Phone found in search for Samantha Murphy belongs to missing mum, Qantas wins award: Australia news live

Health authorities are looking to get on top of a monkeypox outbreak in Queensland.

The cluster of 10 cases is the largest recorded in the state but it is not linked to an outbreak found in Victoria last month.

"All cases are currently linked and contact tracing is underway by public health units," a Queensland Health spokesperson said.

Read more here.

Qantas has been hailed for a new plane feature that's set to be rolled out in 2026.

The airline landed a Crystal Cabin award for its plans to introduce a wellbeing zone on A350-1000 designed for long-haul flights.

Features, as pictured below, include self-serve refreshments, wellbeing content on a screen and space for exercise and stretching.

A fine art student's work displayed at a graduation exhibition is causing a stir in China.

Photos of the contemporary artwork titled Super Hive, consisting of flattened cardboard boxes stacked on top of one another, has gone viral with many questioning how on earth it could be considered art.

The artist has since apologised for people's misunderstanding of her work and tried to explain the reasoning behind it.

"I realise that my creation may have caused confusion among people, and some people even think it looks like a pile of 'junk'," she said.

"I have incorporated a lot of delicate thinking into this work," she continued, adding each layer was carefully curated at an overall cost of 20,000RMB ($4,000).

State media suggested Chinese people need more exposure to contemporary art to truly understand its value.

So what do you think? Have your say below.

A phone found during the search for Samantha Murphy is understood to belong to the missing mum, Seven News reports.

Sources have told Seven News the phone retrieved by investigators in Buninyong on the outskirts of Ballarat is Murphy's and is a significant clue in investigations.

Aerial vision captured from yesterday's renewed Samantha Murphy shows police hugging, backslapping and shaking hands after finding "items of interest" including a mobile phone at the edge of a dam outside of Ballarat.

The elation at the find was a good sign, University of Newcastle criminologist Xanthé Mallett said.

“This case has really touched everybody not only the Ballarat community but the wider community and the police,” she said.

“To (possibly) find (her phone) after so long of no real leads … it would have been a really good moment for them, giving them hope they can progress this case for Samantha’s family.”

Read more here.

A senior Israeli official has said the country's war against Hamas in Gaza could extend into 2025.

"The fighting in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months,” the prime minister’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told Israel's Kan public radio.

There's growing global concern over Israel's assault on the southern city of Rafah where Palestinians have fled to take refuge amid the war. However Israel insists it must take control of Rafah in its fight against Hamas.

In more rain news, NT's Alice Springs has recorded its highest daily rainfall for May in 20 years.

The outback town recorded 28mm in the 24-hour period to 9am today.

A cloudband continues to move east, and is set to complete its soaking of the majority of the country in the coming days.

Police say forensic testing of human organs found on the side of a river in Sydney indicate a mystery woman gave birth to a boy.

Authorities continue to hold serious welfare concerns for the woman and the newborn after an umbilical cord and placenta were found by a dog walker besides the Cooks River in Earlwood at about 4.30pm on Monday.

Police have urged the mother to attend her nearest hospital in order to receive urgent care for herself and her son.

“We are concerned for them and we are wanting to know they are safe as we know childbirth presents a number of health concerns," Detective Chief Superintendent Christine McDonald said.

A remarkable run came to an end yesterday after Perth recorded it's first 20mm day of rain in nearly 10 months.

In that period, WA's capital had a measly 23mm of rain between October and and the end of April, where the city failed to record a single day with more than 10mm of rain.

According to Weatherzone, the 26.2mm that fell in the 24-hour period to 9am on Wednesday was the most since August 16 last year, 287 days ago.

A welcome shower for many I bet.

Victoria Police say the search for Samantha Murphy at a Buninyong location where "items of interest" were found has now concluded.

The Missing Persons Squad will not be searching the site on Friday, a spokesperson confirmed and an update on yesterday's operations is unlikely today.

There's bleak news this morning for Australian homeowners as inflation continues to be a thorn in the side of the RBA.

The ABS data showed the monthly consumer price index (CPI) climbed to 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to April, which was slightly higher than the forecasted 3.4 per cent.

Traders have now slashed their rate cut bets, pushing out an expected easing of interest rates until December 2025. Previously a 25 basis point cut had been priced in for May next year.

Read more here.

In yet another move to rebuild Sino-Australian ties following years of tension under the Coalition, Beijing has agreed to allow five major beef exporters to recommence selling produce to the Chinese market.

"That is fantastic news for the cattle producers, for the meat processing industry and for the workers in those industries," Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told ABC News Breakfast on Thursday.

China slapped a host of bans and tariffs on Aussie exports as relations between the two countries rapidly deteriorated under former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Police discovered "items of interest" in their renewed search for Samantha Murphy on Wednesday, with reports one of those items was a phone.

Pictures from Nine News shows an officer handling a mud-soaked phone on the banks of a dam amid what was a “targeted search” of a Buninyong property, six kilometres from where police believe Murphy was killed in February.

Read more here.