The Loop: Biloela family granted permanent visas, man charged over Qld shooting, RBA issues dire forecast, and spicy sausage out of this world

Hi there. It's Friday, August 5, and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.

Let's start here: The Biloela family has been granted permanent residency

Let's get you up to speed:

• The Nadesalingam family have been granted permanent visas by the Department of Home Affairs after a four-year immigration battle
• The Tamil family returned home to Biloela in June after they were granted bridging visas by the Labor government in May
• A Department of Home Affairs team visited the family at their Biolela home this afternoon, telling them they had been granted permanent visas

• Simone Cameron, who was part of the campaign against their deportation, says the family are "absolutely over the Moon"

We heard about the RBA's dire economic forecast

Here are the key takeaways:

• The Reserve Bank has slashed its forecasts for economic growth, with rate rises, falling house prices and a souring global economy weighing on the Australian outlook
• As a result, the RBA has scaled back its household consumption forecasts, which account for about 60 per cent of Australia's economy, reducing it from 4.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent
• The RBA has also slashed its outlook for Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) by a full percentage point, and is expecting the economy to grow by just 1.75 per cent for the next two years
• It's also predicting unemployment will reach 3.25 per cent later this year before creeping back to 4 per cent by the end of 2024, and real wages will keep shrinking.

The RBA hiked interest rates for the fourth consecutive month earlier this week. (AAP: Joel Carrett)

News you might have missed

• A 59-year-old man has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a shooting in the regional Queensland town of Bogie yesterday
• Mervyn Schwarz, Maree Schwarz and Graham Tighe were found dead on the cattle property on Thursday morning, while Ross Tighe remains in a stable condition in Mackay Base Hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Police have confirmed the man charged was the neighbour of the victims

Maree and Mervyn Schwarz bought the Bogie property last year. (Supplied)

• Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay the parents of a six-year-old boy who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre more than $5.9 million in damages. The ruling marks the first time the InfoWars host has been held liable for claiming the school shooting was a hoax

 Jones has said any award over $US2 million will "sink" his company. (Reuters: Pool/Briana Sanchez)

• Four people are in critical condition in hospital after a lightning strike outside the White House. Two men and two women sustained life-threatening injuries when lightning struck them near a tree in Washington's Lafayette Square, metres away from the fence that surrounds the presidential residence and offices

What Australia has been searching for online

• Brittney Griner: The US basketballer has been sentenced to nine years in a Russian jail after being found with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at an airport in February. US President Joe Biden has said the sentence is "unacceptable" and is in talks with Moscow about a potential prisoner swap. You can read more about the US offer here

Joe Biden is "receiving regular updates" about negotiations to secure Griner's release. (AP News: Evgenia Novozhenina)

• Madison de Rozario: The 28-year-old has become the first Australian para-athlete to win four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in history, after winning the T53/54 1500m. She also won the gold for the women's T53/54 marathon last week
• Lady Gaga: The singer, actor and beauty mogul has confirmed her involvement in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux film. What her role is remains to be seen — but there have been plenty of rumours she will play Harley Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix's Joker

One more thing: Space or sausage?

A French scientist has apologised after tweeting a picture he said was from the James Webb Space Telescope — but was in fact a slice of chorizo.

Etienne Klein, a director at France's Atomic Energy Commission, posted a picture purportedly showing Proxima Centuri, the closest star to the Sun.

It turns out the celestial image was nothing more than a humble slice of a Spanish chorizo sausage.

The image generated a backlash on social media and Mr Klein apologised for what he described as "a scientist's joke". He said he did it to promote scepticism on social media.

You're up to date

We'll be back with more news on Monday.

ABC/wires