US telecom giant Comcast to snap up free-to-air TV channels and streaming platform to create UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/jul/06/sky-takeover-itv-broadcasting-media-deal-business-live-news">Business live – latest updates</a></li></ul>Sky has announced a long-awaited £1.6bn deal to buy ITV’s broadcasting and streaming arm to create the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster.Sky, which is owned by the US telecoms company Comcast, will pay £1.2bn in cash initially for ITV’s media and entertainment business, which includes its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform. It has agreed to pay a further potential £200m in the second half of 2028, depending on 2027 advertising revenues. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/06/sky-owner-announces-16bn-takeover-of-itvs-broadcasting-arm">Continue reading...</a>

US telecom giant Comcast to snap up free-to-air TV channels and streaming platform to create UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster

Sky owner announces £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s broadcasting arm

Axel Springer boss has ‘bold vision’ for the media group, but identifying a gap is no guarantee of stateside successAs he addressed staff at the London headquarters of the Telegraph Media Group last week, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/30/telegraph-takeover-germany-axel-springer">Mathias Döpfner</a>, the German chief executive of Axel Springer and latest proprietor of the most traditional of conservative British newspapers, referred to his company’s decades-long pursuit of the venerable titles.As staff nibbled Axel Springer-embossed biscuits, Döpfner also exchanged some distinctly European ribbing with the Daily Telegraph’s editor, Chris Evans, about Germany’s World Cup exit. However, it was clear to all that Döpfner’s ambitions for the titles were focused on another country and another continent. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/06/daily-telegraph-new-owner-mathias-dopfner-plan-break-america">Continue reading...</a>

Axel Springer boss has ‘bold vision’ for the media group, but identifying a gap is no guarantee of stateside success

‘No one’s even heard of the Telegraph’: can the UK’s most conservative paper take on Murdoch in the US?

Prominent organizations accuse network of political, racial and sexual bias and supporting Chinese communist partyA group of prominent conservative organizations has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny license renewal requests from the eight local television stations owned and operated by ABC, accusing the network of political, racial and sexual bias and supporting the Chinese communist party.The petitions come after the commission, led by Trump appointee <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/27/fcc-chair-brendan-carr">Brendan Carr</a>, took the nearly unprecedented step of requiring the network, a frequent recipient of attacks from Donald Trump, to apply several years early to maintain its ability to broadcast in markets around the country. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/06/abc-license-renewals-fcc">Continue reading...</a>

Prominent organizations accuse network of political, racial and sexual bias and supporting Chinese communist party

Conservative fight against license renewals for ABC stations heats up

Company seeks redress for contracts it says it has lost as a result of programme’s claims about its business practicesThe parcel delivery company Evri is suing the BBC for £1.2m over a documentary it claims caused it serious financial loss.Evri has filed particulars of claim at the high court which state that it lost prospective clients after the broadcast of the Panorama documentary Evri: Where’s my parcel? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/05/delivery-firm-evri-sues-bbc-for-12m-over-panorama-documentary">Continue reading...</a>

Company seeks redress for contracts it says it has lost as a result of programme’s claims about its business practices

Delivery firm Evri sues BBC for £1.2m over Panorama documentary

Digital publishers struggle to reinvent business model after algorithm is changed in favour of promoting creator content‘When I look back at 15 years of growth, it is a tough pill to swallow and disappointing,” says Alexander “Solly” Solomou. The chief executive of the digital publisher behind popular brands including LadBible is bemoaning the City’s reaction to a sharp drop-off in traffic after algorithm changes made by the owner of Facebook and Instagram.The change by Meta to more heavily promote creator content has sent a chill wind through digital publishers – from Solomou’s LBG Media to the owners of Marie Claire and the Daily Mail – which had relied on its platforms to promote clickable content and now face a scramble to reinvent business models that had flourished from relationships with Big Tech. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/05/meta-algorithm-digital-publishers-ladbible">Continue reading...</a>

Digital publishers struggle to reinvent business model after algorithm is changed in favour of promoting creator content

‘Tough pill to swallow’: LadBible boss on the traffic hit from Meta’s feed shake-up

Guardian analysis of X feed shows how keen world’s richest person was to air his views and ‘interfere’ in British politics Elon Musk posted about race and immigration in the UK on his social media network X twice as often as he did about SpaceX, which he also owns, in the run-up to the aerospace and AI company’s initial public offering.A Guardian analysis of Musk’s posts, replies and reposts between 31 May and 12 June has shown the extent to which the social media activity of the world’s richest person, who lives primarily in the US, has focused on UK politics. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/04/elon-musk-uk-race-immigration-spacex-ipo">Continue reading...</a>

Guardian analysis of X feed shows how keen world’s richest person was to air his views and ‘interfere’ in British politics

Elon Musk posted twice as often on UK race and immigration as about SpaceX in IPO run-up

Long-running TV series Aussie Gold Hunters and Outback Opal Hunters have received funding set aside for documentaries – but insiders claim much of the on-screen drama is scripted<ul><li>Get our <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></li></ul>In an unforgiving expanse of red dirt in the heart of Western Australia’s goldfields, a tense confrontation threatens to turn violent. As the cameras roll, grime-smeared prospectors confront an intruder caught red-handed on their claim.It is a classic episode of Aussie Gold Hunters, a documentary series that its distributor, Warner Bros Discovery, says has captured an audience of 40 million viewers in more than 140 countries, making it the most successful Australian show on its platform. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/ng-interactive/2026/jul/05/aussie-gold-hunters-outback-opal-scripted-tv-series-australian-documentary-government-funding-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>

Long-running TV series Aussie Gold Hunters and Outback Opal Hunters have received funding set aside for documentaries – but insiders claim much of the on...

‘It’s all a set-up’: the ‘fake’ Australian documentary TV series mining governments for millions

Investigative journalist had enemies in high places and accused, Yorgen Fenech, is establishment figure from powerful familyOn the steps of the courts of justice in Valletta, there is a bronze statue of Malta’s late president. A bundle of papers in one hand, Guido de Marco stands on a plinth, looking out at passersby in the busy street below.Every morning since Wednesday this week, his daughter has walked up the steps of the same courthouse, in dark glasses and smart clothes, a bundle of papers in her hand. A sought-after criminal lawyer, Giannella de Marco is representing the man accused of ordering the 2017 murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, in a case that continues to dominate public debate nearly nine years after the event. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/04/malta-murder-trial-daphne-caruana-galizia-journalist">Continue reading...</a>

Investigative journalist had enemies in high places and accused, Yorgen Fenech, is establishment figure from powerful family

Malta’s ‘trial of the century’ revives interest in murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia

Judge says evidence indicates attack on Pouria Zeraati outside home was carried out on behalf of Tehran regimeTwo Romanians who took part in a “targeted” knife attack on a television journalist in London “on behalf of the Iranian state” have been jailed.Pouria Zeraati, who worked for the Persian-language channel Iran International, which is critical of the Tehran regime, was left bleeding in the street <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/29/counter-terror-investigation-iranian-journalist-stabbed-outside-london-home">after being stabbed three times</a> outside his home in Wimbledon. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/03/two-romanians-jailed-stabbing-iranian-journalist-in-london">Continue reading...</a>

Judge says evidence indicates attack on Pouria Zeraati outside home was carried out on behalf of Tehran regime

Two Romanians jailed over stabbing of Iranian TV journalist in London

As imaging tools become more sophisticated, online predators are using images of children to make extreme pornography<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/03/ai-sexual-abuse-fears-uk-parents-warned-posting-images-children-national-crime-agency">UK parents warned over posting images of children amid AI sexual abuse fears</a></li></ul>The two photos started out as typical teenage selfies: looking into the mirror, fully clothed. But once online predators had got hold of those pictures and ran them through an AI imaging tool, they had become the basis for extreme pornography videos.These examples come from the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/online-mobile-safety/report-remove/">Report Remove</a> service, which allows children who have had explicit pictures of themselves distributed without their consent to flag the image confidentially and have it blocked or taken down from social media. Due to breakthroughs in AI, and the wide availability of AI models and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/28/what-are-nudification-apps-how-would-uk-ban-work">nudification apps</a>, some under-18s are becoming victims without even being in contact with criminals. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/03/ai-prey-watchdogs-telling-parents-protect-children-nudification-apps">Continue reading...</a>

As imaging tools become more sophisticated, online predators are using images of children to make extreme pornography

AI prey: why watchdogs are telling parents to protect children from nudification apps

You’d think there was nothing new to learn about the glamour model-turned-tabloid sensation. You’d be wrong…‘Boobs,” says Katie Price, expressionlessly. “I always wanted a boob job. Always wanted them bigger.” Price, 48, places her tiny, tanned hands on the mountainous upper region of her pastel pink sweatshirt, under which lurk the latest results of this glandular restlessness. “I never wanted natural. I wanted stuck-on,” she says. “I wanted fake.” And so it came to pass. Now, 17 or so operations later, here she is, fidgeting on a beige sofa as she discusses the surgeries (“the pain!”), the insatiable ambition, the breakdowns, the flammable thongs, the still-bewildered ex-husbands and all the other stuff that has helped turn her into one of Britain’s longest-running soap operas; every bit of self-generated drama catapulting us, speechless, into the next instalment.The new four-part series Katie Price: Nothing to Hide (Wednesday, 9pm, Sky Documentaries) promises several cliffhangers of its own. Here, it bugles, is a “revealing portrait” that will “go beyond the headlines”. Oh God, we think, as Price’s eyebrows disappear behind yet another nimbus of synthetic fog (the woman vapes like a furnace). Not again. We have read the unreadable memoirs, endured myriad “tell-all” documentaries and suffered any number of hand-wringing tabloid “exclusives”. Could there really be anything left to know about the woman who has, we are told, “sold every aspect of her life”? The answer is yes, actually, and it is, remarkably, as fascinating and exhausting as its subject. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/04/katie-price-nothing-to-hide-sky-documentaries">Continue reading...</a>

You’d think there was nothing new to learn about the glamour model-turned-tabloid sensation. You’d be wrong…

Katie Price: Nothing to Hide – this remarkable profile is as fascinating and exhausting as its subject

It’s full of heart, humanity and such extreme competence it’s actually comforting to watch. No wonder it’s swept the boards at awards‘Let’s go save some lives.” That’s the mantra of Noah Wyle’s A&amp;E doctor at the start of every shift in The Pitt. The gritty US hospital drama seems an unlikely contender to be the most hopeful show on air. Yet despite the death, disease and pointed social commentary, The Pitt somehow pulls it off.The smash HBO hit’s second season climaxed last night in a blaze of Fourth of July fireworks, group cuddles, cute babies and cathartic karaoke. A third season is about to enter production. For millions of devoted fans, it can’t be stretchered back on to our screens soon enough. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/04/why-the-pitt-is-the-most-hopeful-show-on-tv">Continue reading...</a>

It’s full of heart, humanity and such extreme competence it’s actually comforting to watch. No wonder it’s swept the boards at awards

‘A halo of optimism’: why The Pitt is the most hopeful show on TV

When I was 12, the antics of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and co were an invitation to jump out of trees. These days, I see something deeper in their refusal of filtered perfectionMy name is Tom, and I am an idiot. I’ve been an idiot almost my entire life, ever since I was old enough to think it was funny and interesting to be one. So there was something sentimental for me in watching Jackass: Best and Last. It’s a final swansong for a 26-year project that is the finest document of idiocy and the Freudian death drive the modern world has seen.Jackass debuted in 2000, when I was 12 years old. I was already obsessed with professional wrestling. I’d watch grainy VHS-quality videos of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jul/21/fiction.simonhattenstone">Mick Foley</a> matches in awe, as he would jump headfirst into barbed wire, get repeatedly hit in the head with steel chairs or, famously, be thrown off a five-metre steel cage and through a table.Tom Usher is a freelance writerDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tone/letters"> letters</a> section, please <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city/town/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.">click here</a>. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/04/jackass-male-idiocy-film-best-and-last">Continue reading...</a>

When I was 12, the antics of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and co were an invitation to jump out of trees. These days, I see something deeper in their refusa...

Farewell to Jackass, the finest catalogue of male idiocy – it could only go on for so long | Tom Usher

End of News Feed

Apple has started a phased rollout of card payments for Apple Account purchases in India after adapting to the country's payments framework.

Apple brings back card payments for Apple Account purchases in India after a four-year hiatus

Microsoft cut around 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday — the latest in a series of layoffs that’s stoking fears of AI replacing jobs. The layoffs will hit Xbox and commercial sales the hardest.

Microsoft cut around 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday — the latest in a series of layoffs that’s stoking fears of AI replacing job...

Microsoft lays off nearly 5,000 employees across Xbox, commercial sales

In the AI era, platforms have no choice but to fight fire with fire to cull spam.

Reddit is using LLMs to solve a problem LLMs largely created

The hacking operations disclosed in a Canadian spy agency's annual report underscores some pressing national security threats facing the country and its top allies.

The hacking operations disclosed in a Canadian spy agency's annual report underscores some pressing national security threats facing the country and its ...

Canadian spy agency says it hacked drug traffickers, extremists and a ransomware gang last year

WhatsApp now lets users reserve usernames ahead of the feature’s full rollout, making it possible to connect without sharing a phone number once usernames go live.

WhatsApp now lets users reserve usernames ahead of the feature’s full rollout, making it possible to connect without sharing a phone number once username...

How to reserve and change your WhatsApp username

Station F, a Paris-based startup hub founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is gearing up for a new edition of its F/ai accelerator program in a bid to strengthen its positioning as a stepping stone for promising AI startups.

Station F, a Paris-based startup hub founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is gearing up for a new edition of its F/ai accelerator program in a bid ...

Station F ramps up as a launchpad for Europe’s hottest AI startups

Even Realities, an ex-Apple team building camera-free smart glasses, raised $150 million from Meituan and Tencent at a $1 billion valuation.

Smart glasses maker Even Realities hits $1B valuation with $150M funding led by Meituan, Tencent

While other humanoid startups chase sky-high valuations, Agility Robotics is betting its future on execution — and a SPAC.

This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn’t promising a robot in your home anytime soon

Back in February, Uber announced ambitious plans to launch in seven new European markets in 2026 — but now five of those launches are reportedly on hold.

Uber’s European expansion plans may have hit a speed bump

Nearly 1 million people have lost a total of $3.8 billion after buying President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin, while Trump made $636 million.

Trump memecoin investors lost $3.8 billion, analysis finds

These may be the last days of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

Amazon will stop accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk

The right desk gadgets can help you reduce clutter, stay focused, and add a little extra convenience to your day.

5 desk gadgets that can make your workday better

Bending Spoons remains largely unknown, even as its portfolio of products has served more than a billion people. 

What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that’s now public

With AI igniting an investor frenzy, more startups are achieving unicorn status every month. 

Almost 90 new unicorns have been minted so far this year — here they are

Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?

Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Googl...

New Google commercial imagines a Declaration of Independence written with help from AI

As part of an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios, Midjourney is seeking to compel those studios to reveal how they use AI themselves.

Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal the details of their AI usage

Alibaba has reportedly classified Claude Code as high-risk software.

Alibaba reportedly bans employees from using Claude Code

Mistral AI, which offers some open source AI models, has raised significant funding since its creation in 2023, with the ambition to “put frontier AI in the hands of everyone.”

Mistral AI, which offers some open source AI models, has raised significant funding since its creation in 2023, with the ambition to “put frontier AI in ...

What is Mistral AI? Everything to know about the OpenAI competitor

The rise of AI has brought an avalanche of new terms and slang. Here is a glossary with definitions of some of the most important words and phrases you might encounter.

The rise of AI has brought an avalanche of new terms and slang. Here is a glossary with definitions of some of the most important words and phrases you m...

The only AI glossary you’ll need this year

We’ve compiled an overview of some of the top alternative browsers available today aiming to challenge Chrome and Safari.

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