Your noon Briefing: Ministers strike deal on building reforms

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

Hello readers. State and federal ministers have done a deal on national building standards reform, and first Big W store closures unveiled.

Hon Karen Andrews MP Federal Member for McPherson, Queensland Liberal Party of Australia Official Portrait. 19 September 2018. File NO 20180331. 45th Parliament House Canberra. Image David Foote-AUSPIC/DPS.

Building reforms deal

State and federal ministers have struck an agreement to pursue nationally consistent building standards.

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Super changes needed

Two long overdue reforms are needed to ensure Australia’s magnificent superannuation savings pool does its job, writes Robert Gottliebsen.

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General view of a BIG W department store in Brisbane, Tuesday, April 1, 2019. Woolworths will close about underperforming 30 Big W stores and two distribution centres over the next three years after increasing numbers of shoppers took their business online. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

First Big W closures

Three Big W stores in Sydney will close as Woolworths begins shutdowns of the struggling brand.

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17/7/19: Professor Michelle Simmons, UNSW quantum physicist talking about a quantum computing breakthrough. John Feder/The Australian.

Quantum leap

Computing is about to take a giant leap that could change our lives, the C21 equivalent of the moon shot. Tim Dodd has the story.

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George Calombaris at the Press Club

‘Axe Calombaris’

Unions call for action after the celebrity chef was fined and forced to pay back workers $7.8m.

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 28: ARL Commissioner Mark Coyne speaks to the media following the NRL Annual general Meeting at NRL HQ on February 28, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Coyne’s tirade revealed

Fresh details have emerged of the case against the ARL Commissioner in Singapore.

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This July 2, 2019 picture shows a woman eating whale meat in front of Tsukiji's whale meat restaurant in Tokyo. - Japan's resumption of commercial whaling has prompted fury from other countries and campaigners, with activists saying that one of the three species targeted is threatened with extinction and sub-populations of the other two are depleted. (Photo by Karyn Nishimura / AFP)

The long read: Feeding Japan's pride

Tokyo’s decision to resume commercial hunting sends a message to critics around the world, despite no appetite for whale meat at home.