{"id":247420,"date":"2025-07-08T07:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T07:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/247420\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T07:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T07:34:11","slug":"afternoon-update-rbas-surprise-decision-how-world-reported-mushroom-verdict-and-valerie-the-dachshunds-new-job-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/247420\/","title":{"rendered":"Afternoon Update: RBA\u2019s surprise decision; how world reported mushroom verdict; and Valerie the dachshund\u2019s new job | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good afternoon. The Reserve Bank of Australia has held rates at 3.85%,<\/a> in a surprise decision that denies further mortgage relief for millions of Australian households. The decision came as a shock to financial markets and a large majority of experts who were sure the RBA board would cut interest rates for a second straight meeting.<\/p>\n

Explaining why the bank did not follow through with market expectations of a 0.25% cut, the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said economic conditions \u201cremain uncertain\u201d and its board was waiting to confirm whether inflation was still on track to reach 2.5%. For the first time in the bank\u2019s history, the monetary policy board\u2019s votes on the cash rate decision were made public<\/a>, which revealed three of the nine members voted to cut rates today.<\/p>\n

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the RBA decision was<\/a> \u201cnot the result millions of Australians were hoping for or what the market was expecting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Top newsIn video\"RareRare earths: how these critical minerals impact Australian industry and global politics \u2013 video<\/p>\n

What do tariffs, Australian mining, geopolitics and the trade war between China and the US have to do with tiny magnets made from rare earth minerals such as yttrium and scandium? Guardian Australia\u2019s Matilda Boseley explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What they said \u2026Valerie the dachshund went missing on Kangaroo Island in 2023 before being found more than a year later. Photograph: Kerry Martin (Puppy Tales Photography)\/Puppy Tales<\/p>\n

\u201cEven small gaps can be an escape route for a determined dog.\u201d \u2013 Lara Shannon<\/p>\n

The dog behaviourist and TV presenter has teamed up with the owners <\/a>of world-famous formerly missing dachshund<\/a> Valerie, who is now raising awareness for National Lost Pet Prevention Month. Valerie\u2019s separation anxiety \u201cplayed a big role in why she went missing\u201d, Shannon said \u2013 but the elusive hound\u2019s microchip records helped \u201cconfirm it was her\u201d when she was found.<\/p>\n

In numbers Illustration: Guardian Design<\/p>\n

The West Australian premier, Roger Cook, has encouraged his federal Labor counterparts<\/a> to consider a gas reserve on the east coast as it mulls a regulatory overhaul to shore up supply and contain prices. Cook said WA\u2019s gas reservation policy, which requires offshore producers set aside 15% of supplies for local users, has resulted in cheaper gas for households and business since it was introduced in 2006.<\/p>\n

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Before bed read\u2018The Pattersons, the Wilkinsons and their community will never recover from Erin\u2019s senseless act.\u2019 Photograph: James Ross\/EPA<\/p>\n

We all became detectives in Erin Patterson\u2019s trial \u2013 the true crime industry is making professional crime solvers of all of us. But crime writer Candice Fox can\u2019t help but wonder \u2013 at what cost<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Daily word game Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s starter word is: SEY. <\/strong>You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here<\/a>, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter<\/a>. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good afternoon. The Reserve Bank of Australia has held rates at 3.85%, in a surprise decision that denies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-247420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114816461362836256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}