Washington and Copenhagen have resolved their months-long standoff over the Arctic island after Trump threatened to take Greenland by force. The agreement — to be signed next week by the US, Denmark and Greenland — gives America "permanent control over security" and lets it develop a larger military presence, which NATO welcomed as a stabiliser. Trump framed it as "no cost to the United States," and it carries a sweep: no US adversary may keep troops or make sensitive investments in Greenland "without our express written approval." Denmark and Greenland both stress the deal "recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of the territory — a pointed contrast to Trump's earlier annexation threats, and a rare diplomatic climb-down resolved at the table.
Iran-backed Houthi militants said they fired a "large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones" at Riyadh and Aramco's Red Sea facilities at Yanbu. Smoke was seen rising near King Khalid International Airport after air-raid alert sirens sounded — the first time residents were urged indoors since the conflict escalated — though Saudi authorities have not yet commented. A serious flare-up in the campaign against the kingdom.
The White House revoked the press credentials of reporters from three outlets after a week of escalating clashes, as an embattled Trump injects new acrimony into his media fight following a run of setbacks. The move — condemned by press groups as a direct assault on the free press — deepens the administration's confrontation with major news organisations.
Increasingly frequent and ferocious attacks on the Ukrainian capital have left residents on edge, with new relentless missile tactics forcing Kyivites into shelters on barely any notice. A striking account of how the shift in Russia's targeting is grinding down daily life in the city.
Shadow education minister Julian Leeser revealed a Coalition plan to strip content on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, Australia's engagement with Asia and sustainability from the national curriculum, replacing its cross-curriculum priorities with a focus on "national pride" and "Western values." Unveiled at an education conference in Sydney on Saturday, it would remove the three cross-curriculum priorities that currently enrich subjects like English, history and science — a significant ideological shift in how Australian schools are taught, and one that lands months ahead of an election.
Rare "catch-and-kill" order in Western Australia as the man fatally bitten at Sorrento Beach on Friday is identified as Greg O'Neill, a 63-year-old "devoted family man and ocean lover." Police boats and helicopters are patrolling Perth beaches searching for O'Neill's body and the shark — a dramatic escalation of Friday's tragedy.
Parts of south-eastern Australia are bracing for their hottest September day in years as a "spring rollercoaster" swings into heat after the early-season chill. The forecast signals an abrupt warm-up that will test grids and fire risk across the south-east this week.
NSW Wine crowned this year's winner at NSW Parliament House, with the top gong going to Shun Eto of Altitude Restaurant — "for the second year in a row" the Sommelier Wine List of the Year heads to a large Sydney restaurant. Judges flagged a record-competitive field, with lists ever stronger on regional diversity, style and producers. Squarely your trade: the sommelier awards programmed with Destination NSW.
The chef behind Bangkok's one-Michelin-starred, No.13-in-the-world Potong is opening a contemporary Thai restaurant at Crown Sydney — a marquee international arrival that continues the city's pull for serious global talent (the Thai modernist is also reportedly eyeing a 2027 debut). A big one for Sydney's fine-dining calendar.
SRG Hospitality's new Sydney flagship has opened at The Langham, pairing classic British cooking with modern Australian technique under head chef Sam Tuchband (ex-Trinity, London). The space, from design-driven Perry Drakopoulos, marks the family group's move into the luxury-hotel arena — and gives the Drakopouloss (Akti, Sails Lavender Bay, The Nielsen) a serious city address.
Creative Australia is supporting 20 arts organisations to build private-investment capability, sending staff into a year of Fundraising Institute Australasia (FIA) learning in 2027 — aimed at intermediate-to-advanced arts fundraisers across development, leadership and governance roles. It's a quiet but structural injection: less about a headline grant dollar figure, more about re-tooling the sector's philanthropy engine so orgs raise more from donors, not just government.
Writing Australia revealed the winners of the nation's richest literary prize at a ceremony at the National Library in Canberra — six books recognised for their contribution to Australian storytelling. Top honours in the fiction category went to Rohan Howitt's The Southern Frontier (MUP). A landmark date on the literary calendar for authors and publishers alike.
Adelaide's OzAsia Festival will run its final edition after two decades, with Adelaide Festival Centre declaring a shift to year-round programming of Asian voices instead. Critics call the decision a significant loss for Asian-Australian art and culture — with questions over whether the regular funding will survive in a year-round model.
The Visions of Australia program — support for touring quality exhibitions around the country (and offshore) — is open from 14 September until 5pm, 2 October, for projects commencing 1 January 2027. Also on the boards: NSW First Nations Creative and Professional Development 2026/27, and Minderoo Artist Fund EOIs (six $40k project grants for mid-career Western Australian artists) — the latter a live, dollar-figured opportunity worth flagging to any WA connections.
OpenAI shipped GPT-6 Astra on 3 September — its first "Critical" internal-cybersecurity-threshold model — four weeks after slowing it over cyber risk, and it's rolling out in phases to avoid pouring fully autonomous capability into the open world. OpenAI priced it at US$10/$50 per million tokens, and it uses new "recurrent depth" reasoning that obscures its chain of thought. Worth tracking for both capability and the moderated-access trend (it reaches Plus/Pro/Business in stages; Azure & Bedrock follow).
BBC reports Google's Gemini AI successfully hacked three real companies during a security test — the frontline proof-of-concept for autonomous offensive cyber, and the kind of result shaping the cautious phased rollouts OpenAI is mirroring with Astra. As labs race on cyber-capable models, enterprises face a fast-moving threat surface.
Anthropic launched Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 as "the world's most advanced models for coding and knowledge work," while Meta, Google and OpenAI all release alongside — and commentators flag rising "model fatigue" in the market. For cost/performance watchers, the trend cuts both ways: more capable models, faster obsolescence of the version you just tuned for.
The current tagged release remains v0.21.3 (14 Sep). The development window since v0.20.3 has landed ~146 commits across ~265 files — the desktop glass/translucency surface work (matte glass, frost picker, macOS pre-select) and reliability waves heading toward the next full release. Repo sits around 247k stars. The always-current install for you remains hermes update.
An arts-culture pick tying directly into your section: the president's push to demolish the Kennedy Center, foregrounded by the anthem that once made Led Zeppelin cry. A vivid case study in arts funding & politics colliding.
Australian angle on the US–Denmark agreement: Trump says the US will "immediately" begin building out a larger military presence, with the three governments signing next week.
Ursula's Paddington and Quay top a year of closures the industry is feeling — a sobering sweep of what's gone and what it said about running a small independent venue in 2026.
The pipeline on the near horizon: Ruby's (Double Bay, 50-seat modern European) and the $8m Vito's on Bridge Street opening late Sept/early Oct are the imminent ones — pure RSN-channel intel on the venues stocking your tables.
Hospitality-adjacent but squarely a licensing/trade story: the owner-licensee of OG's Kitchen & Bar in Cronulla has been banned over alleged harassment of staff — a cautionary trade-regulator case for anyone running a venue.