Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 24 April.

Top stories

Nine people have been killed and at least 16 injured – several of them seriously – after a van jumped the kerb in a northern suburb of Toronto and ran into a crowd of pedestrians. Police said the white van left the road and continued down the footpath, striking numerous people. The driver fled the scene but was later arrested. Canada’s public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, said he could give no immediate details of the motives of the driver.

The van was stopped about 2km south of the first collision. Bystander video captured the tense standoff between police officers and the suspect. In the footage, police can be heard telling the man to get down on the ground. “Kill me,” he tells officers. “I have a gun in my pocket.” The officers arrested the suspect without firing any shots. A witness, Christian Ali, who drove down the street shortly afterwards, said he saw three people lying on the ground. “There was a lot of blood flowing,” he told the Guardian. “Everyone was in sheer shock.”

Australians are becoming more concerned about population growth and immigration rates, although most remain in favour of multiculturalism, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. The survey found 54% believed Australia’s rate of population growth was too fast – up from 45% five years ago. A higher percentage, 64%, think immigration over the past decade has been too high – up from 50% in October 2016.

But 55% agree that “multiculturalism and cultural diversity has enriched the social and economic lives of all Australians”. The statement “multiculturalism has failed and caused social division and dangerous extremism in Australia” was endorsed by 32%. A majority of all voting groups, apart from the Greens, believe the population is growing too fast, and more than 60% of Coalition and Labor voters think immigration has been too high over the past decade.

The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a healthy baby boy, with William and Kate’s third child announced to the public by Kensington Palace with a tweet. The child, who is fifth in line to the throne, was born at 11.01am UK time and weighed 3.8kg. His mother was said to be doing well and left hospital the same day. No name has yet been announced, but Arthur is the bookmakers’ favourite, followed by Albert, Frederick, James and Philip.

Plastic has been found in ocean-floor sediments 2km below the surface in one of Australia’s most precious and isolated marine environments. CSIRO scientists discovered the microplastic pieces while analysing samples taken hundreds of kilometres offshore at the bottom of the Great Australian Bight – a supposedly “pristine” biodiversity hotspot. Conservationists and scientists said the discovery off the South Australian coast should act as a wake-up call for governments and corporations to cut unnecessary use of plastics. Dr Denise Hardesty, a principal research scientist at CSIRO, said: “This points to just how ubiquitous plastics are in our environment ... this is hundreds of kilometres offshore at a couple of kilometres of depth – that’s pretty confronting that, even there, we find it. This stuff is everywhere.”

The Western Australian government has been accused of “deceitful” behaviour by planning to increase industrial development on the state’s Burrup peninsula, risking damage to ancient rock art. The Burrup peninsula, or Murujuga, near Karratha in the north-west of the state, is home to a collection of more than 500,000 petroglyphs, making it the densest concentration of rock carvings in the world, but environmentalists say they are already under threat from industrial emissions. The WA premier, Mark McGowan, has confirmed new developments are under consideration, and a confidential briefing note suggests the government might delay an application for world heritage listing to allow the new projects to get the necessary approvals.

Sport

After a winless round for Australian teams in Super Rugby, perhaps it is time to consider the unthinkable and consider culling another team, writes Bret Harris. It is evident Australia does not have the players to support four teams let alone five, especially while the player drain to Europe continues.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp once entertained thoughts of becoming a doctor. “I have this helping syndrome,” he tells Donald McRae in an exclusive interview ahead of the club’s Champions League semi-final against Roma. “I really care about people and I feel responsible for pretty much everything.” Klopp says he never wants to go into politics, but he believes the British people should have the chance to vote again on Brexit.

Thinking time

His frenetic hip-hop history The Get Down may have floundered, but there’s no stopping director Baz Luhrmann. In this wide-ranging interview he discusses his Elvis movie, his boho love life and resurrecting Strictly Ballroom for the stage. “I’m the least likely person who should’ve done the birth of hip-hop, but I’m also the least likely one to film America’s greatest novel or turn the Moulin Rouge into a musical. I’m from a tiny country town ... I’m far away, gazing at everything, and it all looks amazing to me. Still!”

Is there an office worker alive who hasn’t wanted to take a baseball bat to their computer monitor to release their anger at life’s large and small injustices? Stephanie Convery went to Sydney’s first “break room” to see if smashing crockery and office equipment is really all it’s cracked up to be, and wound up “sweaty and elated”, and surprised at how enjoyable the experience was.

Last week the labour force figures showed a record high participation rate. So what are the changes since the previous record in December 2010? The short answer is that the workforce is becoming older and more female. But the numbers also show that more people across all ages and genders are working part-time now, writes Greg Jericho. And that means higher wages growth is probably not about to happen in a hurry.

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has ordered Homeland Security to turn away a caravan of migrants on the Mexican border, in several tweets about his WALL. “Despite the Democrat inspired laws on Sanctuary Cities and the Border being so bad and one sided, I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace. We are the only Country in the World so naive! WALL”

Media roundup

The Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald both splash on yesterday’s jury finding that Sydney millionaire Ron Medich was guilty of ordering the street execution of Michael McGurk. The Herald’s Kate McClymont recounts the story from the last time she spoke to McGurk, just before his murder nine years ago. The Australian reports that the cost of emergency treatment in the country’s public hospitals is increasingly being billed to private insurers, with a 144% increase in private emergency admissions over the past 10 years. And the ABC visits a billabong outside Brisbane, where local residents have rejected property development, choosing to preserve the land as a reserve for their beloved platypus instead.

Coming up

The banking royal commission resumes in Melbourne, looking at improper conduct by financial advisers, including the forging of signatures and manipulation of documents.

A Senate committee hearing in Sydney will investigate claims by the Business Council of Australia that companies would employ more workers if corporate taxes were cut. Qantas, Woolworths and the IPA will give evidence.

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