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Aug 12, 2026 - World

Managing director says guidelines will ensure no individual will ‘be the subject of comedy that is violent in its description in our programming’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA pledge by the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, to change editorial guidelines on satire and violence after the broadcaster aired a program featuring offensive comments about Gina Rinehart has sparked concerns about overreach.The four-minute film, titled A Very Relaxing Video, ran on documentary-reality show Race Around the World on 12 July and sparked a furore over comments made about the billionaire. Continue reading...

Aug 12, 2026 - World

Supporters of the MAGA movement finally understand their needs come last with President Donald Trump, a new political analysis contends.The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi argued Wednesday that cash-strapped conservative voters may not understand the nuances of international finance — but they can't help but see the widening gap between their incomes and the Trump's. Wrote Mahdawi, "It’s becoming more obvious to even the most diehard MAGA fan that they are being put last."While Mahdawi called out Trump for slashing USAID and sending major cash to conservative think tanks abroad, she also warned such policy shifts were unlikely to land with MAGA voters. "What does the average Trump voter, who was promised an America-first agenda, think about all this money going to 'public education' programmes in the UK instead of all the underfunded public schools at home?" she wrote before suggesting, "The short answer is: they’re not thinking about it at all."But what they are beginning to realize is that Trump's estimated $2.2 billion earnings last year had to have come from somewhere, the columnist argued. And Trump isn't doing himself any favors with his apparent lack of concern, she concluded. "Trump, for his part, has brushed off cost-of-living concerns, declaring last year: 'I don’t want to hear about the affordability,'" she wrote. "[The president] should start listening."

Aug 12, 2026 - World

Female staff alleged company failed to maintain safe workplace, after allegations of sexual assault against pilotThe Canadian airline WestJet has agreed to pay C$4.5m (£2.4m) to settle a decade-long sexual harassment class action lawsuit levelled by its female flight attendants, who alleged the company failed to maintain a safe workplace.The suit followed allegations by Mandalena Lewis, a former flight attendant, that a pilot had sexually assaulted her and a colleague, but that WestJet kept the pilot flying, thereby putting other employees at risk. Continue reading...

Aug 12, 2026 - World

As social media shrinks and distorts the EU’s crises, the Venice film festival is delivering politically forthright epics from directors such as Sergei Loznitsa and Alex Gibney• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereEurope is in an economic crisis that, unlike the eurozone downturn at the beginning of the millennium, cannot be measured in ratings downgrades and borrowing costs. For metrics, try engagement depth and consumer trust instead.The unedifying spectacle of the European Union’s falling out over the Ceuta crisis looks like the latest symptom of Europe’s shrinking attention economy. When more than 70,000 people crossed over from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the start of the month, Rome hastily reintroduced air and sea border checks with Spain for one month; Madrid retaliated with spot-checks on travellers to Italy. Continue reading...

Aug 12, 2026 - World

Operation under way to rescue dozens missing after boat overturned by waves at world’s largest human-made lakeAt least 44 people have died after an overcrowded ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, police said.The boat had a capacity of 90 people, but was carrying 114 adult passengers, five crew members and an unknown number of children, Zimbabwe’s civil protection unit (CPU) said earlier on Wednesday, citing ticket sales. Continue reading...