Your afternoon Briefing: ASX closes at 12-year high

Your two-minute digest of today’s top stories.

Hello readers, here’s your two-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

The indicator board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is seen in Sydney, Tuesday, February 5, 2019. Australia's big four banks have gained more than $20 billion in value after relieved investors welcomed the Kenneth Hayne's royal commission's recommendations by driving the financial sector to what looks like its best day in a decade. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING

ASX closes at 12-year high

The chances of the RBA cutting interest rates in June fuelled another big day for banks and property.

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The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg with the Secretary of Treasury Philip Gaetjens in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

July 1 tax cuts guarantee

Josh Frydenberg says his promised tax cuts are still on track to be delivered before July 1, even if the parliament does not return before June 30. Follow the latest in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

Attendees stand for a photograph with a cardboard cutout of Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., during a shareholders shopping day ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., on Friday, May 3, 2019. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway agreed earlier this week to make the investment in Occidental to help the oil producer with its $38 billion bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Photographer: Houston Cofield/Bloomberg

What if green isn’t the future?

What’s Warren Buffett doing with a $US10 billion bet on the future of oil and gas?

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 19: The Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison cheers in the crowd during the round 10 NRL match between the Cronulla Sharks and the Manly Sea Eagles at Shark Park on May 19, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Humble aspirations

Voters are fed up with being told they ought to be ashamed of themselves for putting their own families first, writes Caroline Overington.

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FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 file photo former Austrian Formula One driver Niki Lauda is pictured through a glass window, during the 2015 Formula One testing, at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, Spain. Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, who won two of his titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry, has died. He was 70. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

Niki Lauda dies

The Austrian F1 great, who was badly injured in a 1976 crash, has died aged 70.