As it happened:World reacts to death of Queen Elizabeth II;Anthony Albanese,Peter Dutton pay tribute

The Commonwealth Bank,National Australia Bank,ANZ Bank and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are passing on this week’s official interest rate rise to mortgage customers in full,the lenders said on Friday.

After several days of silence from the big four about their interest rates following Tuesday’s 0.5 percentage point increase from the Reserve Bank,NAB was the first to move on Friday,saying home loan interest rates would increase by 0.5 percentage points.

ANZ,CBA and Bendigo followed soon after,also announcing a 0.5 percentage point move. All four banks said the increases would take effect from Friday next week.

Amid predictions that banks’ profit margins are getting amajor boost from the limited pass-through of rising interest rates to savings accounts,ANZ,NAB and Bendigo did not announce any changes to deposit interest rates.

“NAB’s savings and term deposit rates are continually under review,” NAB said.

Related Article

Financing

Serehnonn bought her first home but didn’t expect mortgage to go up six months later

However,CBA said it would increase rates on some of its term deposits and savings products. Some term deposit interest rates will increase by up to 0.75 per cent from Monday.

“We know that there is a lot of change happening for our customers right now,and supporting them through this time is a priority for us,” said the group executive of retail banking Angus Sullivan.

“One of the things we are doing to help our customers better manage any pressures to their household budget associated with the rising cost of living is lifting the rates across a number of our deposit products.”

According to RateCity,the average owner-occupier’s monthly repayments will rise by $144 in September as a result of this week’s interest rate rise being passed on by banks in full.

Read morehere.

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day and how the experts saw it.

The numbers:The Australian sharemarket finished higher on Friday to snap a two-week losing streak as the mining sector posted its biggest rally since late April.

The ASX 200 closed 0.7 per cent,or 45.5 points higher at 6894.2,with materials stocks gaining more than 3 per cent. The market was lifted largely by a strong performance from heavyweight BHP,which gained 3.17 per cent.

The positive finish took the market’s weekly gains to 0.96 per cent,its best week since mid-August.

Technology stocks rose for the fourth straight day while consumers slumped 1.24 per cent on a mixed day across the categories.

The lifters: Mineral Resources up 13.6 per cent as it mulled listing its lithium arm;Tyro Payments,up 9 per cent,continued to gain value after rejecting a consortium takeover proposal on Thursday;and Fortescue Metals gained 6 per cent on the best day for mining stocks in months.

The laggards:Family tracking app Life360 lost 4.57 per cent;Biotech company Imugene was down 4.26 per cent;and Nine Entertainment Co slipped 3.6 per cent after going ex-dividend.

The lowdown:A strong performance from the materials sector and BHP in particular helped lift the ASX higher on Friday,as technology stocks posted their fourth straight day of gains.

Read morehere.

Hundreds of people have gathered on the grass slopes and paved forecourt of Parliament House to watch the 96-gun salute for the Queen.

One cannon blast every ten seconds means the salute will last for about 16 minutes,and politicians including speaker of the house Milton Dick and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten are among those gathered to watch the cannons being shot.

Related Article

Vale

Two weeks of mourning and a 96-gun salute:How Australia will mark the passing of the Queen

Parliament staff handed out earplugs to people who arrived early,but some young children were still upset by the blasts that echoed against parliament.

“Today marks the end of an era,the close of the second Elizabethan age,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an address to the nation early on Friday.

“This time of mourning will pass,but the deep respect and warm regard in which Australians have always held for her will never fade.”

Fifteen landmarks across Melbourne will light up in Royal purple when the sun sets at 6.05pm tonight to pay respects to the late Queen.

The following buildings will be awash in purple each night until the Queen’s funeral:Federation Square,the Melbourne Town Hall,the Royal Exhibition Building,the National Gallery of Victoria,Flinders Street Station,the Bolte Bridge,the Tulla sound tube,the Melbourne Recital Centre,Rod Laver Arena,AAMI Park,John Cain Arena,the Arts Centre,the Melbourne Cricket Ground,the Shrine of Remembrance and ACMI.

“When the sun sets this evening,until the evening of Her Majesty’s funeral,landmarks across Melbourne will be lit up in the regal colour purple as a token of our deep respect and gratitude for Queen Elizabeth II,her service,dignity,and grace,” Premier Daniel Andrews tweeted a short time ago.

National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank are passing on this week’s official interest rate rise to mortgage customers in full,the two banks said on Friday,but savings rates were still under review.

After several days of silence from the big four about their interest rates following Tuesday’s 0.5 percentage point increase from the Reserve Bank,NAB was the first to move on Friday,saying home loan interest rates would increase by 0.5 percentage points.

ANZ followed soon after,also announcing a 0.5 percentage point move. Both banks said the increases would take effect from Friday next week.

Amid predictions that banks’ profit margins are getting amajor boost from the limited pass-through of rising interest rates to savings accounts,neither ANZ nor NAB announced any changes to deposit interest rates.

Related Article

Interest rates

‘Sugar hit’:Banks benefit as savings rate rises lag mortgages

“NAB’s savings and term deposit rates are continually under review,” NAB said.

According to RateCity,if the rate rise is passed on by lenders in full,the average owner-occupier’s monthly repayments will rise by $144 in September,and the average existing customer variable rate for owner-occupiers will be 5.11 per cent.

Since the RBA started lifting rates in May,the cumulative rise in repayments is now more than $1000 a month on an $800,000 loan.

The country’s biggest lender,the Commonwealth Bank,has often been the first of the big four banks to move its rates following an RBA decision.

Read morehere.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard has just disembarked from a long-haul flight to London and released a statement praising the Queen as a “remarkable role model”.

“I am terribly sad to learn of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” Gillard wrote.

“My thoughts are foremost with the Queen’s family and friends at this time. She was dearly loved and the Royal Family will be grieving her deeply.”

Gillard went on to say that the Queen “has been a powerful presence for as long as many of us remember”.

“She was a remarkable role model:responsibility for service thrust on her as a young woman,and taken up with grace,devotion and dignity during her reign.”

The former PM remembered her own meetings with the Queen fondly,particularly at the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting in Perth in 2011.

Buenos Aires: A judge in Argentina indicted 19 people for their alleged involvement in a yoga school in Buenos Aires that operated like a sect and coerced female members to have sex with rich and powerful men in order to obtain money and other benefits.

Judge Ariel Lijo formally charged 19 people on crimes including criminal conspiracy,human trafficking with the purpose of sexual exploitation,money laundering and smuggling.

The Buenos Aires Yoga School,which operated for more than 30 years in Argentina’s capital under the leadership of 84-year-old Juan Percowicz,did not actually offer yoga classes. Instead,it lured in people with promises of eternal happiness before it exploited them sexually and financially,prosecutors say.

Related Article

Mass shooting

Another'incel'shooter:yoga studio killer wanted to crucify'American whores'

The investigation into the group revealed that opera star Placido Domingo had contact with the organisation’s leaders for more than two decades.

Lijo ruled that 14 of the 19 people indicted will be remanded in custody and an embargo has been placed on their assets. Prosecutors had requested indictments of 20 people.

Law enforcement officials continue to search for six suspects believed to be in the United States,where the school had offices in New York,Las Vegas and Chicago.

In his resolution,Lijo says the school tricked vulnerable people to join,noting leaders preyed particularly on those who were underage or had serious health problems,including addictions. People were wooed to join with promises of healing and support,but were later exploited,often sexually,for the benefit of the organisation’s leaders.

Read morehere.

AP

Politicians and members of the public have been queuing at Parliament House in Canberra to write condolence messages following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

A large bunch of fragrant yellow wattle,cards from children and a bottle of zero-alcohol beer were among the tributes left outside the building as people gathered ahead of the 96-gun salute that will begin at 5pm.

Members of parliament,including Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Liberal senator Linda Reynolds,were among those writing condolences in the marble foyer at Parliament House on Friday afternoon.

Outside the building,people queued to add their thoughts to the condolence book as well.

Messages to the queen among the floral tributes included thanks for her service,and for being “a rock throughout your region”.

Another wrote “Thanks for being a great Queen!”

Defence personnel have begun setting up six guns for the salute this evening,with one cannon to fire every 10 seconds for each of the 96 years of the Queen’s life.

The statistics tell the story:one billion users now spend,on average,52 minutes a day scrolling through addictive content hosted by a company more valuable than Coca-Cola.

TikTok,the $200 billion app that began in 2017 by fusing videos with lip-syncing teens,is now the world’s most valuable start-up and fast becoming its most scrutinised digital empire.

On Thursday,Mathias Dopfner,the chief executive of global publishing giant Axel Springer,called for the Chinese-owned app tobe banned by all democratic governments.

Related Article

Exclusive

TikTok

Home Affairs to review data harvesting by TikTok and WeChat

“It is,of course,a tool of espionage ... And I think that we should just have this kind of self-respect,and that is why I concretely think TikTok should be banned in every democracy,” he said. “I just think that it is insane not to do that.”

Dopfner is fuelled by a powerful commercial incentive. Axel Springer has resisted the move to TikTok (The Sydney Morning HeraldandThe Agehave TikTok accounts),while its rivals have swarmed onto the video-sharing platform that grew by 41 per cent in 2020 and 60 per cent in 2021.

“I cannot guarantee you how long we can continue that because we may be at a point where we simply cannot afford it because we lose too much air in young audiences,” he said.

Read morehere.