Good evening, it's Tuesday, April 5. Here's what you need to get caught up on today's news.
One thing to know: Reserve Bank holds interest rates for now
- The Reserve Bank has left the official cash rate on hold near zero, but borrowers are already bracing for what life may look like with higher mortgage interest rates
- The Reserve Bank's benchmark interest rate has been at 0.1 per cent since November 2020 and has not risen since November 2010 when it reached 4.75 per cent
- However, most analysts expect an interest rate rise by August, with some expecting the first rate increase in June, and a few even suggesting it could happen next month
We heard a lot about: Possible Russian war crimes
US President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he would seek to impose more sanctions on Moscow after reported atrocities in Ukraine.
"You saw what happened in Bucha," Mr Biden told reporters at the White House.
"This warrants him — he is a war criminal."
- Mr Biden's comments to reporters came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials said 300 local residents were killed by Russian forces while Chechen fighters controlled the area
- The destruction and civilian deaths in Bucha look set to galvanise the United States and Europe into imposing additional sanctions on Moscow, with officials raising the prospect of restrictions on Russia's energy exports
- The Kremlin has denied any accusations related to the killing of civilians in Bucha
The news Australia is searching for
- IPCC — The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said it would take "transformational change" in every sector in every region of the world to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius
- Elon Musk — The Tesla CEO bought a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter worth nearly $US3 billion, making him the micro-blogging site's largest shareholder and triggering a rise of more than 27 per cent in the company's shares. He also started a poll asking Twitter users if they wanted an edit button, a long-awaited feature on the social media platform
News you might have missed
- Scott Morrison has had a significant victory in a long-running internal Liberal stoush over NSW pre-selections. A court challenge against the legitimacy of his hand-picked candidates was dismissed
- A boy has been rushed to hospital after an accident on a ride at the Warner Brothers Movie World theme park on the Gold Coast. He is in a stable condition after he suffered significant head injuries on the Looney Tunes carousel ride
- A mandate preventing people unvaccinated against COVID-19 from visiting many public venues in Queensland will be eased from next Thursday
One more thing: Doctors believe thousands of new COVID-19 cases each day are going unreported in NSW
NSW public health physicians believe the state's daily COVID-19 figures are at least 50 per cent higher than the reported number due to unreported positive results.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 positive results are being recorded each day, which the Health Minister described as a "big underestimate".
"Many people are not, it would appear, actually reporting the positive cases," Brad Hazzard said.
"We understand that they may have symptoms that are very mild and they just don't think it's necessary.
"We would like them to report it because it helps us to track the COVID cases through our community."
Mr Hazzard said the single-biggest issue for NSW remained that close to 40 per cent of people aged over 16 who were eligible for a booster had not had it.
That's it for now
We'll be back tomorrow with more.
ABC/wires
