Donald Trump has launched a formal trade investigation into the European Union after Brussels hit Google with a โฌ890 million ($1 billion) fine under the Digital Markets Act โ the third tech giant penalised after Apple and Meta. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the EU a "PIGGYBANK" and said the US will "immediately" investigate EU trade practices, paving the way for new tariffs. The EU fined Google $522 million for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search and $488 million for anti-steering practices on Google Play. Google has 60 days to comply or face additional daily fines. 25 Republican lawmakers had urged Trump to retaliate ahead of the decision. The escalation injects fresh uncertainty into trans-Atlantic trade and could threaten the EU's access to US markets.
US Central Command struck Iranian military command centres, drone storage facilities and communication hubs overnight. Iran responded by hitting targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Strait of Hormuz remains partially blockaded with ~20% of global oil supply affected. Ceasefire negotiations remain stalled despite regional mediators reportedly presenting a 10-day truce proposal. The US also revoked Iran's oil sale permissions in the latest punitive measure.
The European Commission fined Google more than $1 billion for two Digital Markets Act violations: โฌ780m ($522m) for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search (shopping, hotels, flights), and โฌ440m ($488m) for anti-steering practices on Google Play. Google has 60 days to fix its practices or face daily penalties. The move makes Google the third major US tech company fined under the DMA, following Apple and Meta earlier this year.
Massive forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France (Cap Ferret peninsula, near Bordeaux) and central Spain (near Madrid), forcing 92,000 people to flee โ some by boat. France evacuated 67,000 residents and ordered additional evacuations as a second wildfire broke out farther south. Spain declared a national emergency as two blazes merged outside Madrid. Dozens of firefighters injured. Both countries requested EU assistance. No fatalities reported.
Hong Wang and Yu Deng become the first Chinese nationals to win the Fields Medal โ mathematics' highest honour, often called the "Nobel of Mathematics." Wang, 35, a professor at Institut des Hautes รtudes Scientifiques and NYU, is only the third woman to receive the medal. Both solved problems that had baffled mathematicians for more than a century. John Pardon (US) and Jacob Tsimerman (Canada) also received the prize at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
The chairman of South Korean tech giant SK Group was ordered to pay approximately $640 million to his ex-wife in what is being reported as one of the largest divorce settlements in South Korean history. The ruling comes days after a similar $644M settlement was ordered for a separate "tech titan" divorce case globally, highlighting a trend of massive wealth division rulings in high-net-worth divorce proceedings.
India's youth-led protest movement โ dubbed the "Cockroach" protests for their persistence โ entered talks with the Indian government as activist Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike. The movement, which Modi's administration reportedly did not see coming, has drawn thousands of young Indians to the streets. Videos show officers firing pellet guns. BBC describes it as a generational shift in Indian political activism.
The Trump administration has slapped a 12.5% tariff on Australian exports, claiming Australia failed to "impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor." Australia is one of 54 economies on the higher-tariff list. However, the government confirmed Australia's three largest export categories โ including beef and gold โ will avoid the impact. Trade Minister Don Farrell called the tariff "unjustified and inconsistent" with the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement. The new rate replaced a temporary 10% tariff that expired simultaneously. The government is arguing "very forcefully" against the move.
Day two of Labor's 50th national conference in Adelaide saw significant platform amendments: a rare floor debate over voluntary assisted dying resulted in a conscience vote being enshrined in the party constitution, with telehealth access to VAD endorsed despite elder abuse concerns. Gambling reform stopped short of a recommended blanket advertising ban, heading to a Senate inquiry. Foreign Minister Penny Wong is working to shepherd through a compromise position on Israel-Hamas after Ed Husic pushed for stronger condemnation โ debate deferred to Day 3. NDIS reforms and a Fair AI Taskforce also on the agenda. Protests erupted outside the Adelaide Convention Centre.
The 23rd Commonwealth Games opened in Glasgow, Scotland, with Lani Pallister claiming Australia's first gold medal of the Games. Cameron McEvoy, competing in his fourth Comm Games, is also in contention. The Games have been significantly scaled down compared to previous editions, with several sports dropped, prompting discussion about the relevance and future of the Commonwealth Games movement.
Award-winning Australian author Anna Funder (Stasiland, Wifedom) has warned that right-wing populist politics is "extremely anti-women" in a major address, as the rise of parties like One Nation continues in Australia. Funder's remarks come amid broader debate about the intersection of populism, gender politics, and the erosion of democratic norms. Her warning follows research showing One Nation's support drawing from a "sleeper issue" Labor has been warned about.
Beloved 12-seat Chippendale fried chicken joint Joy has found its new home on Enmore Road after owner Kay Hwang inspected 60+ properties. Whole birds are broken down, marinated for three days, then triple fried. The new menu adds vegetarian options, rice bowls, soju, and Korean beer โ making it a launchpad for Enmore Road's bar strip (Deadwax, Silver's Motel, The Magpie, Jacoby's). Opening July 2026 at 212 Enmore Road.
Grace Triglone, a seasoned veteran of Sydney wine bars including Caravin, Effie's and Randy's, opens her own Euro-leaning hybrid โ part alimentari, part wine bar โ in Seaforth. The venue will offer early morning breakfast and sandwiches through to lunchtime wine. Art by Ella Thrupp. Opening July 2026 at Shop 1, 549 Sydney Road, Seaforth.
Broadsheet's guide to Sydney's winter 2026 openings features Bar Planet's inner west Margarita bar (from the Bar Copains trio), two new sanga spots, hotly anticipated Korean fried chicken (above), and more. The guide covers everything from moody tapas bars in Bondi to waterfront Japanese dining and Beirut-inspired feasts in The Rocks. Sydney's dining scene continues its strong 2026 momentum.
Australia will host its inaugural Top 100 Sommeliers awards in July 2026, judged by a panel of leading hospitality and wine industry professionals. Nominations are open, assessing professionalism, proven excellence in customer service, and competition success. A significant moment for the Australian sommelier community and wine service industry.
Wine Australia's National Vintage Report 2026 confirms the national crush at 1.27 million tonnes โ the smallest vintage in over 25 years. While adverse seasonal conditions affected production in several regions, Wine Australia notes that market factors (declining consumption, oversupply) were the primary driver. The report provides critical intelligence for the trade: Australia's wine industry is contracting structurally, not just cyclically.
Creative Australia has announced a $10.6 million investment supporting 212 projects across dance, music, theatre, literature, First Nations, experimental and community arts. The round includes targeted investment through Music Australia, Writing Australia and First Nations Arts. Notable funded projects include FLING Physical Theatre's creative development with young performers in Bega (NSW), Yolลu artist Terrence Guyula recording a new music album, and singer-songwriter Ella Hooper's new work. Creative Australia's Executive Director of Arts Investment, Alice Nash, said the funding supports "both public-facing work and the behind-the-scenes development that underpins Australia's creative ecology." The investment spans metropolitan, regional and remote Australia.
Now in its second year, the Creative Futures Fund (part of Labor's National Cultural Policy) is investing $5.8 million across two streams and three strategic investments. Development stream recipients (12 organisations exploring new ideas and adapting existing works) include the Australian Chamber Orchestra with Hand to Earth (collaborative work Ngilipitji), Belvoir, Opera Queensland (new opera Naria by Jess Hitchcock and Alison Croggon, blending Western classical with Torres Strait and Pacific musical cultures), Dead Puppet Society, Hayes Theatre Co, and more. The production stream includes the national tour of Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical and a new Back to Back Theatre work.
The Albanese Government's 2026-27 Federal Budget includes a $1.1 billion arts and culture package, headlined by increased Creative Australia funding, targeted support for national collecting institutions, and new investment in cultural infrastructure projects. Budget papers show total arts and cultural spending of $4.6 billion over the forward estimates. The package funds the Creative Futures Fund and broader sector development initiatives, representing one of the largest single-year arts investments in Australian history.
Anthropic released Claude Opus 5 on Friday, upgrading the Opus tier from version 4.8 to 5 โ arriving just two months after the previous iteration. Opus 5 actually outperforms the flagship Fable 5 on several benchmarks while costing roughly half as much, making it likely preferable for most use cases. Anthropic says the model is "much stronger at verifying its work and iterating carefully until it succeeds," citing examples where Opus 5 wrote its own computer vision pipeline from an incomplete prompt. Critically, Opus 5 is not subject to Fable's 30-day data retention policy, addressing privacy-conscious user concerns. Safety guardrails remain on cybersecurity tasks like vulnerability scanning in binaries, though source code scanning is permitted. Opus 5 completes the 5-series family alongside Mythos 5, Fable 5, and Sonnet 5 โ only the lightweight Haiku model remains on the 4-series.
Nous Research shipped Hermes Agent v0.19 "Quicksilver" on July 20 โ the largest release in the project's history by volume: 2,245 commits, 1,065 merged PRs, ~300,000 insertions, ~3,300 issues closed, and 450+ community contributors. The headline feature is an 80% reduction in cold-start first-token time (from ~4.3s to ~0.9s) across CLI, gateway, TUI, desktop app, and cron jobs. Other highlights: live reasoning streams (watch the agent think in real-time), terminal subscription management, Bitwarden and 1Password secrets integration, smart approvals as the default safety mode (an independent LLM reviewer checks flagged commands before execution), and durable response delivery. MIT licensed, free and open-source.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged that AI "might not be our friend" in remarks at the ALP National Conference, as the party's platform commits to establishing a Fair AI Taskforce to address job displacement. The platform says Labor will play "an active role" if AI-transition displaces jobs on a "significant scale." The remarks come amid broader government attention to AI regulation, with the PM warning workers that "change is happening" and calling for a managed transition. Also notable: an ABC study found AI is involved in one in four cases of child online sexual abuse material.