Unclaimed airstrikes struck Iranian targets overnight, with no group or nation stepping forward to take responsibility. The strikes come as Trump insists the ceasefire with Iran is "over" while simultaneously signalling openness to further talks. AP reports the source of the latest bombardment remains unknown, adding a new layer of volatility to a conflict that has already seen Centcom hit 90 Iranian targets in recent days. The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint, with seafarers attacked in the region now suing a shipping company in Thailand. Trump reportedly urged to leave Türkiye on old Air Force One by Secret Service amid security concerns.
A 26-year-old white British male was arrested at an address in Newton Abbot on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, the 78-year-old former Conservative minister turned Reform UK spokeswoman. Police say the incident is not being treated as terrorism. PM Starmer called it "shocking news," while Conservative leader Badenoch said the party is "reeling." Widdecombe served as MP for Maidstone for 23 years and held ministerial roles under John Major.
The European Commission issued preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act, ordering Meta to disable default features like infinite scroll and autoplay or face substantial fines. The ruling targets what regulators call "addictive design" intended to maximise screen time. Meta must implement effective age verification and default settings that protect children.
China successfully recaptured the first stage of a Long March-10B carrier rocket on a seaborne platform using a net-capture system near Wenchang, Hainan. The rocket can carry up to 16,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Japan is next, with a launch and landing attempt expected this weekend. The milestone signals China's accelerating push into reusable launch technology, narrowing the gap with SpaceX's Falcon 9.
US private equity firm Apollo Global Management launched a £5.7 billion ($7.7B) bid for easyJet, trumping a rival offer from Castlelake just days after the initial deal was accepted. EasyJet told shareholders the Apollo offer "delivers a superior outcome," setting up a potential bidding war for the UK low-cost carrier.
President Trump removed members of the Election Assistance Commission — the bipartisan body that distributes federal grants to states and oversees voting system testing — after it resisted his efforts to require citizenship documentation for voter registration. Trump also confirmed he will not sign the landmark bipartisan housing bill.
Climate change is driving a gray whale "catastrophic mortality event" in the Pacific, with 145 fatal strandings along the West Coast this year alone — including at least 20 in California. Melting sea ice is reducing krill and other food sources. The eastern North Pacific population has halved from 27,000 in 2016 to about 13,000, with calf births down 95%.
A devastating wildfire in southern Spain's Almeria province has claimed at least 12 lives, with 23 people still missing. The fire swept through an expat community with terrifying speed. Witnesses described it as "really frightening, unbelievably quick." Firefighters continue to battle the blaze as authorities investigate the cause.
Typhoon Bavi is forecast to bring heavy rains and destructive flooding to Taiwan, Japan, and China. At least 15 people have already been killed in landslide-related incidents in the Philippines as the outer bands sweep through. Authorities in East Asia are on high alert for what could be one of the season's most destructive storms.
President Trump said he will not sign the bipartisan housing bill in protest over the lack of a GOP voter ID provision, allowing it to become law without his signature. The legislation had broad bipartisan support and addresses the ongoing housing affordability crisis, particularly for first-home buyers.
Telstra CEO issued a "deeply sorry" apology for the nationwide outage and admitted the time-keeping failure risk was internally known. The SMH reports the meltdown could have been avoided by spending just "thousands of dollars" on a known GPS timing node defect — a throwback to 2006-era infrastructure. The ABC reports a legal gap might let Telstra off liability, while The Guardian says the outage could cost "hundreds of millions" and hurt Telstra's reputation. Victoria's train network was the most affected among public transport systems.
Australia's H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b outbreak continues to spread, with five new detections in wild birds pushing the total to 13 confirmed cases across Western Australia, South Australia, and New South Wales. The strain has devastated wildlife globally since 2021. The government has activated response protocols and is monitoring for potential mammal transmission.
A Pacific Islands leader has spoken out about China's recent missile test in the region, saying it has "caused a stir, created tension" among Pacific nations. The comments underline growing unease in the region about China's military expansion and testing activities in the Pacific, which Australia has been working to counter through intensified diplomatic engagement.
An ABC News analysis finds that limiting access to key government programs for high-income earners could save billions in the federal budget. The report comes as the government faces pressure to find savings while managing cost-of-living pressures and the growing price tag of universal programs.
Andy Bickers, the saxophonist for legendary Australian band Cold Chisel, has died. Tributes describe him as an "incredible musician." Meanwhile, tributes continue for Derryn Hinch, the former politician and media personality who died earlier this week — the SMH reports he "was looking to the future the night before he died" in a final feature.
Good Food reports a significant shake-up at Sydney's hatted hotel restaurants, with several high-profile chefs departing their posts. The moves signal a period of change in Sydney's fine dining landscape, with implications for the upcoming Good Food Guide season.
A new Darlinghurst takeaway is bringing elevated lunch bowls to Sydney's east, with Good Food asking whether it could be "the new Fishbowl." The concept focuses on fresh, seasonal ingredients in a fast-casual format.
Good Food's critic reviews three new cafe openings in Marrickville, including a standout yoghurt described as "life-changing." The inner-west suburb continues its run as Sydney's most dynamic cafe destination, with new openings across specialty coffee, all-day dining, and baked goods.
Australian wineries scored historic wins at the Royal Queensland Wine Awards, with multiple top-tier trophies awarded across categories. The results highlight the strength of Australia's wine regions outside the traditional powerhouses, and the increasing quality coming from Queensland and emerging cool-climate regions.
Bowen Estate in Coonawarra is celebrating its 50th vintage, a landmark for the family-owned winery founded in 1975 by Doug and Joy Bowen. The winery remains dedicated to crafting classic Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon from the region's celebrated terra rossa soils. Founder Doug Bowen credits an unforgettable bottle of Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet 1962 with igniting his passion.
The 2026 Wine Growth Summit, hosted by Wine Communicators of Australia at the Adelaide Convention Centre, featured 15+ international speakers sharing global wine industry insights. Separately, Wine Australia launched VitiCert, a new national certification program for grapevine planting material, and signed a new 4.5-year investment agreement with the Australian Wine Research Institute starting July 1, 2026, to continue R&D and extension services through 2030.
The Australian Youth Orchestra, Back to Back Theatre (the acclaimed Geelong-based disability-led theatre company), and the Australian Ballet have each been awarded grants under the Albanese Government's International Cultural Diplomacy Arts Fund. Announced by Arts Minister Tony Burke, the funding targets projects that strengthen Australia's international cultural standing, supporting landmark overseas engagements for each company. The program reflects the government's strategic push to use the arts as a tool for soft power and international cultural exchange.
Federal and state arts ministers, including NSW Arts Minister John Graham, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, and Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke, joined cultural leaders at the Sydney Opera House for the inaugural Art of Tax Reform summit. The gathering — bringing together tax policy experts, artists, donors, and venue operators — aims to produce recommendations for the next National Cultural Policy due in 2028. Key proposals under discussion include a 40% production rebate modelled on the UK's Theatre Tax Relief and broader tax reforms to support the creative sector.
SpaceXAI launched Grok 4.5 on July 8, its first major release since going public. Elon Musk describes it as an "Opus-class model," with benchmarks reportedly matching Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 on performance while running faster and at lower cost. Notably, Grok 4.5 was co-trained with Cursor, the AI coding startup SpaceXAI acquired for $60 billion. The model is designed specifically for coding and agentic tasks. Reuters reports it's SpaceXAI's "most intelligent offering to date."
Z.ai's GLM 5.2 (released June 16) continues to gain traction in the open-source community. A Show HN post on July 9 demonstrated the model running on consumer-grade hardware, underscoring the accelerating trend of frontier-adjacent models becoming accessible on local machines. GLM 5.2 represents one of the strongest open-weight models in the current landscape, alongside the already-covered Muse Spark 1.1 (Meta, Jul 9) and GPT-5.6 family (OpenAI, Jun 26).
Hugging Face released LeRobot v0.6.0 on July 7, expanding the open-source robotics toolkit into a full evaluate-correct-train loop for embodied AI. The release adds world-model policies including VLA-JEPA, FastWAM, and LingBot-VA; more vision-language-action models; reward-model support; six simulation benchmarks under lerobot-eval; and rollout tooling with human correction capabilities.
Two major stories hit the Hacker News front page on July 9 with over 1,300 points each: the EU Parliament approved Chat Control 1.0 — a contentious surveillance proposal for messaging platforms — drawing 796 comments. Separately, John Deere agreed to an FTC settlement granting owners the right to repair their equipment, a landmark victory for the right-to-repair movement with 294 comments. Both stories signal shifting regulatory landscapes that affect AI deployment and hardware ownership.