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Health
DR Congo's Ebola outbreak becomes its deadliest with 1,587 dead
The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 3,605 confirmed Ebola cases, 1,587 deaths and just 651 recoveries, a case fatality rate of 44 per cent, making this the country's worst outbreak on record.
Climate & Environment
MCi Carbon enlists Hatch to engineer first CO2 mineral plants
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EU fines Google €890m in first Digital Markets Act penalty
The European Commission handed Google two separate infringement decisions on 23 July 2026, together carrying a total penalty of €890 million, the first fines ever issued under the Digital Markets Act.
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.
Technology
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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.
Technology
OpenAI opens self-serve ads manager for ChatGPT
OpenAI has launched a beta self-serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT, allowing advertisers to register, set budgets and bids, upload creatives, and launch and manage campaigns directly through a dedicated portal.
Technology
Seven in ten retailers fail AI shopping agent data test
Agentic commerce works simply enough. A shopper asks an AI tool to find and buy a birthday gift within a budget, and the agent handles the rest: browsing, comparing, transacting. The appeal is obvious.
Opinion
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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
Column
Jeff Bezos wants $100 billion to automate American manufacturing. Who pays?
Project Prometheus aims to acquire factories, automate them with AI, and extract what remains. The capital comes from Singapore and the Gulf. The workers come from Ohio.
Nathan CrossEditor
Column
China Pours $120 Billion Into Critical Minerals While Australia Watches
A new report shows China deployed $168 billion AUD into global mining since 2023. Australia is still digging holes and wondering why the value chain moved.
Mei Lin ChenEditor
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Cybersecurity
DeepSeek AI agent runs autonomous attacks on 460 targets
