, is demanding that the Trump administration “bring him back and give him a full and fair trial” as the administration releases new domestic abuse allegations.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited allegations made by Ábrego García’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, that he abused her on several occasions in 2019 and 2020.

The White House calls it ‘historic’. A more realistic estimate is that while Ukraine is glad to sign, this is not a shift in the big picture

The Trump administration, with its customary rhetorical inflation, has hailed its mineral deal with Ukraine as “historic”. What the world’s most powerful nation says and does matters. But how much? And for how long? This is a government of caprice and chaos. Attempting to connect the data points can be like trying to join up the bug splats on a windscreen. The real issue is that the vehicle is still following the signs for Moscow.

This moment looks like a high because US-Ukraine ties hit such a low, particularly with the Oval Office bullying of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reports that Washington is willing to recognise annexed Crimea as Russian. Key details of this deal have yet to be finalised in a technical agreement. The idea originated with Kyiv, which saw that economic incentives might be the only way to interest the money-minded US president in its defence. The Trump administration decided the answer was, in essence, to take all the resources without granting the security guarantee that Ukraine had sought. It looked a bit like a protection racket, without ongoing protection.

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Demographics show fans at the Miami Grand Prix are younger and more diverse as the Hard Rock Stadium pulls in the numbers

With a sellout once more expected, this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix is building on an appeal to a younger, diverse audience that is a key part of Formula One’s burgeoning success in the US. Making its mark on the calendar with a grand, spectacular party in the Florida sunshine since the inaugural race in 2022, Miami is considered something of a showcase.

The opening blast of the three meetings now held in the US is a shop window for the sport with three teams, Racing Bulls, Sauber and Ferrari boasting special liveries for the event this weekend. The flamingo pink of the RB is very much making a splash but the clunky corporate blue addition to the Scuderia’s scarlet has fallen very flat with fans.

State department certifies licence for ‘$50m or more’ in defence hardware and services after minerals deal signed

The Trump administration will approve its first sale of military equipment to Ukraine since Donald Trump took office, in an indication that the minerals deal signed by the two countries this week may open a path to renewed weapons shipments.

The state department has certified a proposed licence to export “$50m or more” (£37.6m) of defence hardware and services to Ukraine, according to a communication sent to the US committee on foreign relations. It would mark the first permission of its kind since Trump paused all Ukraine-related military aid shortly after taking office.

• British No 1 takes only 77 minutes to win 6-0, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek jeered in 6-1, 6-1 defeat by Coco Gauff

Jack Draper will overtake Novak Djokovic and climb into the top five of the world rankings for the first time after demolishing Matteo Arnaldi in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open. Draper needed just 77 minutes to see off the Italian, who beat Djokovic in the second round, 6-0, 6-4, with a stunning first set in which he lost only 10 points.

The British No 1 is the only top 10 player remaining in the men’s tournament and is now just two matches away from claiming a second Masters 1000 title in two months. Draper’s rapid rise to the top of the men’s game kicked off with the Indian Wells title in March and has accelerated on clay, which has been considered his weakest surface.

• Trump 100 days: tariffs, egg prices, Ice arrests and approval rating – in charts
• Trump 100 days: inside Trump’s whirlwind start to his second presidency

Donald Trump signed 141 executive orders since returning to the presidency in January, including enacting steep tariffs, ending birthright citizenship, curbing DEI and “gender radicalism” in the military, and pardoning January 6 rioters.

The US president promised in his inaugural speech that these orders would amount to a “complete restoration of America”.

Rapper turned MIT professor is unveiling a project of ‘en plein air rapping’, which is about outdoors-inspired music

“What does it mean to record outside, not just rap outside like a cypher, but actually record outside with the intention of completing a full song completely written and inspired outdoors?” rapper Lupe Fiasco mused while discussing his latest project, Ghotiing (pronounced “fishing”). “What are the limitations and constraints? What do you have to prepare to go into that environment? Onlookers, insects, the weather, noise, any kind of distraction.”

En plein air rapping, as Fiasco calls it – after the school of painting that was popularized by Impressionists like Monet and Renoir – involves going to a promising location and fishing for lyrics and beats. He has been fine-turning the practice ever since he came on as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the 2022-23 academic year – ghotiing throughout MIT, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere, while also teaching it to his students. “It’s a practice that I’ve been using and playing with and working through for the past few years,” he said.

MCC’s inner sanctum, off-limits to women until 1999, hosts quirky event where vast majority of attendees are female

Vanessa Williams, the American actress of Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives fame, is on the surface an unlikely candidate to spearhead the launch of a Cricket World Cup.

However, at Lord’s on Thursday Williams formed part of an all-female panel – alongside World Rugby player of the year, Ellie Kildunne, and Nobel peace prize winner (and former Oxford University cricketer) Malala Yousafzai – which officially kickstarted the countdown to the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, to be held in England.

Singer steps in to help non-verbal four-year-old Iain Gregori, who was ‘lost in the system’

Rod Stewart has offered to pay for the autism diagnosis of a child who has spent three years on a waiting list.

The singer stepped in after reading about the case of four-year-old Iain Gregori, who is non-verbal and is due to start school this summer.

• Athletes urged to take phone numbers from partners
• ‘Watch who you kiss and have a relationship with’

Elite athletes have been warned against having one-night stands because of the risk they could be ­contaminated with banned drugs from engaging in casual sex.

The warning came as top lawyers and anti-doping experts debated ­contamination cases in sport before highlighting the hidden dangers for the Tinder generation.

• Trump gains 5-3 advantage after error-strewn session
• Seven-time champion and Zhao Xintong level at 4-4

Judd Trump punished a series of costly errors from Mark Williams to build a 5-3 lead while Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong are level at 4-4, as the World Snooker Championship semi-finals got under way at the Crucible.

After an intriguing afternoon session between the seven-time champion and the young Chinese pretender, things started slowly in the evening. A tense opening to the match was filled with mistakes and a missed routine black by Williams in the eighth frame enabled Trump to establish a healthy overnight advantage.

Daniel Graham, 39, said he was framed as part of a dispute and did not have the skills to cut down tree, jury hears

A man accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall told police he was being “stitched up” and did not have the skills to do it.

A jury at Newcastle crown court heard police interviews with Daniel Graham, 39, in which he also said he had no idea what he was doing on the night the tree was felled, which took place a month earlier.

Experts are alarmed as department says it will alter vaccine testing methods and build new ‘surveillance systems’

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his department have made a series of misleading statements that alarmed vaccine experts and advocates in recent days – including that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine includes “aborted fetus debris”.

Health department officials released statements saying they could alter vaccine testing and build new “surveillance systems” on Wednesday, both of which have unnerved experts who view new placebo testing as potentially unethical.

Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal have both been left out of this year’s nominations for their Shakespeare revival while Audra McDonald makes history

George Clooney and Nicole Scherzinger have been nominated for their first Tonys this year while Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal have been snubbed.

The Oscar-winning actor was included in the leading actor in a play category for Good Night and Good Luck, an adaptation of the 2005 film that he also starred in and directed. “It’s a thrill to have five nominations for this play,” he said in a statement. “For everyone involved, this has been an incredible experience. I couldn’t be more proud or feel more lucky.”

A community college program has been instrumental in helping Latinx students in the state access higher education, while educators fear they’ll become Trump’s next target

Daniel is a high school senior in rural North Carolina. Soon, he will graduate with a high school diploma, an associate degree and a paralegal certification from a local community college. He’s just 17, but he’ll be able to apply for positions at law firms and begin earning an almost $50,000 salary straight out of high school.

“The early college program really set me up for success because even though I’m young, I’ll be able to help financially support my family,” said Daniel, a first-generation Salvadorian American who is only using his first name to protect undocumented family members. “I’ve done all of this because of support from my mother and family. I owe everything I’ve accomplished to them and I want to give back.”

In their rush to implement a barely concealed authoritarian agenda, this administration is producing a litany of blunders, gaffes and slip-ups

As we pass the 100-day mark of Donald Trump’s second term, it’s time to take note of a key element of how this administration governs: by mistake. I’m being serious. Have we ever seen a more error-prone, incompetent and fumbling presidency? In their rush to implement a barely concealed authoritarian agenda, this administration is producing a litany of blunders, gaffes and slip-ups. At times, they’ll seek to hide those mistakes by projecting a shield of authoritarianism. At other times, they’ll claim the mistake as a method of walking back an unpopular authoritarian agenda item. Either way, it’s a unique style of rule, one that I call “rule by error”.

On 11 April, for example, the White House’s taskforce on antisemitism sent Harvard University a letter detailing a laundry list of actions that Harvard would have to undertake if the university wanted to avoid having over $2bn of multiyear federal grants frozen by the government. But the actions were extreme and would have resulted in the end of Harvard’s intellectual independence. Days later, Harvard wrote back: “Nah, I’m good,” they told Trump’s people. (More precisely, they wrote that the university is “not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration”.)

Questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, plus a few jokes, every Thursday. How will you fare?

On Tuesday, the Thursday quiz celebrated its fourth birthday. Four whole years of this nonsense! What a joy it is to share the quiz with those who gather underneath it in the comments every week. But there is no time to get carried away with self-congratulations when there are questions to be asked. Fifteen of them, in fact, in their usual ridiculous configuration of topical news, general knowledge and pop culture trivia. Enjoy – and here’s to many more birthdays to come …

The Thursday quiz, No 208

What has happened with 60 Minutes is a high-octane version of what’s happening everywhere in Trump 2.0

There have been so many red alerts for press freedom in the United States over the past few months that it can be hard to know which ones really matter.

The one at CBS’s 60 Minutes really matters.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

Pearson, who will be the first disabled actor to play the role in a film, said: ‘I can think of no greater honour than to tell the true story of Joseph Carey Merrick’

Adam Pearson, the actor who appeared in Under the Skin and the Oscar-nominated A Different Man, is to play the lead role in a new adaptation of The Elephant Man.

According to Variety, Pearson will play Joseph Merrick, whose physical disfigurement led to him becoming a freak show exhibit and then a notable figure in late Victorian London, in a film based on the celebrated play by Bernard Pomerance that became a hit in London and New York after premiering in 1977. Pomerance’s son Moby is writing the screenplay, and shooting is due to begin in 2026.