Greens deal locks in Labor’s tax overhaul — with NDIS strings attached Labor has struck a parliamentary deal with the Greens to pass contentious negative gearing and capital gains tax changes, but the price includes concessions on the government’s NDIS overhaul—winding back ministerial powers and extending scrutiny via a longer Senate inquiry. The package sharpens the political fight over housing, superannuation settings and welfare sustainability, with Coalition and crossbench positioning now central to what happens next in the Senate and future budgets. Covered by: Daily Telegraph, The West Australian, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Australian Financial Review, Australian Financial Review, Australian Financial Review, The Australian. NSW Budget bets on transport relief — while holding the line on spending The Minns government’s pre-election budget is pitched as cost-of-living help with a $100 rego rebate, Opal fare caps and othe

  The Telangana High Court has refused to quash an abetment to suicide case against a journalist and an advocate, ruling that the complaint prima facie disclosed a cognizable offence under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The case stems from allegations that defamatory statements about a woman were made during a Vedhan Media TV interview and later circulated on social media, causing her severe mental distress. The woman subsequently died by suicide, leaving behind a note and selfie video allegedly naming those responsible. Citing the ongoing investigation and established legal principles on police powers to probe cognizable offences, the court dismissed the petitions seeking to quash the case, Verdictum reported.

Veteran journalist N.R.S. Babu, fondly remembered as “Gurunathan” (mentor) by generations of journalists, passed away at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. He was 85. A towering figure in Malayalam journalism, Babu served as Deputy Editor of Kerala Kaumudi and later as Editor of Kalakaumudi Weekly. He also headed the Institute of Journalism at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club as Director, and was the Founder Chairman of Invis Multimedia, one of Kerala’s pioneering multimedia software companies. Senior journalist Reji K.P., President of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists, paid tribute, describing Babu as a mentor who helped shape the course of Malayalam media and guided hundreds of aspiring reporters and editors. “His contributions to journalism remain invaluable,” Reji said. Babu was also part of the landmark Kattakallanmar investigative series in the mid‑1970s, produced by the Kerala Kaumudi editorial team. The series exposed large‑scale fore

The Press Information Bureau (PIB), Hyderabad organised a special VARTALAP Media Workshop in Mahabubnagar as part of the nationwide campaign “12 Saal Vishwas Ke, Vikas Ke, Jan Kalyan Ke”. Around 140 journalists participated in the programme. The workshop was inaugurated by P. Srinivas, District Public Relations Officer (DPRO), Mahabubnagar, in the presence of Varganti Gayathri, Media & Communication Officer, PIB Hyderabad. Srinivas emphasised the importance of responsible journalism, fact‑checking, and spreading awareness about government welfare schemes. Sessions included: Muddam Narasimha Swamy: On the Central Government’s achievements over the past 12 years B.N. Satya Priya: On fact‑checking and combating misinformation Participants engaged in discussions on journalism, public communication and digital media, with speakers highlighting the role of ethical reporting and digital literacy in the evolving media landscape.

Teamwork Communications Group has won the public relations mandate for RG Hospitals, India's largest chain of urology and minimal access surgery hospitals with a 40-year legacy. The agency will manage strategic communications and media engagement for RG Hospitals across Delhi NCR, Ludhiana, Chennai, Kolkata, and Dehradun. Nikky Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder, Teamwork Communications Group, said the partnership will focus on increasing visibility for RG Hospitals' clinical innovations, patient outcomes, and leadership in advanced surgical care. Avinash Ojha, Managing Director, RG Hospitals, said the collaboration will help communicate the hospital's technological milestones, centres of excellence, and expansion plans while strengthening trust among patients seeking specialised surgical care. 

Most of those who have spent almost three decades practising or teaching journalism could be forgiven for sounding gloomy about its future. Tito Ambyo, who has taught journalism at RMIT for 13 years, is not. He nearly left journalism altogether before moving into teaching, where he found his jadedness was – partly – washed away by the passion and resourcefulness of aspiring young journos.  In a recent LinkedIn post, Tito mentioned his mixed feelings, writing, "Instead of telling them they won't make it, I am trying so hard not to say PLEASE BE JOURNALISTS WE NEED YOU." For Ambyo, who worked as a digital reporter and producer for the ABC prior to his career transition, journalism is operating in "a world full of misinformation, disinformation, where people who have power are starting to really do what they want to do without being challenged." The difficulty, he found while still working as a journalist, is that newsrooms have been stripped to the point where doing the jo

For an industry that spends a great deal of time arguing for its own importance, journalism has rarely been able to say what it is worth in the language that decision-makers actually respond to: money, security, and risk. A report published this week tries to close that gap. The Value of Journalism: Global evidence on why media matters to economics, national security and crises was launched on 22 June at the Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany. It was commissioned by UNESCO in partnership with the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) and DW Akademie, and written by Professor Mel Bunce and Dr Beth Pearson of City St George's, University of London. Rather than make a fresh moral case for press freedom, the authors do something more pointed: they synthesise the existing academic research and translate it into the economic and security terms that finance ministries and security establishments understand. The timing is deliberate. The report arrives at what its auth