The Greens won’t back down from their stance on issues like Israel’s attacks on Gaza, new leader Larissa Waters says, despite the party losing seats at the federal election.

Senator Waters said strong action on climate change and social justice policies will sit side by side as priorities in the next term of the federal parliament.

The Queensland senator, who won the top job uncontested at a party room meeting on Thursday, said the Greens could “walk and chew gum at the same time”, maintaining their focus on social and environmental challenges.

“We certainly don’t resile from our strong stance on social justice issues,” she told ABC Radio on Friday. 

“We will always call out atrocities, and we will always work to make sure that people’s daily needs are met and that we’re looking after the planet.”

Senator Waters was elected to the position following the shock defeat of former leader Adam Bandt in his lower house seat of Melbourne.

Mr Bandt was one of three lower house MPs from the Greens to lose their seat at the election, along with Stephen Bates and Max Chandler-Mather, after the party suffered a swing away from them in the inner cities.

The party faced attacks from Labor, who criticised it of obstructing social housing legislation in the Senate, and the coalition, who accused the Greens of being a “Jew-hating, anti-Semitic party” for their criticism of Israel.

The Greens’ commitments to nature has buoyed environmental groups after they were accused of straying from their roots and getting distracted by other progressive causes.

“We think this is a welcome sign that the Greens are getting back to core business, which is protection of climate and the environment,” Australian Conservation Foundation climate and energy program manager Gavan McFadzean told AAP.

“In terms of their campaigns and their public work … it would be good for them to have a stronger focus on climate and environment this term.”

Just because the Greens had been outspoken about the actions of the Israeli regime did not mean the party were anti-Semitic, Senator Waters said. 

“There is no anti-Semitism that is acceptable anywhere. Likewise, there’s no Islamophobia that’s acceptable anywhere,” she said.

“We want peace in that region, and we want kids and women and everyone in that region to have self-determination.”

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said while Labor often disagreed with the Greens, he congratulated Senator Waters on her appointment as leader.

“It is right to acknowledge and congratulate Larissa Waters on becoming the leader of the Greens. It’s obviously a significant achievement for any person to lead their political party,” he told reporters in Adelaide.

“We will see what her leadership brings as it unfolds for the Greens.”

However, the Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate after retaining 11 seats, with Labor only needing support of the minor party to pass laws in the upper house.

The Greens retained one lower house seat – Ryan, held by Elizabeth Watson-Brown.

Asian stocks were ending a strong week on a softer note on Friday as the euphoria over US-China trade talks faded, while revived bets for policy easing in the United States sparked a rally in beaten-down bond markets.

Oil prices steadied after plunging over 2.0 per cent overnight on news of a potential US-Iran nuclear deal, but they are still up 1.0 per cent for the week as the global economic outlook brightened.

In Asia, shares of Alibaba slumped 6.8 per cent after the tech giant’s quarterly revenue failed to impress investors. Their US-listed shares slumped 7.6 per cent overnight.

It has been a strong week for global sharemarkets as investors cheered the trade war truce between the US and China, which has greatly lessened the chance of a global recession. However, there are signs for caution heading into the weekend.

Investors went back to selling the US dollar against the safe-haven currencies on Friday, with the dollar down 0.4 per cent on the Japanese yen and slipping 0.3 per cent on the Swiss franc.

“The markets confront a weekend with less risk of carrying open positions than last, with no major trade talks or significant risks on the calendar,” said Kyle Rodda, senior analyst at Capital.com

“However, there is always a slight risk-off bias going into the weekend during a Trump presidency, with a nasty downside surprise at the Monday open only ever one social media post away.”

The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1 per cent to 613.4 on Friday but it is still set for a weekly rise of over 3.0 per cent. Goldman Sachsraised its 12-month target for the Asian index to 660, from 620 before.

Chinese blue chips eased 0.2 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent after data showed its economy shrank for the first time in a year in the March quarter, underscoring the fragile nature of its recovery now under threat from US trade policies.

Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were both down 0.1 per cent after Wall Street ended the day mixed. US retail sales were soft and the producer prices fell unexpectedly in April, as markets added to the bets for a total easing of 56 basis points from the Federal Reserve this year.

That helped Treasuries rally after a brutal week. The benchmark ten-year yields fell 3 basis points to 4.424 per cent on Friday, having already dropped 7 bps overnight to move away from its one-month top.

For the week, they are still up eight bps.

The two-year yields were also down two bps to 3.947 per cent, having fallen eight bps overnight.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that policymakers felt they need to reconsider the key elements around both jobs and inflation in their current approach to monetary policy.

In commodities markets, oil prices steadied. US crude futures bounced 0.1 per cent to $US61.71 ($A96.45) a barrel while Brent was at $US64.61 ($A100.98) per barrel, also 0.1 per cent higher on the day.

In precious metals, gold prices fell 0.5 per cent to $US3,223 ($A5,037) an ounce, after rallying 2.0 per cent overnight. For the week, they are down 3.0 per cent.

Low-income workers should be rewarded with a real increase in their wages, but only if it doesn’t cause inflation to get out of hand, the federal government says.

In its formal submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual review of minimum and award wages, the federal Labor government said award workers should receive an “economically sustainable real wage increase”.

The government did not nominate a specific figure, in keeping with past practice.

Real wages growth means workers’ pay packets increase faster than prices rise in the economy, ensuring they are better off overall.

But without accompanying growth in productivity, wage increases exceeding inflation could drive prices higher.

The government’s expanded emphasis on “sustainable” real wages growth in this year’s submission, compared to the previous year, dovetails with Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ comments that there will be a greater focus on boosting productivity during this term of government.

“An increase in minimum and award wages should be consistent with inflation sustainably remaining within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band (of two to three per cent),” said the submission published on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has expressed concern Australia’s tight labour market could push up inflation, with higher pay rises flowing through to cost pressures for businesses.

In the long term, it is hard for an economy to support real wage growth without productivity growth, said the central bank’s head of economic analysis Michael Plumb in a speech at an Australian Business Economists conference in February.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed the unemployment rate remained at a historically low 4.1 per cent in April. That has helped annual real wages grow for the past 18 months.

But Australia’s productivity growth has cratered in recent years.

Dr Chalmers has said that while the government’s first term was primarily about fighting inflation without forgetting productivity, the second term will primarily be about fixing productivity without forgetting inflation.

“The government recognises the importance of lifting productivity to drive real wages growth over the long term and is implementing a significant productivity agenda,” the submission stated.

The Fair Work Commission has delivered $143 a week in minimum wage increases since the Albanese government came to power in 2022.

Increasing awards and the minimum wage above growth in market wages will also likely help narrow the gender pay gap, the government said, given women are disproportionately represented in lower-paid, award-reliant jobs.

A landmark ruling by the commission in April meant workers in predominantly feminised industries such as health and child care would receive substantial pay rises of up to 35 per cent.

Asked about this on Thursday, Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth declined to say whether the government would help employers fund the pay rises.

“The government supports the commission’s review process and the broader task of identifying and addressing gender undervaluation in the modern awards system and is continuing to participate in the review,” the submission said.

US President Donald Trump has pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates on a visit to the Gulf state that is expected to deepen co-operation on artificial intelligence.

Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing plans by Qatar to invest $US10 billion ($A16 billion) in a US military facility during a trip to the country.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $US1.4 trillion in the United States over 10 years.

Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.

“And all I can say is thank you very much,” Trump added.

“We will work very hard to deserve it.”

Sheikh Mohamed told Trump the UAE was “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” adding to Trump: “your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”

Before his departure for the UAE, Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha that defence purchases signed by Qatar on Wednesday are worth $US42 billion.

He was met at the airport in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mohamed and the two leaders visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.

“It is so beautiful,” Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.

“First time they closed it. It’s in honour of the United States. Better than in honour of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”

The UAE’s leaders want US help to make their wealthy Gulf state a global leader in artificial intelligence.

The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The deal would boost the UAE’s construction of data centres vital to developing artificial intelligence models. 

But the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government, and the terms could change, sources said.

At the presidential palace, Trump and Sheikh Mohamed could be seen in TV footage in conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Trump said he would probably return to Washington DC on Friday after a regional trip that began on Tuesday, although he said it was “almost destination unknown – because they’ll be getting calls ‘could you be here? Could you be there?’,”.

Trump had hinted that he could stop in Istanbul for talks on Ukraine.

The two countries have finalised a technology framework agreement that was expected to be signed later on Thursday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The agreement requires commitments on both sides to the security of technology, the source said, without immediately providing details.

AI is likely to be a focus of the final leg of Trump’s trip.

Former US president Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. 

Among the Biden administration’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress its military strength.

Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration.

If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power centre in global AI competition after the United States and China.

Young Australians are increasingly becoming locked out of home ownership as property values exceeding $1 million become the norm.

More than a third of homes nationally are valued at $1 million or higher, research by property analytics firm CoreLogic reveals.

While the soaring values in part reflect growing wealth and prosperity, the downsides are becoming increasingly evident, CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen says.

“The rate of home ownership has gradually declined over time, particularly among younger, low-income households where income cannot keep pace with growth,” she said.

“The average age of first home buyers has increased, and increasingly wealthy households are stuck renting for longer, which increases competition for low income, renting households.”

Australians are also being forced to take on more debt to keep up.

Housing debt was reported at 135 per cent of income by the Reserve Bank of Australia at the end of last year – up from 122 per cent a decade prior.

Home values have risen 67.3 per cent since 2015, when less than one in 10 dwellings were valued at $1 million or more.

A record high 34.4 per cent of homes have now eclipsed that figure.

Falling interest rates are likely to reignite demand for home buyers, pushing up prices.

“With values expected to continue rising on the back of rate falls in 2025, the wealth divide between home owners and non-home owners is also likely to expand,” Ms Owen said.

The RBA is tipped to cut interest rates to 3.85 per cent when it meets on Tuesday, despite labour market data released this week showing ongoing strength in employment and wages growth.

Sydney continues to have the highest proportion of million-dollar homes, at 64.4 per cent. 

The median Sydney property was valued at $1,195,000 in April.

Brisbane had the next highest proportion of homes over $1 million, at 40.2 per cent, followed by Melbourne, with 30.9 per cent.

Melbourne’s figure was down from a high of 33.1 per cent in January 2022, before interest rates started to rise from historical lows.

Just over a quarter of homes in Perth and Adelaide are listed at $1 million or more with values surging since the COVID-19 pandemic.

But $1 million will still go a long way in Darwin, with only 1.3 per cent of homes cracking seven figures.

After a marathon legal battle spanning seven years, disgraced special forces veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has only hours to wait to learn whether he has cleared his name of war crime allegations.

The Victoria Cross recipient sued Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters for defamation over their reports in 2018 which claimed he had committed war crimes.

But Justice Anthony Besanko found the claims that Roberts-Smith was responsible for the murder of four unarmed civilians when deployed in Afghanistan were substantially true.

In the bruising decision delivered in 2023, Justice Besanko ruled the former SAS corporal machine-gunned a man with a prosthetic leg – which he then encouraged soldiers to use as a drinking vessel.

On the same day in 2009, Roberts-Smith is also said to have ordered the execution of an elderly prisoner to “blood the rookie” during a raid on a compound known as Whiskey 108.

The judge found Roberts-Smith kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff in the village of Darwan before dragging him to a creek and ordering his execution on September 11, 2012.

He also determined the former soldier had ordered another prisoner be shot and killed after a weapons cache was discovered in the village of Cinartu.

Justice Besanko found the allegations – as well as claims Roberts-Smith had engaged in a campaign of bullying against a fellow Australian soldier – were proven on the balance of probabilities.

Roberts-Smith launched an appeal against findings, which was heard in the Federal Court over 10 days in February 2024.

More than a year on, three justices will hand down their decision on Friday morning.

If Roberts-Smith is unsuccessful, only the High Court could overturn the war criminal findings.

The 46-year-old steadfastly denies any wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged.

If his appeal is dismissed, it could clear a path for a criminal investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator.

Roberts-Smith could be forced to pay out tens of millions of dollars over the legal saga after the cost of the defamation proceedings was tipped to exceed $25 million back in 2023.

Taking into account the subsequent appeal and interlocutory issues, the final bill could be far higher.

On Friday, the Full Court will also rule on Roberts-Smith’s push to reopen the appeal over a secret recording he claims reveals an alleged miscarriage of justice.

In a taped call, McKenzie can be heard telling Roberts-Smith’s ex-lover that two crucial witnesses were “actively briefing us on his legal strategy” during the initial trial.

But the journalist has denied claims he obtained privileged information while investigating Roberts-Smith, whose reputation was tarnished by his reports in 2018.

Roberts-Smith rose to prominence in 2011 after he was awarded Australia’s highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, for single-handedly taking out machine-gun posts to protect pinned-down colleagues in Afghanistan.

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The Greens are pledging to get back to their “core business” under the fresh leadership of Larissa Waters.

Strong action on climate change and social justice policies will be priorities for the party after it was forced to find a new leader following the shock defeat of Adam Bandt at the federal election.

“I commit to you that as a former environmental lawyer, as a proud feminist, that I will always work for equality, and I will always work for nature and for the community and to help people,” Senator Waters said in Melbourne after her elevation to the top job on Thursday.

Environmental groups welcomed the comments after the Greens were accused of straying from their party roots and getting distracted by other progressive causes.

“We think this is a welcome sign that the Greens are getting back to core business, which is protection of climate and the environment,” the Australian Conservation Foundation climate and energy program manager Gavan McFadzean told AAP.

“In terms of their campaigns and their public work, I think it would be good for them to have a stronger focus on climate and environment this term.”

The Queensland Senator’s bid for the top job was uncontested at a party room meeting on Thursday.

NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi will remain as deputy leader.

Senator Waters promised to keep “calling out a genocide” in reference to the Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza after the Greens were accused of being side-tracked by the war.

The minor party was also faced accusations of obstructing key policies put forward by the Albanese government to tackle a housing crisis, losing its housing spokesman who was defeated by Labor at the election on May 3.

The Greens lost three lower house seats at the election and failed to pick up any extras.

But buoyed by the party holding the balance of power in the upper house, Senator Waters issued an ultimatum to the government.

“The Labor Party have a choice,” she said.

“They can work with us and help people and protect nature, or they can choose to work with the coalition.”

Luxury French fashion brand Dior is the latest high-profile retail firm to be hit by a cyber attack – with customer data accessed as a result, the company has confirmed.

The scale of the breach remains unclear but a message about the breach has been posted on the firm’s South Korean website, and there have also been reports of customers in China being notified of the incident.

In a statement, Dior said no financial information was affected as part of the breach and it was in the process of informing affected customers “where necessary”.

The incident comes in the wake of a number of UK retailers, including Marks and Spencer and Co-op, being hit by hackers.

“The House of Dior recently discovered that an unauthorised external party accessed some of the customer data we hold,” Dior said.

“We immediately took steps to contain this incident. The teams at Dior, supported by leading cybersecurity experts, continue to investigate and respond to the incident. We are notifying all the relevant regulatory authorities.

“No financial information, including bank details, Iban or credit card details, was contained in the database accessed.

“We are in the process of informing customers where necessary. The confidentiality and security of our customer data is an absolute priority for the House of Dior. We deeply regret any concern or inconvenience this matter may cause our customers.”

The company has not confirmed the regions or countries where customers have been affected.

According to the message posted to Dior’s South Korean website, the company discovered the breach on May 7 and that “contact information, purchase data and preference data” is among the information compromised by the hackers.

No groups or individuals have yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Muhammad Yahya Patel, an adviser at cyber security firm Check Point Software, warned customers to be aware of possible scams from cybercriminals looking to take advantage of the incident.

“In the wake of the Dior data breach, customers should be on high alert for phishing emails,” he said.

“These might appear to come from Dior and could include password reset requests, contact detail updates or fake purchase confirmations, all of which are common tactics used by cybercriminals to trick victims into clicking malicious links.

“Given that Dior is a luxury shopping brand, there’s also an elevated risk of fraudsters pushing fake promotions, discount codes, or exclusive sale offers to lure unsuspecting customers. Anyone who’s interacted with the brand recently should treat any unexpected email or SMS with caution and avoid clicking on links or entering login details via third-party websites.

“In today’s digital world, it’s always safer to visit a brand’s official website directly through your web browser rather than clicking on links in emails or SMS messages.

“Anyone who’s interacted with the brand recently should treat any unexpected communication with caution and avoid entering login details or payment information unless they’re certain it’s legitimate.”

Oil has tumbled nearly four per cent as a potential US-Iran nuclear deal raised the prospect of increased global crude supply, while stock markets took a well-earned breather following their weeks-long recovery run.

Brent futures dropped over $US2 to under $US64 a barrel as US President Donald Trump, who is on a Middle East tour, said he was getting very close to securing a deal with Iran – and that Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had said in an NBC interview that the country would commit to never making nuclear weapons and get rid of its stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium.

Iran is OPEC’s third-largest producer. It pumps about three million barrels of oil a day, or about three per cent of total world output, but has been under strict sanctions since Trump quit the West’s previous nuclear accord with Tehran in 2015.

It was not just Brent that was affected. Europe’s oil and gas stocks toppled back nearly two per cent, while government bonds of rival producers from Angola to Nigeria also took a hit.

The dive in crude nudged both the dollar and benchmark government bond yields down.

Official figures showed Britain’s economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.2 per cent in March.

Traders are also awaiting euro zone flash GDP figures for Q1 and key US data including April retail sales and jobless figures.

Germany’s 10-year yield, the euro area’s benchmark, was down one basis point to 2.68 per cent, but remained close to a multi-week high of 2.7 per cent hit on Wednesday.

US Treasury yields were also sitting at a one-month top of just above 4.5 per cent, in part due to worries over Trump’s budget package that would add trillions of dollars to the US debt.

Investors were greeted with a plethora of good news earlier this week from a US-China trade-war truce to a raft of headline-grabbing investment deals from the Middle East during Trump’s Gulf tour, in moves that breathed new life into battered global stocks.

But most of the optimism had died down by Thursday, leaving MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.15 per cent and Wall Street futures 0.5 per cent weaker after a near 30 per cent rebound in the Nasdaq since early April’s trough.

While the trade deal between the US and China gave markets reason to cheer, the absence of clarity over Trump’s trade policies has left markets with a sense of lingering uncertainty over the global economic outlook.

Traders were also awaiting Thursday’s data on US retail sales and earnings from Walmart, a bellwether for the US retail industry, for a check on the pulse of consumer sentiment.

A disappointing outcome could feed fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy, which would be a drag on markets.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is also scheduled to speak later in the day, where the focus will be on any clues regarding the outlook for US rates.

In currencies, the dollar was struggling to extend its strong gains made at the start of the week, falling 0.7 per cent against the yen to 145.75.

The euro rose 0.3 per cent to $US1.12.

The Aussie dollar also jumped overnight after data showed Australian employment blew past expectations. It was last at $US0.6432.

Spot gold regained its footing in Europe, although it was still 0.6 per cent lower on the day at $US3,159 an ounce.

Australia should go further in strengthening ties with Indonesia, the prime minister says, using a visit to Jakarta to push defence links with the Asian power.

Anthony Albanese held formal talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday in the first overseas trip of his second term in office.

Strengthening defence agreements, boosting trade and dealing with tensions in the Indo-Pacific were all on the agenda during the bilateral meeting in the Indonesian capital.

While Australia and Indonesia signed defence agreements in the past, Mr Albanese said it was only a starting point for the relationship.

“I do not see this agreement, though, as the last step, just the next step,” he told reporters in Jakarta.

“I want us to aim higher, go further and work even more closely together.

“I am here in Indonesia because no relationship means more to Australia than than this one.”

The prime minister was given a spectacular welcome at the presidential palace, with horse-riding soldiers leading his limousine past hundreds of flag-waving school children.

Ahead of the formal talks, Mr Subianto dropped by Mr Albanese’s hotel for a quick catch up.

The prime minister stressed Indonesia remained a significant partner in the Indo-Pacific as tensions in the region rose.

“The future of our region is shaped by shared opportunity and secured through collective responsibility,” he said.

“The deepening of our trade with Indonesia and the strengthening of investment in Indonesia is natural and vital.”

Efforts to strengthen the relationship were dependent on both countries working together to turn “potential into concrete progress”, the prime minister said.

“All of us, government, business and civil society, need to demonstrate greater engagement and ambition.”

Reports emerged during the federal election campaign that Russia requested to operate long-range military aircraft from an Indonesian base.

Mr Albanese said every senior official in the Indonesian government reassured Australian counterparts it wasn’t happening.

“We make very clear our position when it comes to Russia around the world, be it the brutal invasion of Ukraine, its interference in cyber security issues as well, its tolerance of criminal organisations that have been involved in that, are an anathema to our values,” he said.

“We’ll continue to stand up for Australian values.

“That is something that we’ll do both domestically but right around the world.”

The prime minister is travelling with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as part of the Australian delegation.

Security experts have warned Australia to heed Indonesia’s concerns about the AUKUS deal and growing US military presence in the region, which Jakarta viewed as increasing strategic competition.

The prime minister will fly to Rome after his trip to Jakarta to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass.

He will return to Australia next week, after he sits down with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.