Happy faces as Vijayawada schools let students go home early, switch to half-day sessions to beat the heat – picture by K.V.S Giri – The Hindu Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 passed in Maharashtra The Maharashtra Assembly has passed the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026, with the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena supporting the bill, breaking ranks with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. The bill regulates religious conversion in the state. The Congress and the Samajwadi Party have opposed the bill, while the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLAs have taken a mixed stand on it. The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 says that any religious conversion made through ‘allurement, coercion, deceit, force, misrepresentation, threat, undue influence or fraudulent means’ would be null and void. It makes any such offence cognizable and non-bailable and prescribes up to 7 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for such unlawful conversion, writes Krishna Ku

The Karnataka Union of Working Journalists has invited applications for membership through its district units. In a statement, the union said working journalists can apply for membership by submitting their applications along with the required supporting documents through the respective taluk units. The applications will then be forwarded by the district units for further consideration. The union clarified that the decisions taken by the district units and the state body regarding membership will be final.

Press Information Bureau Hyderabad will organise “Vartalap – media workshop for journalists” in Sangareddy on March 17 at 10 am at the Zilla Parishad Meeting Hall. P Pravinya, Collector of Sangareddy district, will attend as the chief guest. The workshop will include sessions on gender based violence, key Central government schemes for women and the use of artificial intelligence in journalism. Sessions will be led by journalist Sajaya Kakarla and fact check trainer Satya Priya BN. Journalists from the district have been invited to participate in the programme.  

There is more to come from Jackson Ryan’s investigation into Australian gaming title GamesHub and its new owners, Maltese-owned Clickout Media.  Ryan published an eight-month investigation earlier this month on Aftermath titled, “The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.” The item detailed the editorial practices employed by Clickout Media since it took over the gaming title. That included the transition from freelance journalists to AI-generated journalists for filing reports and reviews on gaming topics.  “When we saw GamesHub sold off in May last year, it was quite unusual that there was no description about who had bought the site,” Ryan told Influencing.   “I know a couple of the GamesHub authors, and I reached out to them. They said they couldn’t speak about this and that it was something to ask the higher-ups, and I did so, and they didn't tell me anything, and that is very strange.” “Why would someone buy a media outlet an

“Exclusives are the currency of modern media,” says News Corp Metro’s NSW Business Reporter Paul Wallbank when appearing on Influencing Insider recently. “[Pitch] as far ahead as possible…two to three weeks in advance if it's a good yarn, that would probably be the best if you're looking at getting something up,” he said. Wallbank joined News Corp Metro in October last year. The NSW Business Reporter role sees him write for various metro titles, including The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier Mail, The Advertiser and Gold Coast Bulletin.  “It's a very interesting beat being able to cover every aspect of business across not just New South Wales but nationally as well.” Wallbank has worked on both sides of the media fence and, more recently, served as Communications Manager at the Australian Computer Society.  He said he’d found the transition back into journalism interesting due to the profession’s faster, day-to-day rhythm. “You're very much tied in

Tuesday 17 March 2026 National   The Australian RBA credibility ‘on the line’ Matthew Canavan warns that former Reserve Bank economists say the RBA’s credibility is at stake if it does not lift interest rates despite fears a hike could help trigger a recession. Hamas rapes are propaganda: Tame William Elliott reports that former Australian of the Year Grace Tame drew backlash after calling reports of Hamas sexual violence during the October 7 attack “propaganda” in an ABC interview. I’ll wear the pants around here: How Pammie broke through corporate walls Julie-Ann Sprague reports on 91-year-old Pammie Wall becoming Australia’s newest billionaire and her plan to give away her $1.39bn fortune. WFH … but with a twist: Caravan Noel Towell reports that Nationals leader Matt Canavan wants to make it easier for public servants and professionals to work from home in regional Australia as part of a population policy aimed at boosting regional development, ho

In June 2020, during the first phase of India’s COVID lockdown, journalist Prabhakar Tamilarasu began receiving information about a disturbing incident in the town of Sathankulam in Tamil Nadu. Two men — Jayaraj and his son Benix — had allegedly been detained by police for keeping their shop open beyond permitted hours. Travel restrictions made reporting difficult, and movement across districts was tightly controlled. “When I first got information about the case, it took more than twenty four hours to reach people connected to the victims because travel was difficult during the lockdown,” Tamilarasu recalls. Eventually he managed to speak with friends of the victims who had been outside the police station that night. What they described would stay with him long after the story was published. “The assault reportedly began in the evening and continued until early morning,” he says. Friends waiting outside the station said they could hear the victims’ cries through