Calls for release of six Matsadaash staff after one is charged, while whereabouts of other five remain unknownAn Egyptian journalist has been charged with joining a terrorist group, days after an entire newsroom was detained in what rights groups have said is a crackdown on press freedoms.Last week, authorities arrested six journalists from the independent fact-checking and investigative platform Matsadaash – literally meaning “don’t believe” – accusing them in a statement of being unlicensed and publishing false news on behalf of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/04/egyptian-journalist-faces-terrorism-charges-entire-newsroom-detained-matsadaash-press-freedom">Continue reading...</a>

Calls for release of six Matsadaash staff after one is charged, while whereabouts of other five remain unknown

Egyptian journalist faces terrorism charges after entire newsroom detained

Network at receiving end of White House press ban recently chose red state to host fan event as part of broader outreachIn 2024, Donald Trump and JD Vance carried Tarrant county, Texas, by 42,125 votes. So why, on the afternoon of 26 September, was the arena at the University of Texas-Arlington filled with nearly 5,000 super fans cheering for liberal media darlings Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell like they were rock stars?After two years of hosting the network’s annual fan event in dark blue New York City, MS Now (formerly MSNBC) got wind that something was happening in Texas. The state, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the US Senate in 37 years, might do so next month, when 37-year-old James Talarico, Texas state representative, goes up against the Republican nominee, Ken Paxton, a well-known but controversial figure who ousted incumbent John Cornyn in the party’s primary with Donald Trump’s backing. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/04/ms-now-fan-event-texas">Continue reading...</a>

Network at receiving end of White House press ban recently chose red state to host fan event as part of broader outreach

MS Now connects ‘blue dots’ at Texas fan event: ‘I always feel hope when I watch them’

In an extract from his new memoir, the screenwriter bids farewell to the show he helped save – and rails against the constant online leaks that made it so hard to write • ‘One person turned up at my house’: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/03/russell-t-davies-interview-doctor-who-fierce-fandom-love-grief">read an interview</a> with Russell T DaviesBillie Piper surprised all of us. We&nbsp;knew Ncuti Gatwa was leaving, so I’d written the&nbsp;climax in which the Doctor, having saved the life of a baby in The Church on Ruby Road, Ncuti’s first episode, now departs by saving the life of a baby because the universe is at stake. But we had to make these final episodes not knowing whether the Disney deal would be renewed. That was nothing to do with us at [independent production company] Bad Wolf; it was down to conversations with Disney and the BBC. So&nbsp;we had no idea what was going on. Deep down I&nbsp;thought it wouldn’t. You could tell what I was thinking, because I was already creating new work: Tip Toe for Channel 4, and also setting up the dance version of It’s a Sin with Rambert. In fact, in some ways it would have been a nightmare for me if that third series had come along, but I would have managed it.As the third series was in flux, the finale was intended to climax with an open-ended regeneration. So we shot that with Ncuti: he smiled and said his last line, and the screen melted into a golden glow … Except when we edited that together, it looked like the death of the show. We said, “Think of children watching that. It’s like a death. We&nbsp;can’t do that to them.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/03/russell-t-davies-memoir-the-queerest-of-folk-extract">Continue reading...</a>

In an extract from his new memoir, the screenwriter bids farewell to the show he helped save – and rails against the constant online leaks that made it s...

‘Goodbye Whoniverse. God, that was fun!’: Russell T Davies on writing the end of Doctor Who

By embracing the role of amiable lunk, the wrestler turned actor has become an unlikely, and very modern, leading man. But does his relationship with the WWE, and its controversial former owner, risk tarnishing his brand?I must admit, I was apprehensive about meeting John Cena. The WWE wrestler turned actor has built an enviable Hollywood career playing idiots – capable idiots with real heart, but dimwits nevertheless. Still, Cena is obviously nobody’s fool; fools don’t rise from humble beginnings to become their generation’s answer to Hulk Hogan or The Rock. Would the Cena who appears on my computer screen be the real one? Or something closer to the comic-book characters he embodies so well: guileless, silly and fond of a deliberate misunderstanding?It is immediately clear that this is no manchild. Perfectly punctual, he greets me with a lavish formality befitting a man who made his film debut as the title character in The Marine. Within a minute he has volunteered, unprompted, that “a core value of mine is respect”. Cena, 49, is speaking to me on behalf of Matchbox: The Movie, a film extension of the Mattel toy car brand for Apple TV, and for 45 minutes he is generous, funny, complimentary and elusive without ever being evasive. It’s a genuinely radical thing for a man built like a chest freezer – having only recently retired from wrestling after 26 years – to be so relaxed about being ridiculous, and in an age of such joyless online strongmen as Trump, Musk and Andrew Tate, his buff charm is welcome. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/04/john-cena-interview-matchbox-movie-wwe-peacemaker">Continue reading...</a>

By embracing the role of amiable lunk, the wrestler turned actor has become an unlikely, and very modern, leading man. But does his relationship with the...

‘It’s OK to love somebody when they’re not perfect’: how John Cena conquered Hollywood – and why he refuses to abandon Vince McMahon

Untying the knot is having a television moment with the launch of the HBO legal thriller War and BBC’s The Split UpThere were <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/sep/23/couples-putting-off-divorce-due-to-cost-of-living-crisis-in-england-and-wales">105,002 divorces</a> in England and Wales last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Right now, it feels like there are almost as many on TV.The new HBO <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/02/tv-tonight-sienna-miller-slick-new-divorce-drama-war-dominic-west">legal thriller War</a>, which launched on Sky Atlantic on Friday night, chronicles what it calls “the highest-profile divorce case in UK history”. This enjoyably juicy eight-parter is joined in the weekend schedules by the BBC ​drama <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/sep/20/the-split-up-sanjeev-bhaskar-bbc-review">The Split Up</a> – a Manchester-based spin-off from Abi Morgan’s The Split – following a British Asian family law firm specialising in elite divorces. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/03/why-loved-dramatic-tv-divorce-war-the-split-up">Continue reading...</a>

Untying the knot is having a television moment with the launch of the HBO legal thriller War and BBC’s The Split Up

‘Happy Christmas, Ange’: why we have always loved a dramatic TV divorce

Derbyshire county council accused of ‘worst kind of double speak’ as it denies banning local democracy journalist but says it will ignore his inquiries Rows over potholes and a viral story about a garden gate have led to Reform UK’s latest confrontation with local media, after one of its councils announced it would refuse to engage with a reporter behind the stories.Reform-run Derbyshire county council has been accused of setting a “dangerous precedent” after withdrawing all cooperation with Eddie Bisknell, a Derbyshire Live journalist who is publicly funded to cover local democracy. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/02/derbyshire-reform-uk-council-boycotts-reporter-potholes">Continue reading...</a>

Derbyshire county council accused of ‘worst kind of double speak’ as it denies banning local democracy journalist but says it will ignore his inquiries

Reform UK-run council boycotts reporter after row over potholes

Series opener had 3m more viewers than last year to see Claudia Winkleman select the first batch of traitorsAlmost 3 million more viewers tuned in to the new series of Celebrity Traitors than for its previous debut episode, confirming its status as one of the few television shows capable of attracting the nation on to the sofa.More than half of the audience watching TV at that time chose to witness the new cast of celebrities enter the show’s famous castle and observe the presenter, Claudia Winkleman, select the first batch of traitors. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/02/celebrity-traitors-debut-9m-viewers-more-than-half-tv-audience">Continue reading...</a>

Series opener had 3m more viewers than last year to see Claudia Winkleman select the first batch of traitors

Celebrity Traitors debut draws almost 9m viewers and more than half of TV audience

<ul><li>NFL analyst and network mutually agree to part ways</li><li>Ex-Dallas Cowboys star was on $180m contract</li></ul>Tony Romo will not return as an NFL analyst for CBS Sports, the network announced Friday, after <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jul/24/tony-romo-arrest-owi">his July arrest</a> for operating a vehicle while under the influence.“CBS Sports and Tony Romo have mutually agreed to part ways,” the network said in a statement. “We thank Tony for his contributions over the past nine years and wish him the best moving forward.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/02/tony-romo-will-not-return-cbs-arrest">Continue reading...</a>

NFL analyst and network mutually agree to part ways

Tony Romo will not return to CBS Sports in wake of drunk driving arrest

He won a Bafta while only a teen, and now he’s the lead in a creepy sitcom adapted by Alan Partridge’s writers. Ahead of The Reluctant Vampire, he talks mates, mums who write him letters – and his love of David BrentOnly when absolutely badgered will <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/ng-interactive/2025/dec/14/im-having-so-much-fun-lenny-rush-on-fame-father-christmas-and-why-essex-needs-to-watch-out">Lenny Rush</a> admit that the title role of The Reluctant Vampire, Val, was written for him: “Shane Allen, the executive producer, loved the books when he was young, and he was the exec on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/23/am-i-being-unreasonable-review-daisy-may-cooper-is-absurdly-brilliant">Am I Being Unreasonable?</a>. So yes, the scripts were written with me in mind. I’m so happy they were so good. I’d have felt awful if they said ‘We’ve written this for you’ and …” he trails off, pulling a face of&nbsp;exquisite pained courtesy.Rush likens the show to The Naked Gun and Airplane!, and it has the writing team behind Alan Partridge, so can conjure awkwardness out of thin air. But it also taps into a comic tradition that goes even further back: a delight in the ridiculous, people talking to bats and gargoyles, invisible women interjecting by surprise, a surrealism whose comedy comes from the audacity of acting it with such commitment. “In my opinion,” says Rush, “sometimes things are labelled as a family show but they’re aimed at kids. I really do get the feeling that The Reluctant Vampire is for everyone.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/02/the-reluctant-vampire-bbc-lenny-rush-eric-morecambe-vampire-comedy">Continue reading...</a>

He won a Bafta while only a teen, and now he’s the lead in a creepy sitcom adapted by Alan Partridge’s writers. Ahead of The Reluctant Vampire, he talks ...

Fangs a million: Lenny Rush on turning an Eric Morecambe classic into a hilarious vampire comedy

This gag-packed adaptation of Eric Morecambe’s children’s books – by the writing team behind Alan Partridge – is full of stunning comic talent. Bill Bailey, Ross Noble, Tom Davies, Sian Clifford and Asim Chaudhry are all brilliantOh my goodness; how long has it been since we all had a lovely teatime treat? Too long, that’s how long! But now joy is at hand, courtesy of Neil and Rob Gibbons (the pair behind the most recent incarnations of Alan Partridge) and The Reluctant Vampire. It is their adaptation of Eric Morecambe’s 1982 children’s book of the same name and its 1983 sequel, The Vampire’s Revenge. They have kept the books’ warmth and daftness and added their own talents to the six-part series for youngsters. There are jokes for parents in there too, but the brothers have wisely kept the exquisite cruelty with which they craft Alan’s misadventures safely stowed away.Here is the tale of an undead royal-ish family (temporarily usurped a few generations back when the paterfamilias choked on a scab), living a traditional vampiric life in their traditionally gothic castle. There is proud patriarch Victor (Tom Davis), who revels in the hunting and draining of the humans he despises (“I see,” he says, looking round the overdecorated bedroom of his latest about-to-be-victim, “you have a keen eye for tat”). He is married to Valeeta (Sian Clifford) – they share a hot-to-trot vibe with Gomez and Morticia of The Addams Family films – and they have two children. Vernon (an absolutely wonderful turn from Gabriel Nagy in his first major screen role) is a chip off the old block, loving the vampire life and able to identify blood vintages with a single sip (“Poor circulation … lavender … the neck of a Flemish merchant?”). <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/04/the-reluctant-vampire-review-lenny-rush-comedy-bbc">Continue reading...</a>

This gag-packed adaptation of Eric Morecambe’s children’s books – by the writing team behind Alan Partridge – is full of stunning comic talent. Bill Bail...

The Reluctant Vampire review – Lenny Rush’s absolute joy of a comedy is perfectly cast

In this week’s newsletter: As The Celebrity Traitors returns, Winkleman once again proves herself the show’s secret weapon​, becoming heir to a distinctly British TV tradition• <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/20/sign-up-for-the-guide-newsletter-our-free-pop-culture-email">Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here</a>The Celebrity Traitors has returned and, as ever, its pleasures are manifold: the coming together of very different types of famous people (what other show gives you the chance to see mathematician Hannah Fry chatting with Jerry Hall); the now obligatory series-upending first-episode twist; Richard E Grant careering around trying to break the game; Ross Kemp, eyes wide with terror, convinced that anyone who touches him, talks to him or blows on him is his killer.There’s so much to enjoy in fact, that you almost overlook the heavy-fringed host at the show’s centre. By this point Claudia Winkleman feels undeniably core to the series, in both its Celebrity and civilian guises – as much a part of the furniture as that mustard armchair where faithfuls learn that they have been murdered. So much so, in fact, that it feels jarring – just plain wrong – when you watch one of the international variants of the Traitors and see someone else attempting to play the part of the pantomimish master or mistress of ceremonies; Alan Cumming, Siobhan McSweeney, or any of the other non-Claudias. They all make a decent fist of it, but none of them manage it quite like her. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/oct/02/how-claudia-winkleman-became-tvs-perfect-bad-gameshow-host">Continue reading...</a>

In this week’s newsletter: As The Celebrity Traitors returns, Winkleman once again proves herself the show’s secret weapon​, becoming heir to a distinctl...

The Guide #263: How Claudia Winkleman ​became TV’s ​perfect ‘bad’ gameshow host

From Oprah Winfrey to Dua Lipa, there is no shortage of celebrity literary champions. But the former US leader is in a class of his ownAt the Labour party conference <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/andy-burnham-favourite-books-poetry-prime-minister-bm6x6r77f">Andy Burnham revealed that Hamlet</a>, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Tony Harrison’s poem V are his favourite works of literature. The UK’s first prime minister with an English literature degree was not the only political figure sharing his book choices last week. Barack Obama, the US’s most literary president since Abraham Lincoln, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.audible.com/about/newsroom/president-barack-obama-to-host-a-great-book-on-audible">launched a new podcast</a> in which he discusses six books that shaped him with writer friends.First up was the actor – and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/18/uncommon-type-some-stories-tom-hanks-review">recently turned short story writer</a> – Tom Hanks on Marilynne Robinson’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/11/guardian-bookclub-gilead-marilynne-robinson">Gilead</a>, a meditation on faith, fatherhood and forgiveness in the form of a letter written by a 76-year-old pastor to his son. It was an unabashedly highbrow start. With the exception of John le Carré’s cold war classic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mr Obama’s selections are American: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, James Baldwin’s essays The Fire Next Time and Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Questions of democracy, race, power and violence are all here.Do 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/oct/02/the-guardian-view-on-barack-obamas-new-podcast-all-the-presidents-books">Continue reading...</a>

From Oprah Winfrey to Dua Lipa, there is no shortage of celebrity literary champions. But the former US leader is in a class of his own

The Guardian view on Barack Obama’s new podcast: all the president’s books | Editorial

A love of food and a taste for bloodthirsty action collide as a very angry chef gets caught up in a brutal turf war between warring restaurants in LAHas foodie culture gone too far? It’s a truism that to get to a lasagne recipe now, you have to wade through an essay about someone’s childhood in Tuscany. We talk about food sentimentally, consume TV about it fetishistically, slavering over slow-motion shots of chopped pepper falling on to stainless steel. We enjoy judging the food of others. We talk about the provenance of our ingredients with a kind of purity fixation. It strikes me that there’s a totalitarianism to it.So it was bracing to watch Get Jiro (from Sunday 4 October, HBO Max), an adult animation that pairs a love of food with a taste for ultraviolence. It’s the story of a sushi chef, caught up in a bloodthirsty turf war between warring restaurants. It is set in a dystopian near-future Los Angeles, in which all human desires “including companionship, travel and sex, can be experienced … virtually”. (The episodes I’ve seen don’t go into this, explaining for example how chiropody could be experienced virtually, but that’s beside the point.) <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/03/get-jiro-anthony-bourdains-ultraviolent-sushi-chef-makes-for-wild-pulpy-television">Continue reading...</a>

A love of food and a taste for bloodthirsty action collide as a very angry chef gets caught up in a brutal turf war between warring restaurants in LA

Get Jiro: Anthony Bourdain’s ultraviolent sushi chef makes for wild, pulpy television

End of News Feed

AI slop seems to be overwhelming bug bounty programs.

Google froze its open source bug bounty program due to a ‘significant rise’ in AI submissions

On Equity, we discussed the Trump administration's attempts to rebrand AI.

Can ‘super intelligence’ and a non-binding safety pact solve AI’s image problem?

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.

TechCrunch Mobility: Reining in robotaxis

This new task force is Trump's latest response to the debate over AI safety.

Trump unveils his new Super Intelligence Force

A federal judge ruled that a sheriff’s deputy violated a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights when using Flock to search for her license plate without a warrant. 

Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

The CEO of Amazon Web Services tried to push back against widespread suspicion of data centers.

Amazon responds to data center backlash, says it no longer uses NDAs

By his own admission, David Robinson is “something of a cliché”: an employee at a leading AI company who issues a dire warning while resigning from their job.

By his own admission, David Robinson is “something of a cliché”: an employee at a leading AI company who issues a dire warning while resigning from their...

OpenAI safety employee resigns, claiming the company’s ‘culture is broken’

Bitchat has become largely unavailable in India as a result of the restrictions.

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order

Vessev hopes its electric hydrofoil ferry will change the way people and cities think about boats.

Vessev built an electric ferry that almost flies

We created a list of the most notable AI agents that can live in your text messages, from general assistants to agents designed for families, travel, and work.

We created a list of the most notable AI agents that can live in your text messages, from general assistants to agents designed for families, travel, and...

All the AI agents that can live in your text messages 

Farooq Abbasi, an investor in Neko Health, talked to Equity about the hot health tech company and what's next for it.

Spotify billionaire’s body scan startup has come to America

Meta wants Muse in your TV and your toaster, so it's giving the code away for free.

Meta wants your next gadget to be Muse-infused

The proposed legislation would extend to all automotica license plate readers. 

Sanders introduces bill to ban the federal government from using Flock

Sean Parker, who once taught the music industry what asking for forgiveness looks like, is now back with the labels' blessing and money.

Sean Parker is rebuilding Stability AI around music

Your next opportunity could be one conversation away. Get your Expo+ Pass for just $75. Limited to the first 100 qualifying people.

Affected by layoffs? Don’t miss this $75 deal for your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Expo+ Pass

Apple says it will add new controls around macOS’s Full Disk Access permission, warning that increasingly capable AI agents make broad access to users’ files, messages, mail, and browsing history riskier.

Apple says it will add new controls around macOS’s Full Disk Access permission, warning that increasingly capable AI agents make broad access to users’ f...

Apple says it’s tightening macOS ‘Full Disk Access’ controls due to new risks from AI agents

This week, the White House got&#160;nearly every&#160;major tech CEO in one room — Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei among them —&#160;to sign an AI safety pledge&#160;that President&#160;Donald&#160;Trump called “morally binding.”&#160;Trump&#160;also&#160;signed an&#160;executive order&#160;officially rebranding AI as “super intelligence,” and meanwhile,&#160;Meta and OpenAI are putting&#160;friendlier faces on their AI products, even as the biggest money [&#8230;]

This week, the White House got&#160;nearly every&#160;major tech CEO in one room — Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei among them —&#16...

It’s not AI anymore, it’s ‘super intelligence’ (according to the White House)

Blackstone's Jas Khaira will take the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 on building next-gen AI. Register for your pass and get 50% off a second.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Blackstone’s Jas Khaira on building the next generation of AI giants

With all the talk about how AI might one day kill us all, it's easy to forget that AI has already harmed some people psychologically. Circuit Breaker Labs has created "crash-test  dummies" to solve that. 

With all the talk about how AI might one day kill us all, it's easy to forget that AI has already harmed some people psychologically. Circuit Breaker Lab...

Circuit Breaker Labs hopes to make AI safer for your kids (and you)

The roughly $110 billion deal is expected to close October 6.

Malcolm Wall Media

Malcolm Wall Media

MEDIA FEED

GUARDIAN MEDIA NEWS

TECHCRUNCH.COM NEWS