European summers are getting increasingly hotter alongside rising temperatures throughout the globe, but the growth of air-conditioning throughout the continent is still lagging behind that of the US and Australia.

Commuters on a Vienna U6 subway line felt the heat when carriages reached 35 degrees celsius this summer, higher than the restricted temperatures placed on livestock transport in the country.

A review of the Australian tax system by the Parliamentary Budget Office has brought tax vulnerabilities into focus, months before the Turnbull government and Labor battle over tax in the next federal election.

Workers will contribute more to Australia's overall tax system unless the government delivers major tax reform, as companies minimise their tax obligations, along with lower consumer spending.

Despite the Government reassuring workers that wage growth is just around the corner, a leading investment bank has warned that even its most far-reaching forecasts show no meaningful change in the unemployment rate.

Economists at big investment bank JP Morgan argue the run of solid jobs growth is now basically over.

"We think the unemployment rate is going to stay well within that very tight 5.4 to 5.6 per cent range for the next little while," JP Morgan chief economist Sally Auld said.

A Brisbane teen, Jennifer Mai from Brisbane State High School in year ten, has won the brainiest student award at the 2018 Australian Brain Bee Award.

137 students from 43 schools in the state competed in the challenge, narrowing down to ten finalists facing off in two rounds of live questioning.

A group of three emerged: Jennifer, runner-up Meghan Camp from Kirwan State High School and third-placed Markus Brits from Westside Christian College.

Torres Strait Islanders believe they are being denied a basic first-world human right to clean drinking water after cryptosporidium has been detected in the water supplies of three islands.

There is no set guideline value for the parasite in the Australian Drinking Water Standards, but cryptosporidiosis is an immediately reportable infectious disease.

The water test was organised privately by a Thursday Island resident in May, concerned with the lack of response by governments.

European Union regulators have hit Google with a record $6.85 billion antitrust fine for using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.

It represents just over two weeks of revenue for Google parent Alphabet and would scarcely dent its cash reserves of almost $140 billion. But it could add to a brewing trade war between Brussels and Washington.

Google said it would appeal the fine. "Android has created more choice for everyone, not less.

Jakarta police have shot 52 alleged petty criminals, killing 11, in a two-week blitz aimed at making the city presentable ahead of next month's Asian Games.

Since the start of the month, officers have arrested 320 people, shooting dozens of them in the legs.

Some of those wounded have been paraded before the media, their legs still bandaged, in an apparent warning to any criminals considering targeting tourists.

Jakarta's police chief says the fatal shootings will be reviewed but he has made no apology for the "firm measures”.

Senator Penny Wong called for Australia to start their own Pacific Islands infrastructure fund, following moves by the New Zealand government and an increase of interest by the US and Japan.

"I welcome these announcements as important steps to addressing the deficit in infrastructure investment in the region," Senator Wong said.

Senator Wong said during her recent trip to Washington DC there had been growing anticipation in further development of the US policy on this front was "imminent".

A local council on the south-west fringe of Sydney is lobbying the State Government to limit the number of cats non-breeders can own in New South Wales.

Wollondilly councillor Simon Landow is leading the push to impose the statewide cat cap, which he believes will create "an equal playing field between dogs and cats".

Mr Landow said while the limit would ultimately be determined by the Government, he believed owners should have no more than six felines unless they're registered breeders.