Despite all the doom and gloom on Australia’s economy, could the worst be behind us?

In a week dominated by headlines declaring the “weakest growth in decades” (excluding Covid) with an economy being “smashed” by the Reserve Bank, it might seem Australia teeters on the edge on an abyss.For some households and businesses, the challenge of paying stratospheric housing costs amid 13-year-high interest rates will alas be overwhelming.For the bulk of the population, though, there is an option of optimism. It might not be a Panglossian “best of possible times” but the worst may already be behind us (provided large, lurking problems remain at bay).Sure, the June quarter national accounts weren’t champagne-worthy

Labour’s first job is not to spend, but to fix the UK’s financial plumbing | Phillip Inman

Every time an upmarket home is bought in the UK, the new residents seem obliged to rip out the kitchen and install two bathrooms where there was only one.It is almost a cast-iron rule that walking across the threshold means paying builders to rearrange what was there before, almost for the sake of it.It is the same in government when Whitehall departments are merged or broken up. The difference is that the refreshed home will probably have extensive new plumbing to accompany the latest appliances and the state will not.Under the surface sheen of the newly minted ministries, the old ways of working and outdated practices will dominate

David Pocock calls for election ban on AI deepfakes with fake videos of Albanese and Dutton

David Pocock has raised the alarm on the risk posed to democracy by generative AI by using it to play a trick: fabricating a video of Anthony Albanese announcing a complete ban on gambling advertising.The independent senator for Canberra posted two AI-generative videos to social media – of the prime minister and of the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, supporting a complete ban on advertising – to show how AI can be used to mimic and confuse.“That video is fake, and there are currently no laws against making videos like that,” Pocock said.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads“Deepfakes [and] generative AI pose a real risk to democracy and we need the government to ban the use of this technology when it comes to elections.”In one video, Albanese appears to be telling a press conference at Parliament House – with slightly jerky movements of his mouth a small giveaway the video isn’t real – that he is introducing a three-year phased ban of the advertising

OnlyFans owner paid £359m dividend as company’s revenues grow 20% in a year

The owner of the subscription platform OnlyFans was paid a $472m (£359m) dividend last year, taking his payouts from the business since 2020 to more than $1bn.Leonid Radvinsky has received a total of just under $1.3bn over the past four years from the site, which offers users subscriptions to material provided by creators and is synonymous with adult content.The payout to Radvinsky, a 42-year-old Ukrainian-American entrepreneur, followed a strong financial year for the site, detailed in results for its parent company, Fenix International, published on Friday.OnlyFans, which has an 18+ age limit, posted revenues of $1

Aryna Sabalenka beats Jessica Pegula to win US Open women’s final – as it happened

Pegula* 5-7 5-7 SabalenkaHuge winner for 15-15 from Sabalenka. The radar now far more operational. 15-30 – two points to win it. Some big hitting forces two match points. Pegula saves the first with typical grit – she’s done well at the baseline rallies

Aryna Sabalenka holds off Jessica Pegula fightback to win US Open

As Aryna Sabalenka has cemented herself at the top of her sport over the past two seasons, in so many of the biggest grand slam matches her greatest opponent has been herself. Even when she has come in radiating with confidence, her game in full bloom, her head so often gets in the way. Recovering from so many painful collapses has required resilience beyond measure.Nowhere have these struggles been more evident than in New York, a city that perfectly suits her electrifying game and outsized personality but where the positives from her two semi-finals and a final in the past three years had been blunted by brutal losses.At long last, Sabalenka held her nerve until the bitter end in two intense, tempestuous sets that pushed her to her mental limits before closing out her first title in New York with a supreme 7-5, 7-5 win over a gritty Jessica Pegula