Category Archives: Newspapers & magazines

China accuses Australia of raiding its journalists’ homes amid reports Canberra cancelled academics’ visas

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China’s state media outlets claim Australian intelligence agents questioned several Chinese journalists and seized their devices

Australia has cancelled the visas of two Chinese scholars because of security concerns, according to reports, adding a new element to the spiralling diplomatic dispute over the treatment of journalists.

Chinese diplomats have also aired claims that Australian intelligence agents have questioned several journalists from Chinese media organisations and searched their devices “in violation of legitimate rights”.

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Charlie Hebdo survivor tells of being forced to unlock door by gunmen

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Cartoonist ‘Coco’ gives evidence at trial of 14 suspects accused of complicity in 2015 Paris attacks

A survivor of the Charlie Hebdo massacre has described how Islamist terrorists forced her to open the door of the satirical newspaper’s offices at gunpoint as they arrived to murder 11 people.

Corinne Rey, a cartoonist known as “Coco”, told a Paris court she was convinced she was about to die as the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi entered the building saying: “We want Charlie Hebdo.”

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Charlie Hebdo reprints cartoons of prophet ahead of terror trial

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Images depicting Muhammad on cover as alleged accomplices in 2015 attack due in court

The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is to republish controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to mark the start of a trial of suspected accomplices of terrorist gunmen who attacked its offices in January 2015.

The attack on the publication’s offices by brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi left 12 people dead, including several of France’s most famous cartoonists.

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Newsweek apologizes for op-ed that questioned Kamala Harris’ citizenship

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Magazine’s opinion editor and editor-in-chief ended note by saying op-ed would remain on the site

Newsweek has apologized for an op-ed that questioned the California senator Kamala Harris’ American citizenship and her eligibility to be Joe Biden’s running mate, a false and racist conspiracy theory which Donald Trump has not dismissed.

“This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize,” read Newsweek’s editor’s note on Friday, which replaced the magazine’s earlier detailed defense of the op-ed.

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Hero’s welcome for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai after release on bail

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Apple Daily founder and pro-democracy activist returns to office following arrest under national security law

The Hong Kong pro-democracy figure and media mogul Jimmy Lai received a hero’s welcome as he returned to his newspaper after being arrested on allegations of foreign collusion, while Chinese state media labelled him a “genuine traitor”.

Lai, his sons, senior executives from his Next Digital media company and others including the activist Agnes Chow were detained under Beijing’s national security law on Monday. Hundreds of police officers also raided the offices and newsroom of Apple Daily, the popular tabloid Lai founded, in a move decried as an assault on press freedom.

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Marcus Rashford scores cover of British Vogue’s September issue

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The footballer is recognised for his activism in the magazine among 40 ‘faces of hope’

Marcus Rashford’s inspirational, policy-changing campaign against child poverty has garnered him accolades aplenty. Now it has also propelled the footballer on to the front cover of British Vogue’s September issue.

The Manchester United striker, who forced a government U-turn on the granting of free food vouchers for the poorest families over the summer, headlines a special edition dedicated to activism.

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India arrests dozens of journalists in clampdown on critics of Covid-19 response

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Reporters for independent outlets, many in rural areas, say pressure won’t deter them from covering embarrassing stories

Facing a continuing upward trajectory in Covid-19 cases, the Indian government is clamping down on media coverage critical of its handling of the pandemic.

More than 50 Indian journalists have been arrested or had police complaints registered against them, or been physically assaulted.

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Meghan’s friends entitled to ‘super-charged confidentiality’, high court told

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Duchess of Sussex suing owner of Mail on Sunday and Mail Online in privacy battle

Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex have claimed five female friends who spoke anonymously to a US magazine to defend her against British tabloid bullying are entitled to a “super-charged right of confidentiality” as she fought to protect their identities in her privacy battle against the Mail on Sunday.

Forcing her to make public their names was an “unacceptable price to pay” for pursuing her legal action over publication of extracts from a private letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, 75, the high court in London heard.

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Amber Heard ‘placing faith in justice’ as Depp lawyer calls her an abuser

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High court hears closing remarks in three-week libel case exposing couple’s relationship

Amber Heard has spoken of her trauma at reliving the breakup of her marriage, saying she is “placing her faith in British justice” as Johnny Depp’s lawyer branded her a “compulsive liar” and the “abuser” in the couple’s relationship.

As the libel action brought by Depp against the publishers of the Sun newspaper ended on Tuesday, Heard was booed and heckled by Depp fans who have gathered daily outside the high court in London for the proceedings over allegations that the Pirates of the Caribbean star had been violent towards her.

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Johnny Depp wanted Amber Heard ‘barefoot, pregnant – and at home’, court told

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Heard became ‘nervous wreck’ at auditions, fearing Depp’s reaction, acting coach says

Johnny Depp wanted Amber Heard “barefoot and pregnant – and at home”, her acting coach told the high court in London as she outlined her growing suspicions that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was hitting his wife.

Kristina Sexton, Heard’s friend and then acting coach, said she had not seen Depp “hit, kick or throw anything” at Heard, but she was aware of the “volatility” of their relationship and had “overheard some serious fights” while waiting to start her coaching sessions.

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Amber Heard: Johnny Depp threatened to carve up my face

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Court hears testimony from actor’s ex-wife, who says he was abusive and violent

Johnny Depp threatened to carve and disfigure Amber Heard’s face if she left him, repeatedly demeaned her and often physically attacked her, she has told the high court.

Opening the defence case in the libel trial initiated by the Pirates of the Caribbean star, Heard said her former husband insulted her and on one occasion told her: “I’m going to have to watch you get raped.”

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Meghan blames ‘intrusive’ UK tabloids for falling-out with father

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Details of father/daughter financial relationship disclosed as part of Mail on Sunday lawsuit

The Duchess of Sussex has blamed British tabloids for destroying her relationship with her father, claiming he received “significant payments” for providing quotes to newspapers and commentators.

Meghan’s lawyers said she and Thomas Markle “had a very close father/daughter relationship throughout her childhood and remained close until he was targeted three years ago by intrusive UK tabloid media”.

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Winona Ryder says Johnny Depp was never violent to her

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Ex-partners Ryder and Vanessa Paradis say allegations against actor are ‘impossible to believe’

Two of Johnny Depp’s former partners, Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis, have said he was never abusive or violent towards them and that allegations he is a “wife-beater” were “impossible to believe”.

The two women had been due to give evidence at the high court in London on Thursday via remote video links from the US.

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Valentina Sampaio becomes first openly trans model in Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue

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Sampaio, of Brazil, describes moment’s significance: ‘Being trans usually means facing closed doors to people’s hearts’

The model Valentina Sampaio has made history by becoming the first openly transgender model to be featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.

The 23-year-old Brazilian has been selected as a model for the issue that will be released on 21 July.

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Johnny Depp accused of suffering ‘blackouts’ over violent behaviour

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Court hears allegation that film star was too intoxicated to recall assaulting Amber Heard

The film star Johnny Depp has been accused in court of suffering “blackouts” and having no recollection of his violent past because of his excessive drinking and drug-taking.

During his second day in the witness box at the high court in London, the 57-year-old actor faced allegations that his self-destructive behaviour and jealousy of his ex-wife Amber Heard led him to assault her repeatedly in the course of their four-year relationship.

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Rowling, Rushdie and Atwood warn against ‘intolerance’ in open letter

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Harper’s letter asserts way to ‘defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion’, but critics accuse authors of censorious mentality

JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are among the signatories to a controversial open letter warning that the spread of “censoriousness” is leading to “an intolerance of opposing views” and “a vogue for public shaming and ostracism”.

Rowling, whose beliefs on transgender rights have recently seen scores of Harry Potter fans distance themselves from her, said she was “proud to sign this letter in defence of a foundational principle of a liberal society: open debate and freedom of thought and speech”.

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Johnny Depp’s barrister tells court Amber Heard invented abuse claims

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Libel case against Sun newspaper over term ‘wife-beater’ begins in UK high court

Amber Heard, not Johnny Depp, was the one who started fights during their marriage, the high court has been told at the start of a libel battle involving the divorced Hollywood actors.

It was Heard who was “the abuser” and who invented claims that her former partner was a “wife-beater”, according to an opening statement submitted to the court by Depp’s barrister, David Sherborne.

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Amber Heard can be in court for Johnny Depp’s evidence, high court rules

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Judge says it would be unfair to stop Heard watching Depp give evidence in libel case over domestic abuse claims

Johnny Depp has failed to stop his ex-wife Amber Heard from watching him give evidence in a libel case over allegations of domestic abuse.

The actor is suing the publisher of the Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which described Depp as a “wife beater”.

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Top Brazil newspaper in pro-democracy drive as unease grows about Bolsonaro

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Folha de São Paulo urges people who support campaign to protect country’s political future to wear yellow

One of Brazil’s leading newspapers has launched a major pro-democracy campaign as unease grows about the threat many fear Jair Bolsonaro and his most militant supporters pose to the country’s political future.

Unveiling the initiative on Sunday, the Folha de São Paulo said systematic attacks from pro-Bolsonaro extremists were putting Brazilian democracy through its greatest “stress test” since the return of civilian rule in 1985.

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Afghan government backtracks over rule forcing media to reveal sources

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Amendments to country’s media law revoked after outcry from press

An outcry by the Afghan press over amendments to the country’s media law has seen the government call off initially approved changes.

The newly revoked amendments included a rule that would force media to reveal sources to the government without a court order.

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