Rebekah Vardy ‘hires IT experts’ over Coleen Rooney leak claims

Vardy suggests someone else with access to her Instagram account could have leaked stories to the Sun

Rebekah Vardy has said she is calling in forensic computer experts to examine who had access to her Instagram account following an extraordinary dispute with fellow footballer’s wife Coleen Rooney over the leaking of private information to the Sun.

Vardy, who was on holiday in Dubai with her footballer husband, Jamie, when the story broke, has denied claims that she provided the stories to the newspaper – despite apparently being caught in an elaborate sting operation that involved Rooney posting fake updates to see which appeared in the media.

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Magazine aimed at MEPs ‘filled with pro-Russia content’

EP Today using articles from Kremlin-funded outlet RT, says EU disinformation taskforce

An EU taskforce responsible for tackling disinformation has revealed a self-styled “news magazine for the European parliament” is copying half of its articles directly from the Kremlin-funded news channel RT.

EP Today, whose readers include senior MEPs, the European commissioner for digital economy and society, Mariya Gabriel, and European ambassadors to the EU, is said to be dominated by articles from the Russian outlet.

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‘Toxic’ Telegraph made me feel ‘nauseous’, says Graham Norton

BBC chat show presenter explains why he stopped writing advice column

Graham Norton has said he stopped writing for the Daily Telegraph because the newspaper’s recent “toxic” political stances increasingly made him feel “nauseous”.

The BBC One chat show presenter wrote the newspaper’s advice column for 12 years before stepping down without explanation at the end of 2018. Norton has now said he decided to leave the outlet after it defended the likes of US supreme court then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh and published articles by future prime minister Boris Johnson containing falsehoods.

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Prince Harry’s lawsuit against tabloids could backfire, commentators claim

Duke of Sussex’s legal action against Sun and Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking takes attack on press up a level

Prince Harry’s move to take legal action against tabloids for alleged phone hacking is part of the royal’s ramped-up aggressive PR approach designed to send a message to the media, according to commentators.

It emerged on Friday night that the Duke of Sussex – who released a strongly worded attack on the British media for their treatment of his wife, Meghan, earlier this week – has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror.

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Prince Harry launches phone-hacking case against Sun and Mirror owners

Royal continues fight with UK newspapers after attacking treatment of his wife, Meghan

Prince Harry has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking, in an escalation of his all-out war with the British newspaper industry.

The decision follows Harry’s strongly worded attack on the British media’s treatment of his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

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#AllIsFineWithMe: Russian women fight strict beauty standards with body-positivity

Social media trend was started by a teen to push back against unrealistic beauty standards

In a new wave of Russian feminism, thousands of women are posting selfies on social media showing their pimples, cellulite and hair loss to challenge beauty stereotypes that women’s rights activists say fuel low self-esteem and eating disorders.

The #AllIsFineWithMe trend – started by a Russian teen who has struggled with anorexia – is the latest initiative to push back against unrealistic pressures on women and girls to look perfect, often driven by airbrushed images on social media.

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Hong Kong protests: journalist blinded in one eye amid mounting violence

Journalists’ association files judicial review over treatment of media and ‘excessive force’

An Indonesian journalist hit in the face by a rubber bullet during protests in Hong Kong has been permanently blinded in one eye, her lawyer has said, in what is the most serious injury among members of the media since the movement began in June.

There are growing concerns about the threat to journalists from the escalating violence, and an increasingly hostile climate that saw one reporter arrested on Tuesday, after several others were injured by police and one by protesters in a day of chaotic violence. All were wearing high-visibility jackets and “press” markings.

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Why is Meghan suing the Mail on Sunday?

Action comes after newspaper has published numerous embarrassing stories about her

The Mail on Sunday (MoS) published numerous embarrassing stories about Meghan in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry. Many of them required the cooperation of Meghan’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, who helped the newspaper produce numerous articles including staged paparazzi photos.

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Premier League appoints Guardian’s David Pemsel as chief executive

Clubs say Pemsel hired because of his ‘straightforward style and personal integrity’

The Premier League has appointed the Guardian’s David Pemsel as its new chief executive.

Confirmation of the appointment came at a Premier League meeting on Wednesday morning.

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Meghan sues Mail on Sunday as Harry launches attack on tabloid press

Prince compares wife’s treatment to Diana’s as proceedings over private letter are announced

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has taken the unusual decision to sue the publisher of the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.

The decision came as Prince Harry launched an extraordinary and highly personal attack on the British tabloid press and its treatment of his wife, saying he could no longer be a “silent witness to her private suffering”.

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Geena Davis: ‘damaging stereotypes’ on screen limit women’s aspirations

Actor speaks out as film industry study on characters in leadership roles finds women four times more likely than men to be shown naked

The promises of positive change for women on screen that followed her role in the groundbreaking film Thelma and Louise have failed to materialise, leaving girls today with few role models, according to the actor Geena Davis.

The media continue to have a huge influence on how the world views women and girls, and how they view themselves, she said. But few current roles show women in powerful positions, and continue to reinforce damaging gender stereotypes.

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Amal Clooney: give UN power to investigate journalist deaths

UK media freedom envoy speaks out after targeted killing of Jamal Khashoggi

A “glaring gap” exists in the world’s ability to investigate targeted state killings of human rights defenders and journalists such as Jamal Khashoggi, said Amal Clooney, the UK special envoy on media freedom.

She also said the UN special rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who undertook the UN’s investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, “had been forced heroically to manage a large-scale investigation with ridiculously few resources”.

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Naga Munchetty: BBC reverses decision to censure presenter

Corporation director general Tony Hall emails staff to say he is overturning ruling over impartiality guidelines

The BBC has reversed its decision to discipline Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty for breaking impartiality guidelines with her comments about the US president following enormous internal and external anger about the ruling.

The U-turn came after the Guardian published leaked internal correspondence casting doubts on the public claims made by senior BBC executives about the nature of the single viewer complaint that led to the ruling.

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The Sun breached guidelines with Harry and Meghan story

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have received an apology from the paper after press regulator ruling

The Sun newspaper has apologised to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after the press regulator ruled it had breached accuracy guidelines in an article about an alleged staff parking ban at their home.

In a front page story headlined “NOT IN MEG BACK YARD” published in April, the newspaper claimed Prince Harry and Meghan had upset staff by imposing a ban on “low-paid staff” using a car park near Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

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When Donald met Scott: a reporter’s view of Trump and his White House wonderland

Australian PM Scott Morrison received a full-blown welcome from the US president. Katharine Murphy was on hand for an inside account

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Scott Morrison has made his first visit to the United States as prime minister. It was a trip that included a close encounter with the unpredictability of the Trump White House, a foreign policy pivot, and a backlash about a lack of climate policy action. Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, travelled, with the prime minister. Here is what she witnessed:

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Prominent Britons of colour condemn BBC over Naga Munchetty complaint

Corporation accused of racial discrimination after presenter reprimanded for Trump remarks

More than 40 prominent broadcasters, celebrities and actors of colour have condemned the BBC, demanding it reconsider a decision partially upholding a complaint against the presenter Naga Munchetty, calling it “deeply flawed, illegal and contrary to the spirit and purpose of public broadcasting”.

In a letter published in the Guardian, the actors Lenny Henry, Adrian Lester and David Harewood, and presenters Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Gillian Joseph are among signatories describing the decision as “racially discriminatory treatment”.

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Johnson offers words of praise to Egypt’s leader despite repression

Banning of BBC and crackdown on protests seemingly not on agenda at PM’s talks with Sisi

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, lavished praise on Egypt at a bilateral meeting with its president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in New York, hours before the UK hosted a global media freedom conference with Amal Clooney, the UK’s special envoy on media freedom.

Sisi has just instigated a fresh massive crackdown on journalists following the outbreak of protests against corruption in Egypt.

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Woman behind ‘French #MeToo’ found guilty of defaming media executive

Sandra Muller calls verdict in favour of Eric Brion ‘backwards step’ and vows to appeal

A woman who launched a French version of the #MeToo campaign to expose abusive male behaviour has been found guilty of defaming a media executive she accused of making lewd and sexist remarks.

Sandra Muller said Eric Brion had humiliated her with sexual remarks at a function in Cannes in 2012. She was ordered to pay €15,000 in damages to the executive and €5,000 in legal fees, and was also told to delete a tweet about him and publish the statements issued by the court on her Twitter account and in two press outlets.

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Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing

Leak spells out how social media app advances China’s foreign policy aims

TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social network, instructs its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong, according to leaked documents detailing the site’s moderation guidelines.

The documents, revealed by the Guardian for the first time, lay out how ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered technology company that owns TikTok, is advancing Chinese foreign policy aims abroad through the app.

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Facebook suspends thousands of apps over privacy issues

Removals are part of inquiry into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook has suspended tens of thousands of apps from the platform for privacy reasons, it announced in a blogpost on Friday.

The removals come as part of an ongoing investigation into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018. The news also reveals that the platform is home to more problematic apps than previously thought.

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