Today
Accountants ramp up offshoring to bring down costs
Up to a third of staff at some of the nation’s top firms work in countries such as India and the Philippines as leaders cut costs and search for hard-to-find skills.
- Edmund Tadros
This Month
Have a listen to this AI sales call – it’s getting scarily realistic
When it came to selling a new range of drinks to schools, supermarkets and petrol stations, a Brisbane entrepreneur succeeded with artificial intelligence.
- Tess Bennett
October
- Opinion
- Workplace
Is ‘heartbreak leave’ the new workplace concession?
A bill in the Philippines is trying to secure time off for workers after a break-up. Companies worldwide are also helping employees going through divorce.
- Minnie Advincula and Emma Jacobs
- Opinion
- Australian economy
How Australia can help save rules-based trade
The global trading system of trade rules faces its gravest crisis since its inception. There is a way out and Australia can help.
- Craig Emerson
China launches fresh round of war games near Taiwan
In rare operations, China’s coast guard circled Taiwan and staged “law enforcement” patrols close to its offshore islands, Chinese state media reported.
- Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee
Albanese to press China on trade
The Association of South-East Asian Nations leaders’ summit will take place in Vientiane, Laos this week, the latest international push by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
- Tom McIlroy
Thousands around the world protest war on eve of anniversary
About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town and New York City.
- Leigh Thomas and Kanishka Singh
September
The scary new map of the South China Sea
All evidence points to a novel phase in the struggle for the contested sea lane – and whether China and the US can contain the nerve-shredding contest is far from clear.
- The Economist
- Opinion
- South China Sea
Why the Philippines is the new China flashpoint
Most people have never heard of the Sabina Shoal, but it’s become the latest global testing ground for confrontation with China. Will it trigger broader conflict?
- Jennifer Hewett
How China’s coast guard is ‘trying to occupy the ocean’
In most countries, coast guards are there to do just that: guard domestic coasts and territorial waters. China’s, however, is more like a second navy.
- Kathrin Hille
REA mulls $8.5b bid; Vegan chain collapses; Shemara’s next big move
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Australia, US condemn China over ‘dangerous’ new South China Sea collision
The collision of the Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels was the fifth in a month, as tensions escalate between the two nations in the vital waterway.
- Neil Jerome Morales and Joe Cash
August
US military eyes escorting Philippine ships in South China Sea
The head of the US Indo-Pacific command said he was open to discussions about escorting Philippine ships amid growing clashes with China in the disputed waters.
- Jim Gomez
- Opinion
- Indonesia
Our new quiet security embrace as Jakarta hedges bets
Indonesia’s strategic wariness of China has culminated in this week’s military co-operation agreement with Australia. But don’t read too much into it.
- Susannah Patton and Rahman Yaacob
Philippines, China trade blame after vessels collide
China’s Coast Guard said a Philippine vessel that had ignored its repeated warnings “deliberately collided” with a Chinese vessel. Manila saw it differently.
- Liz Lee and Karen Lema
A guide to middle-aged backpacking
What I did not want to relive were the bed bugs, hostel dormitory rooms, or hellish overnight bus journeys on pot-holed roads.
- Michael Smith
Talks sanction more US bombers, fighter jets, spy planes in Australia
Annual defence and foreign affairs talks will see Australia deepen its role as the US’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in a potential conflict with China.
- Andrew Tillett and Matthew Cranston
July
Inside Google’s plans to revolutionise the weather forecast
Traditional methods have involved “physical models” run on supercomputers. GraphCast can be run on a laptop, and come up with a forecast in minutes.
- Lauren Shirreff
China and the Philippines sign deal to avert clashes at sea
The rare deal with the Philippines sparks hope that similar arrangements could be forged by Beijing with other countries to avoid clashes while thorny territorial issues remain unresolved.
- Jim Gomez
CSL wins global avian flu vaccine contracts
Australian pharmaceutical giant CSL is to supply up to 45 million shots of its avian flu vaccine to Europe and the US as health authorities prepare for possible human infection from the dangerous H5 strain.
- Tom Burton