We’ve rounded up all the news you need to know today, so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Baby boy found submerged in Sydney bathtub
A baby has been found submerged in a bathtub in Western Sydney this morning, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Paramedics and police were called to the house in Birch St, in the suburb of North St Marys, soon after 10am yesterday.
The eight-month-old boy was found submerged and unconscious in the bath.
Paramedics performed CPR on the child before he was taken by ambulance to Nepean Hospital.
It is understood the baby has since been taken to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where he is in a serious but stable condition.
Photos from the scene showed a distressed-looking woman talking to police officers, Mail Online reports.
Police said a family member called 000.
(Feature photo: Twitter/ Yahoo News)
2. Deadly bomb attacks hit Thailand
A string of six bomb attacks in Thailand has left at least four people dead, ABC News reports.
The attacks — which hit several popular tourist towns across the country — have injured dozens of people including 10 foreign tourists.
Coordinated bomb blasts hit Hua Hin late on Thursday and early on Friday. Two explosions then hit the southern province of Surat Thani around 8am local time on Friday, followed by another bomb attack in Phuket at about 9am. The last explosion occurred near Patong beach, which is popular with Australian tourists, Guardian Australia reports.
Thai police detained two men for questioning over the blasts.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for any of the attacks. However, police believe the bombings were not linked to any international militant group, according to ABC News.
Anyone concerned for loved ones in Thailand should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 within Australia or +61 6261 3305 from overseas.
3. Missing mother’s clothing shop was closed down due to financial difficulties
Missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski was forced to close one of her clothing stores due to financial difficulties before she vanished, The Australian reports.
The Ristevski family had been in about $600,000 debt for years, and a real estate group and financial company had lodged a caveat over the family’s home, preventing the house’s sale.
That action was believed to have been taken because the family was falling behind in rent for the Ristevskis’ Broadmeadows Bella Bleu store, as The Australian reported last month.
The national newspaper has now revealed that just months before Ms Ristevski disappeared, that store was shut down due to financial woes.
Ms Ristevski owned two Bella Bleu fashion boutiques: one in both Taylors Lakes and one in Broadmeadows.
Ms Ristevski, 47, was last seen leaving her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne on June 29 after having a heated argument with her husband, Borce.
4. Unis must stop churning out graduates where there are not enough jobs: education minister
Education Minister Simon Birmingham wants to overhaul higher education funding to stop universities producing graduates in disciplines where there are not enough jobs, Fairfax Media reports.
Senator Birmingham said vice-chancellors had privately informed him they use courses that have high fees but are relatively cheap to teach -- such as law -- as "profit centres".
Profits from these degrees are used to teach expensive courses such as veterinary science and dentistry, and to fund research.
Universities should be driven by "what is in the best interests of the student and the need of the national economy" when deciding how many students to enrol in each discipline, Birmingham said.
5. Man showered 12-year-old girl with racy gifts
Trigger warning: This post addresses child sex abuse.
A Victorian man allegedly paid his friend's young daughter to send him racy images -- and later threatened to kill her.
The County Court of Victoria heard that Darren Leigh Aitkin, 48, gave the girl money from the age of 12 to buy credit on her phone.
As the girl grew, he began asking her to send him sexy photos of herself and eventually, he allegedly began transferring cash in direct response to those inappropriate images, Mail Online reports.
Aitkin allegedly paid the girl more than $10,000 over several years in exchange for around four photos per week.
Last year their relations soured and Aitkin allegedly bought ammunition and threatened to kill her.
His threats allegedly included posting an Instagram collage featuring the victim with a gun firing towards her and the caption, "The Walking Dead".
He also allegedly blackmailed the girl, demanding that she call him and repay some of the money or else he would kill her and post photos of her online.
In court this week, 48-year-old Aitkin pleaded guilty to charges including blackmail and possessing ammunition without a licence, Mail Online reports.
He blamed his behaviour on a $400-a-week ice habit.
He will be sentenced in October.
Kid's Helpline: 1800 55 1800. DV and Sexual Abuse hotline 27/4: 1800 737 732. Survivors of childhood sexual assault can call Bravehearts help line on 1800 272 831 or go to www.bravehearts.org.au.
6. Inquiry into child sex abuse can examine Nauru regime: Legal advice
The Australian royal commission investigating institutional responses to child abuse has the power to examine the Nauru files, a consortium of human rights groups claims.
Guardian Australia's publication of the Nauru files has revealed widespread abuse within the detention centre on Nauru, with children disproportionately represented among the victims in those sickening reports.
Previously the commission had ruled it could not investigate events in another country. But a coalition of human rights groups publicly on Friday released legal advice it had provided to the royal commission, arguing that the abuse on Nauru actually falls within the commission’s jurisdiction.
The advice, prepared by barristers for the Human Rights Law Centre, was provided to the royal commission in July 2015.
The Australian government has consistently argued the detention regime is a matter for the Nauruan government, even though the detention centre on Nauru is Australian-run.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, told ABC’s 7.30 this week that some serious claims in the Nauru files would be examined by his department -- but ultimate responsibility lay with Nauru.
“Nauru is not part of Australia so this is an issue for the Nauruan government,” he said.
7. ANZ warns customers of scam
ANZ is warning of a scam text message that urges customers to click a link to "avoid suspension" of their accounts.
The bank posted on its Facebook and Twitter pages, telling customers to avoid the hoax by deleting the message immediately.
8. Trump calls Obama and Hillary "founders of ISIS"
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has doubled down on his attack against President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, accusing them again of being “founders” of Islamic State.
Trump's original comments came on Wednesday, when he told a rally in Florida that Mr Obama "is the founder of ISIS".
Clinton's campaign was quick to condemn Trump’s comments, saying that anyone who would "sink so low" should never be president, ABC News reports.
Rather than back away from his comments, Trump reiterated them.
“I call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS. They are the founders,” the billionaire real estate mogul said at an event in Miami on Thursday.
“ISIS will hand her the most valuable player award. Her only competition is Obama, between the two of them.”
Analysts have been quick to rectify Mr Trump's accusations, ABC News reports.
As they have pointed out, ISIS' origins date back to 1999. The militant organisation grew in strength as an Al Qaeda offshoot in 2006 following Republican president George W Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
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Trump would be a dangerous president