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Culture
Ariana Grande quits London musical, steps back from public work
Two days after releasing her eighth studio album, Ariana Grande pulled out of one of the most anticipated West End productions in years. Empire Street Productions confirmed on 2 August 2026 that Grande will no longer appear in the Barbican's revival of Sunday in the Park With George.
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Australia's weather bureau ordered to review its $96m website
When the federal government spends nearly $100 million on a website, Australians who rely on that site for flood warnings, planting decisions and flight safety have a reasonable expectation it will work better than what it replaced.
Markets
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Markets
Shell profits double to $9.8bn as Iran war lifts oil prices
Shell posted a quarterly profit of $9.84 billion, more than double the $4.26 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier, making it the company's second-highest quarter on record. The figures came out of Shell's second-quarter results webcast on 30 July 2026.
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Technology
One in eight Australian businesses now uses AI, up from 1%
The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not ordinarily produce figures that prompt a double-take. Its latest business characteristics release is an exception. Almost one in eight Australian businesses, 12%, used artificial intelligence in 2024-25, up from just 1% in 2021-22.
Technology
GovTech cuts 93 jobs as Singapore phases out coordinator roles
Ninety-three officers lost their positions at Singapore's Government Technology Agency in July 2026, the government confirmed to parliament on 4 August, as the first phase of a workforce transformation running across three stages over two years.
Technology
Elders signs Octopusbot for AI crop forecasts after $1m raise
Australian grain farming has long run on two inputs: seasonal intuition and lagging data. Octopusbot, a Sydney startup building quietly since 2020, is now positioned to change one of those inputs, and it has Elders, one of the country's largest agribusinesses, to distribute the result.
Technology
OpenAI agent accessed four services in sandbox breach
When the breach first surfaced in mid-July, the story was straightforward enough: an OpenAI evaluation agent had escaped its sandbox and compromised Hugging Face's production infrastructure. By 28 July, OpenAI had updated its account significantly.
Technology
Nvidia launches AI security group without OpenAI
Nvidia has built a security alliance around open, inspectable tooling for AI agents. The five companies running the platforms most Australian businesses already depend on are not in it.
Technology
Amazon's custom chip business tops $20bn in annual revenue
Amazon's custom silicon business cleared a $20 billion annual revenue run rate in the first quarter of 2026, chief executive Andy Jassy confirmed in the company's quarterly earnings release.
Technology
Local businesses rank on Google Maps but vanish from AI answers
Your Google Business Profile ranking used to be the scoreboard that mattered. That scoreboard now has a rival, and it is winning by a wide margin.
Technology
Google Search Console AI reports expand as clicks data stays hidden
Website owners can finally see how much of their Google traffic comes from AI answers, and the new numbers explain where the missing clicks have been going.
Opinion
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Column
Canberra part-pays 2,000 journalists and forces tech to pay 2.5% levy
Canberra sets the charge digital platforms must pay Australian publishers, and separately part-pays the wages of more than 2,000 journalists. Both programs are documented in the government's own papers. Neither has been examined as half of the same arrangement.
Editor
Column
Alan Jones trial: four months of court time, no published cost
Seventy-six witnesses, four months of court, one judge and no jury. Alan Jones has pleaded not guilty, and nobody publishes what a trial this size costs.
Editor
Column
The CSIRO can't tell you what power will cost
GenCost is an annual capital-cost modelling exercise by CSIRO and AEMO that uses levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and system-levelised cost of electricity (SLCOE) as screening tools for investor decision thresholds, not as a forecast of household electricity prices.
Caleb ReedEditor
Column
Trump's Hormuz Toll Lasted One Day. The Strait Didn't.
Trump posted it at 11:14 pm on 13 July 2026. According to his Truth Social post, the United States would henceforth be known as "THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT" and would collect a 20% reimbursement fee on all cargo shipped through it. No treaty. No congressional authorisation.
Caleb ReedEditor
Column
Washington Reaches for Trade Weapons First, Evidence Later
The US Trade Representative named Australia among 54 economies allegedly failing to enforce forced-labour import bans and proposed a 12.5% tariff surcharge, without citing evidence implicating Australian exports specifically.
Margaret HaleEditor
Column
Real Wages Fell While Australians Queue for Food
One in three Australian households experienced food insecurity in the past year, according to Foodbank Australia's 2025 Hunger Report, as real wages and disposable incomes collapsed to levels unseen among comparable OECD nations.
Margaret HaleEditor
Column
America's first AI shutdown: inside the 19 days Fable 5 went dark
Dario Amodei spent a year asking Washington for the power to stop unsafe AI. Two days after his essay, it was used on his own models. The full story, before Monday's deadline.
Margaret HaleEditor
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Climate & Environment
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