Solomon Islands newspaper pledged to promote ‘truth about China’s generosity’ in return for funding

The Solomon Star denies accusations of ‘giving away’ its independence by accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment

Local media in Solomon Islands have been accused of compromising their independence by entering into agreements with Chinese news organisations and accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment from the Chinese embassy.

Since the Solomon Islands government signed a high-profile security agreement with China in March 2022, some newspapers in the Pacific country have received cars, cameras, phones and printing machinery that costs thousands of dollars from the Chinese government, via its local embassy, according to local journalists. Some have raised concern about the gifts and the continued close dialogue between media organisations in China and Solomon Islands.

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Meta to end news access in Canada over publisher payment law

Move comes in response to Canadian legislation requiring internet giants to pay news publishers

Meta has begun the process to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada, the company said on Tuesday.

The move comes in response to legislation in the country requiring internet giants to pay news publishers.

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ITV warns it is in ‘worst ad recession since financial crisis’

Broadcaster’s earnings more than halve in first half but studios business performs strongly

ITV has warned it is in the midst of the worst advertising downturn since the 2008 financial crisis.

The broadcaster, which is behind hit shows including Love Island and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, said earnings more than halved in the first six months of the year, as it came up against a “very tough” advertising market and as it invested in its ITVX online streaming service.

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LadBible co-founder Arian Kalantari resigns from business

Kalantari steps down as chief operating officer of digital platform, saying it is time for ‘new adventures’

One of the co-founders of LadBible, a digital platform that creates content aimed at young men, has decided not to return to work after taking a seven-month sabbatical from the business.

Arian Kalantari, who set up LadBible with a school friend, Alexander “Solly” Solomou, and developed it into a successful digital platform with millions of followers, resigned this week, saying it was the right time “to create space in my life for new challenges and new adventures”.

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Netflix lists AI job worth $900,000 amid twin Hollywood strikes

Company lists highly paid machine-learning project manager role while actors and executives at odds over future of AI in Hollywood

As actors and writers strike over fair compensation and protections from the encroachment of artificial intelligence, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra), 87% of the guild’s actors make less than $26,000 per year.

The use of AI in the production of film and television – either to write scripts, generate actors’ likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Writers have been striking since May; the actors joined earlier this month. The first joint strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill.

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Telegraph Media Group says it will soon reach 1m paying subscribers

Acquisition of Chelsea Magazine Company titles bumps up figures as newspaper group seeks new owner

The Telegraph’s parent company has insisted it will soon have a million paying subscribers – aided by the decision to buy Classic Boat magazine.

Telegraph Media Group is in the early stages of seeking a new owner after banks wrestled control of the newspaper from the Barclay family early this year.

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Elon Musk reveals new Twitter logo X

Experts warn that rebranding of 15-year-old app may be a risky move at a time when competitors are upping their game

Elon Musk has revealed a new logo for Twitter, choosing a “minimalist art deco” X as part of a rebrand of the platform.

The Twitter owner indicated that the design would be altered, tweeting that it “probably changes later, certainly will be refined”. Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed the choice on Monday by tweeting the design and writing: “X is here! Let’s do this.”

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Secret inquiry looking at police spying claims on Northern Ireland journalists

Tribunal investigating lawfulness of 2013 PSNI actions after complaint by Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey

A secretive tribunal is looking into allegations that UK authorities spied on investigative journalists in Northern Ireland to identify their sources.

The investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) is examining a complaint by two journalists who asked the body to find out whether police in Northern Ireland and Durham, as well as MI5 and GCHQ, used intrusive surveillance powers against them.

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Private equity pioneer Guy Hands to leave Terra Firma ‘when I’m 64’

Dealmaker and ardent Brexit critic to leave senior posts at firm he founded more than 20 years ago

Private equity tycoon Guy Hands referenced a Beatles song as he informed staff of his decision to leave the buyout firm he founded two decades ago.

The billionaire dealmaker told staff on Friday he would leave the posts of chairman and chief investment officer at Terra Firma Capital Partners in August, drawing to a close a high-profile, chequered career.

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Journalist unrepentant over 2016 fracas with new Fox News host Jesse Watters

Ryan Grim calls Tucker Carlson replacement ‘a classic bully’ and says fight started when he backed colleague Watters had harassed

The US political journalist Ryan Grim broke the news of allegations against Brett Kavanaugh before his 2018 supreme court justice confirmation, and he was among the first to report on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s initial ascent to Congress.

Still, to some, he remains known as the guy who got into a fight at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner with Jesse Watters, who debuted Tuesday as host of the coveted 8pm Fox News slot made available by Tucker Carlson’s firing.

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Labor to consider ways to protect ABC and SBS from future funding threats

Michelle Rowland says review into security of national broadcasters will consider options to support their independence

A review into the security of ABC and SBS funding will examine ways to protect the public broadcasters from future threats of privatisation and arbitrary funding cuts, the communications minister Michelle Rowland has said.

Rowland told an ABC Friends dinner the communications department review would consider options to support the independence of the ABC and the SBS and it was open for public submissions.

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News UK hires lawyers to look at claims against former Sun columnist

Dan Wootton accused of offering Sun colleagues tens of thousands of pounds for sexual material

The Sun’s parent company has hired external lawyers to help investigate “very serious” allegations regarding Dan Wootton’s time at the tabloid, the Guardian has been told.

Wootton is facing allegations he used a pseudonym to secretly offer current and former Sun colleagues tens of thousands of pounds in return for sexual material

If you wish to contact the author of this article with further information, please email jim.waterson@theguardian.com or contact the Guardian securely.

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Belarus arrests prominent journalist amid wider crackdown on opposition figures

Ihar Karnei was detained and his apartment raided with police seizing phones and computers, according to his daughter

Authorities in Belarus have arrested a prominent journalist who has previously written for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, independent journalists and human rights activists.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists said Ihar Karnei, 55, was arrested in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Monday. His apartment was raided, with police seizing phones and computers, his daughter, Polina, told the Associated Press.

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Twitter investor writes down stake by 47% as analyst claims Threads user fall

Elon Musk has said advertising has plunged on his social media platform and it is cashflow negative

An investor in Elon Musk’s Twitter has written down their stake in the business by 47% as advertisers rein in their spending on the social media platform.

The move by ARK Investment Management came as an analysis firm claimed that usage of the “Twitter killer” Threads app has fallen by half since its launch by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.

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Is Labor cooking up a ‘ministry of truth?’ No, it’s just an opposition scare campaign – with a side of hypocrisy | Paul Karp

The Coalition now opposes the type of social media regulation it supported in government – and its about-face is aimed at fuelling the campaigning journalism of Labor’s critics

Labor has a patchy record when it comes to free speech online.

In 2008, it attempted to filter the internet – an idea that limped on despite enormous practical difficulties until it was ditched in November 2012.

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Italian media more focused on foreign coverage of heatwave than its effects

Reporting of climate crisis has been lousy for years, experts say, in a country where rightwing press has been dominant

Italy is sweltering in abnormally high temperatures, but its media appear to be more interested in how the extreme heat is being reported in the foreign press than delving deeply into the effects in a country deemed to be among the most vulnerable in Europe to the climate crisis.

Over the weekend, several outlets picked up on reports on Italy’s heatwave in leading foreign news websites – including the Guardian, the Times and the BBC. They were particularly fascinated by a headline in the Times calling Rome – where temperatures are forecast to reach highs of 43C on Tuesday – the “Infernal City”, a play on the nickname “Eternal City”. So much so that it was still a talking point come Monday.

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Student journalists in Indonesia face backlash after reporting on sexual harassment

Students say they are being targeted with expulsion, physical assault and death threats after writing about sensitive subjects

Yolanda Agne, 23, was just months away from graduating in journalism at a university in Maluku province, Indonesia, when she was banned from finishing her studies.

In March last year, the student magazine Lintas – of which Agne was then editor-in-chief – published a damning piece on the prevalence of sexual harassment on her campus at Ambon Islamic State Institute. Among the alleged perpetrators were eight lecturers, with incidents dating over a six-year period.

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Betting firm logos shown on TV up to 3,500 times in Premier League matches, study finds

Average was once every 16 seconds across 10 matches last season, with a total of 3,522 in West Ham v Chelsea

Betting company logos appear as often as 3,500 times during the course of a televised football match, the majority on pitchside hoardings, prompting renewed scepticism about top-flight clubs’ plan to give up front-of-shirt betting ads only.

A study led by psychology experts from four universities measured the volume of gambling adverts during 10 matches that took place last season, featuring every Premier League club.

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Hollywood actors announce strike in first joint action with writers in over 60 years

Simultaneous strikes by WGA and Sag-Aftra are expected to halt the majority of Hollywood’s film and TV production

The union representing Hollywood actors formally announced a strike on Thursday, expanding the standoff between Hollywood workers and studio executives over wages, AI technology and how to divide the profits of the new digital streaming era.

The strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) marks the first time in 63 years Hollywood writers and actors are striking simultaneously.

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Biden ‘serious’ on prisoner swap for US reporter Evan Gershkovich

Biden says process ‘under way’ to free Wall Street Journal reporter held in Russia and accused without evidence of spying

Joe Biden has said he is serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days, and claimed the process was “under way”.

“I’m serious on a prisoner exchange,” Biden told reporters on Thursday when asked about Gershkovich’s continued detention in Russia.

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