Bicheno has claimed the title of Australia's best town, securing the top spot in Australian Traveller's prestigious "100 Best Towns in Australia to Travel To" rankings. Tasmania performed strongly overall, with 10 towns earning a place on the national list, highlighting the State's growing reputation as a leading travel destination.
Tasmania's agriculture industry has recorded strong growth, with the State's gross farm-gate value rising 15 per cent to $2.83 billion in 2023-24, according to the latest Tasmanian Agri Food ScoreCard. The result marks an increase from $2.46 billion in 2022-23 and comes despite dry seasonal conditions and ongoing challenges across the sector.
Tasmania's renewable energy future has taken another major step forward, with TasNetworks achieving financial close for the North West Transmission Developments (NWTD). The milestone secures funding for the project and provides greater certainty as preparations continue for construction to begin later in 2026, pending final regulatory approvals and processes.
Anthropic said its artificial intelligence models hacked into three other organizations during testing, just days after ChatGPT maker OpenAI raised concerns over AI controls after it disclosed its rogue models hacked another company. Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind Claude, posted on its website Thursday that it discovered the three incidents after reviewing more than 141,000 evaluation runs.
TOKYO (AP) – Sony Group Corp. reported a 32% profit growth in the fiscal first quarter Friday while warning of a negative impact from the earthquake that hit southwestern Kumamoto earlier this week.
HONG KONG (AP) – China’s factory activity unexpectedly slowed in July, the first such contraction in five months, weighing on the pace of broader growth for the world’s second-largest economy. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index, or PMI, fell to 49.2 from 50.3 in June, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
Hamas said Friday that it reached an agreement to disarm, a significant move that could help end the war in Gaza – but one that will face many hurdles and could take a long time to achieve, if at all. Israel has not commented on the deal, which President Donald Trump announced hours earlier. It comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the group was signed.
GENEVA (AP) – FIFA’s chief operating officer said its staff were deceived by their president Gianni Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan, and suggested on Friday the project must not go ahead.
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) – President Donald Trump took Friday’s Cabinet meeting on the road to the Camp David retreat in Maryland, using the historic rustic backdrop to boast of his administration’s achievements while seizing on a migrant crisis in Spain to make his case for why voters should choose Republicans in the midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal officials involved in the prosecution of James Comey misled judges, submitted false statements and withheld key facts during the course of the investigation, according to new defense filings that seek the dismissal of a case charging the former FBI director with threatening President Donald Trump on social media.



















































































































































