Australia
S&P/ASX 200 marks fourth straight weekly advance despite headwinds
S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) fell by 53 points or 0.96% to 5497 today following a number of headwinds including Fitch cutting Australias credit rating outlook to negative.
China did not set a GDP target this year for the first time ever and protests resumed in Hong Kong against Chinas attempt to impose National Security Law.
Despite todays loss, the ASX 200 still managed to gain 1.71% this week, making it its fourth straight weekly advance.
All sectors ended the day in the red. Although mining and energy stocks fell heavily today, they were standouts this week thanks to surging commodity prices.
The price of oil is up 30% this week, gold remains near eight-year highs and iron ore has surged 20% in a fortnight.
Top gainers[hhmc]
Todays top gainers on the ASX include MMJ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:MMJ) (+17.39%), Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ) (+6.12%), Kazia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:KZA) (+5.26%) Element 25 Ltd (ASX:E25) (+8.33%), De Grey Mining Limited (ASX:DEG) (+7.41%), Yandal Resources L..

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) fell by 53 points or 0.96% to 5497 today following a number of headwinds including Fitch cutting Australias credit rating outlook to negative.
China did not set a GDP target this year for the first time ever and protests resumed in Hong Kong against Chinas attempt to impose National Security Law.
Despite todays loss, the ASX 200 still managed to gain 1.71% this week, making it its fourth straight weekly advance.
All sectors ended the day in the red. Although mining and energy stocks fell heavily today, they were standouts this week thanks to surging commodity prices.
The price of oil is up 30% this week, gold remains near eight-year highs and iron ore has surged 20% in a fortnight.
Top gainers
Todays top gainers on the ASX include MMJ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:MMJ) (+17.39%), Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ) (+6.12%), Kazia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:KZA) (+5.26%) Element 25 Ltd (ASX:E25) (+8.33%), De Grey Mining Limited (ASX:DEG) (+7.41%), Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX:YRL) (+10.20%), Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX:SO4) (+13.68%), Titanium Sands Ltd (ASX:TSL) (+20.51%), Bryah Resources Ltd (ASX:BYH) (+38%) and Archer Materials Ltd (ASX:AXE) (+19%).
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Legend Mining confirms more nickel-copper sulphide diamond drill targets at Rockford Project
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Core Lithium lands first European offtake deal for spodumene concentrate from Finniss
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Bryah Resources surges on discovery of potential direct shipping grade manganese
Bryah Resources Ltd (ASX:BYH) has discovered a new high-grade manganese zone at the Bryah Basin joint venture project in central WA with the grades supporting a near-term direct shipping production strategy. A recent reverse circulation (RC) drilling program has intersected potential direct shipping grades of greater than 30% manganese at shallow depths at the Brumby Creek prospect.
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Australia
Saudi women in Sydney: Sisters’ bodies lay undiscovered for a month

Australian police are baffled after the bodies of two Saudi women, believed to have lain undiscovered for a month, were found in a Sydney apartment.
Sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead on 7 June in separate beds at home in the suburb of Canterbury.
Police, who were called to the property for a welfare check, said the women are believed to have died in early May.
But despite “extensive inquiries”, they still do not know how or why.
The sisters moved to Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017 and may have sought asylum, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Police refused to confirm this, saying they do not comment on residential status.
A human rights organisation said it should be established whether the women fled Saudi Arabia because of domestic violence or harsh laws governing women. However, there is no evidence this is the case.
Police said they had been in contact with the women’s family, which is assisting them with inquiries.
Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at Saudi human rights organisation ALQST, said it “would not be the first case” of Saudi women who were killed abroad after fleeing domestic violence.
“There are no protections for women who are victims of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, so they flee abroad,” she told the BBC.
She added: “I’m not saying that is the case here, just that we need a thorough investigation. It is frustrating not to have any information.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there had been signs that something was wrong.
Last year, the women told their building manager they thought someone was tampering with their food deliveries, the paper reported.
A plumber who visited the apartment also said he believed there was “something mysterious” going on, and that police had been called in the past over concerns for the women.
New South Wales Police issued a renewed plea to the public on Wednesday, saying “any piece of information” could be the key to solving this case.
The local community is close-knit, police said in a statement, asking anyone who may have known or seen the women to come forward.
A report from Australian current affairs programme Four Corners in 2019 found 80 Saudi women had tried to seek asylum in Australia in recent years. Many of them were fleeing male guardianship laws.
Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62331116
Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
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