Global Pulse

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  • Gruesome images in D4vd hearing are ‘worst nightmare’ for teen girl’s family

    Gruesome images in D4vd hearing are ‘worst nightmare’ for teen girl’s family

    On the opening day of a high-profile preliminary murder case against 21-year-old rising singer David Anthony Burke, known professionally by his stage name D4vd, prosecutors presented gruesome, never-before-publicly-seen evidence of 14-year-old victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered remains — forcing the teen’s grieving parents to confront horrific details of their daughter’s death in a packed Los Angeles downtown courtroom.

    Prosecutors laid out graphic photographs of Celeste’s body, which was discovered last September inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke at a Hollywood tow yard. The photos, which had only previously been referenced in sealed court filings, marked the first time the physical evidence was displayed publicly during the hearing, which will determine whether there is sufficient proof to move the case to a full jury trial.

    According to lead homicide detective Joshua Byers’ testimony, online purchase records show Burke ordered a collection of disturbing items just days after Celeste’s death: a heavy-duty body bag, multiple chainsaws, a large inflatable pool, and a shovel, all of which were delivered to his home address under a false name. Prosecutors allege these items were purchased specifically to dismember Celeste’s body and cover up the killing.

    Prosecutors’ narrative of the crime alleges that Burke, who had sexually abused Celeste over a period of years, murdered her to protect his burgeoning multi-million dollar music career. They claim he stabbed the 14-year-old to death after she threatened to expose their inappropriate relationship, then dismembered her body with a chainsaw to hide evidence of the killing. Burke has formally pleaded not guilty to all charges of murder and aggravated sexual abuse.

    For Celeste’s family, the first day of the hearing was an unimaginable ordeal, according to their attorney Patrick Steinfeld, who spoke with reporters after the session wrapped. Steinfeld said he had warned both parents that viewing the graphic evidence would leave an indelible, traumatic mark, and offered them the option to step out of the courtroom during the presentation of photographs. Celeste’s mother, Mercedes Hernandez, insisted on staying, telling her lawyer she wanted to be present to stand with her daughter.

    “This is the first time they’ve heard this evidence in detail, and they’re horrified,” Steinfeld told the BBC. “There was an image of Celeste’s torso and her head in the trunk of the car, and the prosecutor had to ask what it was because you could not tell it was a head. It was absolutely deplorable. They’re at a loss for words and they’re just trying to do the best they can.” Steinfeld added that Mercedes Hernandez broke down crying immediately after seeing the images, and that the experience has been “a parent’s worst nightmare” for the intensely private family.

    Lead prosecutor Beth Silverman repeatedly paused before displaying each graphic photograph, turning to Celeste’s parents to warn them of the content and offer them the chance to look away. At multiple points during the evidence presentation, Mercedes was comforted by supporters seated beside her in the courtroom gallery.

    Detective Byers told the court that when he first opened the locked trunk of the Tesla at the tow yard, he found a sealed cadaver bag containing heavily decomposed remains: a severed torso and head, with a second black garbage bag holding additional dismembered limbs tucked underneath. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, Byers testified, Celeste’s face was no longer identifiable when her body was found.

    Additional physical evidence presented on Tuesday linked Burke directly to the victim, the court heard. Prosecutors displayed photographs of two tattoos on Burke’s hands: a red-ink rendering of “Celeste” on his left ring finger, and a tattoo reading “Shhh…” on his right index finger. Matching photos showed Celeste had an identical “Shhh…” tattoo on her right index finger, and prosecutors also presented a photograph of a severed hand found with Celeste’s remains that included the ring and little finger.

    The small Los Angeles courtroom was filled to capacity long before the hearing got underway Tuesday. Members of the press, independent content creators from YouTube and TikTok, and curious members of the public entered a public lottery to win one of the limited number of public seats, and a tense, anticipatory hush fell over the room when Burke was led into the courtroom. Clad in a standard-issue orange jail uniform and shackled at the wrists and ankles, Burke remained chained to his defense table throughout the entire proceeding. He offered a brief smile to his legal team before responding politely to the judge’s opening comments, and otherwise remained quiet during the day’s testimony.

    The preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue over multiple additional days, with prosecutors set to call additional witnesses to build their case that sufficient evidence exists to move the murder case to a full jury trial.

  • A once wary Hollywood slowly warms to AI

    A once wary Hollywood slowly warms to AI

    For years, Hollywood viewed artificial intelligence with deep suspicion, but a quiet shift is underway across the global film and television industry. What began as a source of widespread anxiety, triggering major labor unrest just two years ago, has evolved into growing collaboration between major studios, streaming platforms, and AI startups – with industry leaders uniformly emphasizing that human-led creative work will remain at the heart of filmmaking. As recently as 2025, Shadowbox Studios COO Mike Mosallam acknowledged to entertainment outlet Variety that the industry is still coming to terms with AI’s expanding role. The initial reaction to generative AI in Hollywood was defensive, rooted in widespread uncertainty about the technology’s impact. Major studios feared their vast libraries of copyrighted intellectual property would be exploited without permission, while actors raised alarms that AI could reduce human performers to mere source data for digital replications. These concerns became a core negotiating issue that drove the 2023 Hollywood actors’ strike, one of the longest work stoppages in the industry’s recent history. Early adopters who experimented with early AI tools also encountered clear technical limitations: from digital characters with misformed six-fingered hands to disjointed, unnatural mouth movements that pulled audiences out of stories. The tide began to turn dramatically in early March of this year, when streaming giant Netflix announced its acquisition of little-known AI startup InterPositive for an impressive $587 million. The small firm, founded just three years prior in 2022 by industry veteran Ben Affleck (who boasts credits as a producer, director, and actor), has built an AI platform specifically designed to streamline and support film and television production workflows. The wave of industry investment continued into early June, when major studio Lionsgate took a strategic stake in Runway, one of the most prominent developers of AI-generated video technology. The pair have since partnered to develop original creative projects that leverage Runway’s tools. Just days after Lionsgate’s announcement, tech giant Google made a similar complementary move, investing in acclaimed independent production studio A24 to support AI integration in its slate of projects. Recent industry projects, from national ad campaigns to independent short films, demonstrate that AI video technology has crossed a key quality threshold – even when generating human characters for on-screen stories. As Runway stated in a public update back in May, “In many cases, if the story is strong enough, the technology is now good enough to become invisible.” Runway Chief Creative Officer Jamie Umpherson explained that as the technology has advanced at a pace “unimaginable a couple of years ago,” industry professionals have rapidly improved their ability to use AI tools effectively. “There’s more familiarity than there was even a year ago,” he noted, adding that this growing comfort frees up creative teams to dedicate more time and energy to refining core story and visual style rather than grappling with logistical production hurdles. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos echoed this sentiment during the company’s mid-July earnings presentation, highlighting that AI is already delivering tangible production benefits. “We’re making higher quality output more quickly and efficiently than we could have using traditional methods,” he said. Sarandos confirmed that generative AI workflows have already been deployed across roughly 300 Netflix original titles, with most use cases concentrated in post-production. “We’re leveraging GenAI for really complicated shots and sequences that would be far more time-consuming or costly to create through traditional methods,” he added. To date, Netflix has focused AI integration primarily on the peripheral stages of production, from visualizing creative concepts during pre-production to handling color grading after principal photography wraps – a hybrid approach that leaves core creative work in human hands. Independent director and producer Jon Erwin, a leading adopter of new AI production methods, shares the view that the core of cinematic craft will remain untouched by automation. “Actors drive all the performances, and we use these tools to amplify the sets and the scope of the shows,” Erwin explained. “But we preserve the core of the filmmaking process, which is the relationship between the actor, the director and the camera. These tools do not replace that.” Back in April, Erwin’s production company Wonder Project launched a joint venture named Innovative Dreams with Luma AI, a Runway competitor specializing in AI-generated visual content. Together, the partners developed a revolutionary new production process that eliminates the need for green screens and motion capture suits entirely, allowing actors to perform naturally on a minimal set before AI generates a hyper-realistic surrounding digital environment. Erwin dubs the approach “hybrid” or “nonlinear” filmmaking. The technology is fast enough that the AI-generated backdrop can be processed and added to a scene just minutes after filming wraps, giving directors an instant preview of the final shot and allowing them to reshoot immediately if adjustments are needed, rather than waiting until post-production to catch flaws. The first full-length feature film created with this method, *Young Washington* starring William Franklyn-Miller alongside Oscar winner Ben Kingsley and two Golden Globe winners, has already earned more than $40 million at the global box office – double its entire production budget. While the new AI-augmented production ecosystem still relies on skilled technicians, actors, and camera crews, the question of how many traditional roles will remain in demand as AI adoption grows remains unresolved. High-profile actor Matt Damon has publicly voiced concern about the long-term impact of cost-cutting driven by AI, noting that big-budget location shoots like Christopher Nolan’s upcoming *The Odyssey*, which filmed across three continents, may become a thing of the past. “I don’t think people are going to be given the resources to shoot movies that way for much longer,” Damon warned. To date, Hollywood’s biggest traditional studio powerhouses – including Paramount, Universal, Sony, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. – have not announced major public investments or partnerships in AI production technology, staying officially on the sidelines of the current AI shift. But Tanya Porquez, CEO of Generated Group, which recently launched a searchable database of AI-generated video content for the industry, predicts that this public hesitation will not last. “Studios will have to get on board. Not because they necessarily want to, but I think it’s just the wave,” Porquez said. The industry’s shift from AI anxiety to gradual integration is well underway, with early results already proving the technology’s ability to cut costs, speed up production, and expand creative scope – even as open questions remain about its long-term impact on jobs and traditional filmmaking practices.

  • US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

    US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

    On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in the United States reversed a lower court’s 2025 order that had required the Trump administration to release Palestinian-American permanent resident Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, delivering a significant blow to free speech advocates and supporters of Palestinian rights.

    While the ruling does not explicitly mandate that law enforcement re-arrest Mahdawi, legal analysts warn it establishes a troubling precedent that will narrow pathways for Green Card holders to secure release from immigration detention when challenging their incarceration through claims of violated First Amendment rights.

    Mahdawi, 35, was a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs when he was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. His detention came directly after he joined campus protests condemning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which the original reporting describes as genocide. The activist, who holds U.S. permanent resident status, was apprehended by ICE in mid-April of last year, while he was attending a routine interview to process his application for U.S. citizenship in Vermont.

    Following his detention, Vermont-based U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford granted Mahdawi release on bond, ruling that as a permanent legal resident, he was entitled to the same First Amendment free speech protections extended to U.S. citizens. But the Manhattan-headquartered Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling this week, holding that Crawford lacked legal jurisdiction over the matter — arguing the case should have been adjudicated exclusively in immigration court.

    A Palestinian born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Mahdawi relocated to the U.S. a decade ago. In 2023, he co-founded Columbia University’s Palestinian Student Union alongside Mahmoud Khalil, a high-profile leader in the national pro-Palestinian student movement who has also been targeted by the Trump administration. Tuesday’s appeals court decision aligns with a nearly identical ruling issued by another U.S. appeals court earlier this year, which also found the lower court judge that granted Khalil release from detention lacked jurisdiction to hear his case. Like Mahdawi, Khalil is also a Green Card holder.

    Notably, neither case has resulted in a formal ruling on the substance of the two activists’ First Amendment claims. But taken together, the dual jurisdiction rulings create a new legal barrier that will make it far more difficult for non-citizens held in immigration detention to challenge their imprisonment on the grounds that their detention violates their constitutional free speech rights.

    In July, Khalil filed a federal lawsuit against senior Trump administration officials, as well as conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation and pro-Israel advocacy groups Betar and Canary Mission. The suit seeks financial damages for what it alleges is an unlawful conspiracy targeting pro-Palestinian activists. It claims Khalil’s targeting was motivated by explicit anti-Palestinian bias, and that private anti-Palestinian organizations colluded with senior administration officials to target Khalil and other advocates for Palestinian human rights.

  • AFL 2026: Melbourne veteran Jack Viney takes ‘steps forward’ to return from injury

    AFL 2026: Melbourne veteran Jack Viney takes ‘steps forward’ to return from injury

    The old adage that a week can turn fortunes upside down in Australian Rules football has never rung more true for Melbourne Demons veteran Jack Viney. Just seven days ago, Demons acting coach Steven King publicly confirmed the club was on the verge of writing off the midfielder’s 2026 season entirely, as a persistent, debilitating back injury had derailed his training and match availability for months.

    But in a sudden, encouraging turnaround, Viney took part in the full team training session at Melbourne’s Casey Fields base on Wednesday morning, marking a clear step forward in his rehabilitation that has reopened the door for his return to the pitch this year. King told reporters post-session that the 29-year-old hard-nosed onballer had responded far better to an increased training load than medical and coaching staff had anticipated.

    “Sometimes when you ramp up a player’s load after an extended injury break, their body either can’t handle the stress or it adapts positively – and right now, Jack is moving in the right direction,” King explained. “We might have finally gotten past that stubborn barrier that was stopping him from stringing multiple sessions together. I’m not going to put a hard timeline on his return, though – he could get three-quarters of the way through a session tomorrow and feel sore again. That’s just how back injuries go.”

    The coach emphasized that the club never fully closes the door on any injured player’s comeback, adding that Viney’s progress is a welcome boost as the Demons begin to get multiple long-term injured players back in the fold. “We focus on the guys we have available week to week, so when you get some much-needed depth back on the list, it’s a nice little bonus,” King said. “Right now, we’ve got a few players who’ve been out for a long time starting to push for selection, and that gives us a lot more flexibility with our team structure.”

    While Viney won’t be suiting up for Melbourne’s high-stakes Friday night clash against league contenders Geelong, he will be joined in the stands by another returning injured star: improved key defender Daniel Turner. Turner was forced out of last round’s win over North Melbourne with a rib injury that required hospital assessment, and was initially ruled out for four weeks of game time.

    King called Turner’s absence for the Geelong game a significant loss, noting that “he’s emerged as one of the best key defenders in the competition this season, and he’s really hard to replace.” Even so, the coach expressed confidence the Demons have enough cover to step up, with several options already in the selection frame.

    “Tom McDonald is a veteran option who can swing down back, Lucas Cook is back fit after his own injury layoff, Xavier Taylor has been in great form at the VFL level, and Harrison Petty is available for selection this week and can easily slot into the defensive line,” King outlined. “We’ll get through Thursday’s final training session, then the match committee will sit down and work out the best match-up for Geelong’s forward group.”

    In further positive injury news for the Demons, Christian Salem is also nearing a comeback, while Changkuoth Jiath is considered a potential inclusion for Friday night despite being forced off the ground with a minor injury in last week’s win.

  • ‘This will be your legacy’: Aoun seeks financing for Lebanon, pressure on Israel

    ‘This will be your legacy’: Aoun seeks financing for Lebanon, pressure on Israel

    On a historic Tuesday at the White House, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun sat down for his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, marking the first Oval Office gathering between leaders of the two nations in 16 years. Aoun, who took office just two weeks before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, had long waited for this high-stakes diplomatic opportunity, with the last Lebanese president to visit the Oval Office being Michel Sleiman alongside former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.

    Opening the press availability with diplomatic grace, Aoun addressed Trump in English, saying, “Been looking forward to this visit for a very long time, meeting such a great president like yourself.” The remark drew a lighthearted response from Trump, who joked, “See, he knows how to get to me. Now he can have anything he wants.”

    Behind the cordial opening exchanges lay stark, urgent priorities that Aoun brought to the table. Lebanon’s new president arrived in Washington seeking three core outcomes: consistent, committed U.S. diplomatic engagement that increases pressure on Israel to end its occupation of southern Lebanon, expanded military financing for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and substantial international support for reconstructing the war-ravaged southern region of the country. What Aoun left with, however, was far more modest: a White House announcement that U.S. commercial airlines would be permitted to resume direct flights to Lebanon, a service that has been suspended for 40 years.

    The ban on direct U.S. flights was first imposed by the Ronald Reagan administration in 1985, after Hezbollah operatives hijacked TWA Flight 847 to demand the release of Lebanese citizens held in Israeli custody. In a post on his social media platform TruthSocial, Trump wrote, “I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all US airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land.”

    Regional analysts note that even this limited concession carries some upside for Lebanon. “It’s a win [for Aoun] if it’s easier for people to travel to Lebanon in a safe fashion,” Anthony Wanis-St John, a conflict resolution professor at American University in Washington D.C., told Middle East Eye. Still, the practical benefit of restored flights remains contingent on broader stability: until open hostilities between Lebanon and Israel end, American tourists are unlikely to visit in significant numbers.

    Like every Arab leader who has met with Trump at the Oval Office over the past 18 months, Aoun has stressed that only Trump holds the unique leverage to curb Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. Aoun made his long-term goal clear to reporters, stating, “The ultimate objective [is] ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel forever.” He added, turning to Trump, “I think, Mr President, this will be your legacy.”

    The conflict that has ravaged southern Lebanon dates back to October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Since Israel launched its counteroffensive and occupied large swathes of southern Lebanon in March 2025, more than 4,300 Lebanese people have been killed.

    In a surprising shift from longstanding U.S. policy, Trump acknowledged Hezbollah’s outsized influence in Lebanese politics and its critical role in any future peace framework, telling reporters, “I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah – you know he’s lived with Hezbollah for a long time – if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.” However, Aoun’s visit was rooted in a core goal: affirming that the Lebanese state is the sole legitimate authority in the country, making it extremely unlikely he would approve such a meeting. Hezbollah has been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government since 1997.

    When pressed on concerns raised by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that armed confrontation between the LAF and Hezbollah could spark a new Lebanese civil war, Aoun pushed back on the idea of widespread division. Aoun noted that Berri, leader of the Amal Movement, a Shia political party aligned with Hezbollah, is originally from southern Lebanon and has watched the region’s destruction firsthand. “He really wants to see the end of this war,” Aoun said. “He’s actually supporting what we are doing, but we need to be careful. His position as a speaker and as a leader of the Shia community, we have to understand how critical is his position.” Aoun also emphasized that the current negotiation framework falls under the constitutional prerogative of the presidency and does not require parliamentary endorsement.

    In the lead-up to the meeting, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa hinted that Aoun would not leave Washington empty-handed. But after the nearly two-hour meeting, Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs and a member of the Trump family through marriage, told reporters that the main outcome of the meeting was advancing implementation of the June 26 U.S.-brokered framework for southern Lebanon. Pilot zone operations for the agreement launched just one day before the meeting, in the southern Lebanese villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya, overseen by an international military coordination group.

    The core premise of the pilot zones is straightforward: as Israeli forces redeploy out of the area, the LAF will move in to take control and implement disarmament of Hezbollah fighters. But Trump clarified on Tuesday that this is not a full Israeli withdrawal, saying Israeli troops are only “in the process of redeploying to other sections” of southern Lebanon.

    That distinction has led many regional analysts to dismiss the pilot plan as a largely symbolic step that fails to address Lebanon’s core demand for full sovereignty. “In other words, the implication is Israel is staying on Lebanese territory,” said Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC. “It doesn’t solve the issue of sovereignty for Lebanon. It doesn’t solve the issue of foreign occupation for Lebanon. It does not offer the Lebanese government any potential to kind of go back to Hezbollah and say, ‘See, it’s working partially – a small area, but it’s working.’ So it’s basically a small step to nowhere.”

    Wanis-St John added that ongoing Israeli violence and occupation in the south is ironically boosting Hezbollah’s popular support among Lebanese, even as the group faces growing backlash over the enormous human cost of the conflict. “While Hezbollah is losing popularity on its own accord among the Lebanese because of the high cost of death and displacement, the Israelis go and make them more popular by staying and being extremely violent,” he explained.

    When asked what leverage the U.S. holds to push Hezbollah to comply with the disarmament framework, Boulos hinted at continued punitive action, referencing existing sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on entities linked to the group. “There are always options,” he said. “It’s going to take time. This is not easy. Nobody believes for a second that this is going to be an easy task in any way. But we are determined – President Trump is absolutely determined – to see this through. He is the president of peace, as we all know.”

    Aaron David Miller, a veteran U.S. Middle East negotiator who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, wrote on social media ahead of the meeting that unless Aoun could secure a massive expansion of U.S. training, weapons, and intelligence support for the LAF, any agreement would amount to little more than political performance. In line with that speculation, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering a new program to vet and train elite LAF units specifically to counter Hezbollah’s well-entrenched and heavily armed fighters.

    Many analysts argue the U.S. is currently pursuing a waiting game tied to Israel’s upcoming legislative elections, scheduled for the end of October. “What the US is trying to do is keep the process alive somehow until the Israeli elections take place, and there is a government – this government or a new one – that can deliver,” Jahshan explained. “In the interim, Lebanon has no choice under its current leadership but to put up with what are essentially promises. Undeliverable promises.” Wanis-St John echoed this analysis, noting, “This is definitely tied to Israeli political and electoral cycles.”

    Boulos pushed back on this characterization when questioned by reporters, insisting, “There is no direct link. The agreement is an agreement that is going to be implemented step by step. It’s not a question of specific dates that are cast in stone. There is a verification mechanism. We have to give it a chance. It has to work and it’s going to work.”

    The meeting also included a small, awkward unscripted moment: during the press availability, Trump referenced his Middle East envoy Tom Barrack, noting Barrack is of Lebanese descent, but failed to mention Boulos, who is married to Trump’s youngest daughter Tiffany, even after Aoun gestured to Boulos to draw him to Trump’s attention. Boulos was present in the Oval Office for the meeting but did not receive a public shoutout from the U.S. president.

  • Wagering giant Tabcorp slapped with $2.7m fine over ‘serious’ marketing breaches

    Wagering giant Tabcorp slapped with $2.7m fine over ‘serious’ marketing breaches

    One of Australia’s biggest gambling and wagering operators, Tabcorp, has incurred a $2.7 million penalty for widespread violations of the country’s spam and telemarketing consumer protection laws, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has confirmed.

    The federal regulator’s investigation uncovered a pattern of non-compliant marketing activity spanning from February 2024 through mid-2025, targeted specifically at the company’s high-value VIP customer base. ACMA’s findings show Tabcorp placed nearly 4,000 unsolicited marketing calls to these customers that failed to meet basic disclosure requirements, with no clear statement of the company’s identity or the promotional purpose of the call. Of those unauthorized calls, 351 went to numbers registered on the national Do Not Call Register, and an additional 82 were placed outside of legally permitted calling hours.

    In a separate 16-day period in 2025, the company also sent more than 217,000 unsolicited marketing emails and text messages to customers who had already explicitly unsubscribed from Tabcorp’s marketing communications. This marks the second major penalty imposed on the wagering giant in 2025: just months earlier in June, Tabcorp was ordered to pay more than $4 million in fines for separate violations involving non-compliant marketing messages sent to VIP clients.

    ACMA’s investigation into the earlier case found that between February and May 2024, Tabcorp sent nearly 2,600 SMS and WhatsApp marketing messages that failed to include a required unsubscribe option. More than 3,100 additional messages during that same period lacked clear, accurate sender identification, and 11 messages were sent to customers who had never given consent to receive marketing communications.

    ACMA board member Samantha Yorke emphasized that the company’s conduct is unacceptable, particularly given the well-documented harms linked to excessive gambling marketing. “When people join the Do Not Call Register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice that must be respected,” Yorke explained. “This is especially critical given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm that come from unregulated gambling marketing. The scale and range of these breaches point to serious, systemic weaknesses in Tabcorp’s compliance systems.”

    When determining the size of the most recent penalty, ACMA did take into account mitigating factors: the company self-reported the latest violations, the non-compliant activity was limited to a 16-day window, and the customers affected had only withdrawn consent for marketing through one specific channel, not all communications.

    In a formal statement provided to NewsWire, a Tabcorp spokesperson acknowledged the regulator’s findings and committed to improving the company’s compliance framework. “We’re committed to being a compliant company and commenced a whole business transformation under new leadership at the end of 2024,” the spokesperson said. “Tabcorp assisted the ACMA throughout the investigation and will continue to work closely with all regulators as we continue our transformation.”

  • UK humanitarian worker monitored for Ebola in London hospital

    UK humanitarian worker monitored for Ebola in London hospital

    A British-resident humanitarian worker deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC to support local Ebola outbreak response operations has been evacuated to the United Kingdom for medical care following a potential occupational exposure to the deadly virus, public health officials confirmed this week.

    The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) emphasized in an official statement that the evacuated individual, who has not been publicly identified, is currently not showing any symptoms of Ebola infection. The evacuation and subsequent hospitalization were undertaken purely as a precautionary measure, the agency added. As of the latest update, the worker remains in good health while undergoing continuous assessment and monitoring at an undisclosed London hospital.

    While the facility has not been named, public health sources confirm the Royal Free Hospital in north London – which hosts the UK’s national high-level isolation unit and serves as the country’s primary treatment center for high-consequence infectious diseases – is the likely site of care. Per UK public health protocols, the worker will remain in isolation for the full duration of Ebola’s 2 to 21 day incubation period, the maximum window for symptoms to emerge after exposure.

    Ebola is classified as a high-risk pathogen that spreads exclusively through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, unlike respiratory viruses such as influenza or COVID-19 which transmit via airborne particles. Initial symptoms of infection typically onset suddenly, mirroring early signs of flu or malaria including fever, headaches and fatigue. As the infection progresses, patients often develop vomiting and diarrhea, which can progress to organ failure. While not universal for all cases, internal and external bleeding is a known complication of advanced Ebola infection.

    Richard Pebody, UKHSA’s director of epidemic and emerging infections, sought to reassure the public that the incident poses very little danger to the wider UK population. “The risk to the general public remains low,” Pebody said in the statement. “This individual has been transferred out of an abundance of caution, and we’re pleased they remain well.”

    UKHSA also confirmed that as of this update, there are no confirmed cases of active Ebola transmission within the UK. Previous Ebola exposure events in the UK occurred between 2014 and 2015, when three healthcare workers returning from West African outbreak zones tested positive for the virus. All three patients recovered fully, and no secondary transmission to the general public was recorded in any of those cases.

    The current evacuation comes amid a major ongoing Ebola outbreak centered in the DRC that has spread to neighboring Uganda. As of July 19, DRC government data collated by the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 2,423 confirmed cases of Ebola since the outbreak was first declared in mid-May, including 967 fatalities and 469 recoveries. Uganda has reported an additional 20 confirmed cases and two deaths linked to the regional outbreak.

    This current outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a variant for which no licensed vaccine is currently available, although multiple candidate vaccines are in late stages of development. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has categorized the event as the third-worst Ebola outbreak recorded in modern history.

  • Khan faces historic removal vote as critics warn ICC process has been politicised

    Khan faces historic removal vote as critics warn ICC process has been politicised

    In an unprecedented development for the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court’s 123 member states will convene, The Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the court’s governing body, will hold a secret ballot on Friday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, to decide whether to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from office over unproven allegations of professional and sexual misconduct. This vote marks the first time in the ICC’s 24-year history that member states have been asked to remove a sitting chief prosecutor from their post, a moment that threatens to shake the foundation of the world’s preeminent international war crimes tribunal.

    To pass the motion to dismiss Khan, an absolute majority of 63 votes is required. But even before ballots are cast, the process has been mired in controversy over procedural unfairness and widespread claims of political manipulation. Khan’s legal team has already sounded the alarm that they have been completely barred from participating in Friday’s session, denied the basic right to mount a formal defense of their client ahead of the vote. In a public statement released Tuesday, attorneys Tayab Ali and Sareta Ashraph condemned ASP President for shutting down every formal avenue through which they could address the full assembly, and for pressuring all member states to refuse informal meetings with the legal team.

    “The right under the rules to address you on the substantive decision of misconduct has been flatly denied to us,” the statement read. “We know of no court or tribunal in any proper and fair legal system that bars a person facing the gravest professional sanction from being heard.” The result of the secret ballot is expected to be announced publicly by the end of Friday.

    The vote centers on disputed findings released by the ASP Bureau last month, which concluded Khan engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a female staff member in his office, identified by CNN as “Sarah”, citing an unacceptable power imbalance between the prosecutor and the complainant. But the Bureau’s findings directly contradict earlier legal and investigative conclusions, and they even diverge from the core of the complainant’s own account. Sarah has publicly stood by her allegation of non-consensual sexual conduct, while Khan has repeatedly and categorically denied any sexual relationship ever took place.

    The allegations first triggered an external investigation conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which also examined three separate claims that Khan retaliated against ICC staff who raised concerns. After the OIOS compiled its evidence, a three-judge independent panel was tasked with reviewing the probe’s findings to determine if misconduct had been proven under the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required by court rules. In March, the panel delivered a unanimous ruling: the OIOS investigation failed to establish any misconduct or breach of duty by Khan. The ASP Bureau has also declined to uphold any misconduct findings related to the retaliation claims.

    Despite this independent judicial clearing, a majority of ASP Bureau members voted to disregard the panel’s conclusion and move forward with dismissal proceedings, suspending Khan and referring the matter to the full membership for a final vote. Critics have widely panned this decision as proof the entire process has been politicized, a charge that has gained further traction after the Bureau altered long-standing voting rules specifically for this case.

    Originally, removal proceedings required a two-stage vote: members would first vote on whether misconduct was proven, then vote separately on whether removal was justified. The Bureau changed the process to a single up-or-down vote on a combined motion that both accepts the Bureau’s finding of serious misconduct and approves Khan’s immediate dismissal. Khan’s legal team has decried this mid-process rule change as fundamentally unlawful and unfair, noting that altering procedures to the disadvantage of an individual facing professional ruin without advanced notice violates basic standards of due process.

    Political context has only deepened concerns about the politicization of the process. The disciplinary proceedings against Khan were initiated shortly after he made the landmark decision two years ago to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas leaders, over alleged war crimes committed during the ongoing Gaza conflict that began in October 2023. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued extraordinary open threats to “dismantle the ICC brick by brick” if the court continued its work on the Palestine investigation, and the U.S. has already imposed sanctions on most ICC judges and prosecutors including Khan over the Palestine and Afghanistan investigations.

    Over 160 Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations released a joint statement last week arguing that the disciplinary process against Khan “has been reduced to a political referendum following the national interests of individual States Parties.” Former European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also openly criticized the ASP, saying the body is holding a “political vote” to oust Khan despite the judicial panel’s unanimous finding clearing him of all wrongdoing. Borrell emphasized that the campaign against Khan is part of a broader global offensive targeting the ICC’s independence, directly tied to U.S. and other powers’ opposition to the arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.

    A full timeline of the allegations also undermines claims that Khan rushed the arrest warrant application to distract from the misconduct claims. Multiple independent reports have confirmed that the decision to move forward with the warrants was made six weeks before the allegations against Khan were first made public in May 2024, and the official application was submitted after the first internal ICC investigation into the claims had already been opened and closed due to the complainant’s refusal to cooperate with the court’s own oversight body. The allegations resurfaced publicly in October 2024, leading to a second internal investigation that again closed when the complainant declined to participate, prompting the ASP to commission the external OIOS probe.

    If the motion to dismiss Khan passes, the removal would take effect immediately, and new elections for chief prosecutor would be scheduled shortly after. Khan has already confirmed he will appeal any dismissal ruling to the International Labour Organization’s Administrative Tribunal, the independent body that handles employment appeals for ICC staff.

    Elected as the third ICC chief prosecutor in the court’s history in February 2021, Khan has pursued an unusually broad agenda during his tenure, opening investigations and pursuing arrest warrants against sitting and former heads of state including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Myanmar’s junta leadership, and Taliban officials in Afghanistan, in addition to the warrants he is pursuing for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Now, both Khan’s personal future and the institutional independence of the ICC hang in the balance, as member nations prepare to cast a vote that could reshape the court’s legacy for decades to come.

  • Designing a Tour de France route: a three-year labour of love

    Designing a Tour de France route: a three-year labour of love

    For millions of cycling fans around the world, the Tour de France is as much a celebration of sweeping French landscapes and cultural heritage as it is a test of elite athletic endurance. What many viewers do not see, however, is the years of meticulous work that go into building every edition’s iconic route, a labor of love that begins three full years before the first rider crosses the starting line. The process kicks off when Tour director Christian Prudhomme selects the host city for the opening Grand Depart, then locks in the overall direction of the 21-stage race. From a pool of 300 candidate towns—including 50 located outside France—Prudhomme curates the start and finish locations for every stage, balancing a wide range of competing priorities to create a route that satisfies both riders and fans.

    Prudhomme explains that if the course was designed purely around sporting challenges, every edition would center on southern France, a region that can accommodate every type of terrain from flat sprint stages to grueling high-altitude mountain climbs. But the Tour has a long-standing commitment to showcasing all corners of the country, so over a four to five-year rotation, the route visits fan-favorite regions including cycling-rich Brittany, the passionately supportive north, and crowd-packed Normandy. Beautiful natural scenery is a non-negotiable core requirement, Prudhomme notes, as millions of casual viewers tune in as much to see France’s diverse landscapes as they do to follow the race competition. Extra care is also given to stages scheduled on weekends and Bastille Day, France’s national holiday, which draw the largest global television audiences. Certain iconic climbs are also mandatory: even if a route includes dozens of mountain passes, fans will always consider the course incomplete without legendary ascents like Col du Tourmalet, Col du Galibier, Mont Ventoux, or Alpe d’Huez.

    Beyond athletic and viewership priorities, the team weaves historical and cultural storytelling into the route whenever possible. In 2023, for example, the race passed through Castelnau-Magnoac, the hometown of French national rugby captain Antoine Dupont, ahead of the Rugby World Cup hosted in France. In 2014, to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, seven full stages traced the path of the original Western Front, turning the race into a moving centennial tribute. “I love it when a stage can be viewed in different ways,” Prudhomme says of these layered design choices.

    Once Prudhomme finalizes the list of 21 start and finish towns, the work shifts to Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour’s route director, who maps the exact 3,500-kilometer path the peloton will follow. The process for the next edition gets underway immediately after the current Tour finishes on the Champs-Élysées each July. “At the end of August, Christian gives me the list of stage towns,” Gouvenou explained. “From that point, it takes up my whole time. Generally, I design the course in one month because it has to be finished by September 25.”

    Gouvenou starts by using digital mapping and cycling apps to draft the route, while also sorting through hundreds of unsolicited suggestions from passionate cycling fans across the country. Next, he drives the candidate route to inspect potential trouble spots, particularly in dense town centers, where unexpected hazards—such as traffic calming speed bumps or narrow streets—can create major safety risks for a peloton of more than 180 riders racing at high speed. Once the route is finalized, Gouvenou and his team drive every single kilometer of every stage to document hazards, map the route layout, and mark locations for intermediate sprints and climb summit finish lines. The full route is then officially unveiled in Paris each October, nine months before the first stage kicks off.

    Even after the official reveal, last-minute crises can force changes, as seen in the 2024 edition, when the second stage had to be rerouted at the last minute to avoid an area hit by an outbreak of swine flu. Gouvenou, a former professional cyclist, says regional partners work tirelessly to resolve last-minute issues, often pulling off what he calls “10 miracles” to keep the route on track despite unforeseen challenges.

  • Chile’s Congress puts President Kast’s economic overhaul on track to becoming law

    Chile’s Congress puts President Kast’s economic overhaul on track to becoming law

    SANTIAGO, Chile — Less than four months into his term as Chile’s conservative president, José Antonio Kast has secured a critical legislative win, as the nation’s Congress has greenlit nearly all outstanding amendments to his ambitious, market-focused tax and economic overhaul. The approval comes as the conservative leader grapples with pressing economic headwinds that have slowed activity across one of Latin America’s most prosperous economies.

    Kast, who took office in early March, inherited a prolonged period of stagnant growth: official data shows Chile’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2026, extending months of lackluster expansion. Unemployment has also climbed, hitting 9.4% between March and May of this year — the highest jobless rate recorded in the nation since mid-2021.

    The sweeping reform package, the cornerstone of Kast’s economic agenda, is designed to inject new life into Chile’s private sector, accelerate job creation, and eliminate the country’s persistent fiscal deficit. Key provisions include a gradual cut to the corporate tax rate for large firms, dropping it from 27% to 23% over time; a full value-added tax exemption for newly constructed residential properties; new restrictions on which higher education institutions can participate in Chile’s popular free tuition program; and a clause allowing private companies to pursue financial compensation when environmental regulatory disputes delay planned infrastructure and investment projects.

    The bill first cleared the Senate last week, but upper house lawmakers made modifications to several provisions, forcing a return to the Chamber of Deputies for a final confirmation vote. On Tuesday, lower house legislators approved every adjusted article except for one minor provision outlining how municipal governments will receive compensation for foregone tax revenue from the package’s breaks. For the overhaul to formally become law, negotiators must now resolve this final outstanding sticking point.

    Speaking to reporters from Copiapó, a northern Chilean city where he is overseeing the government’s emergency response to severe seasonal storms, Kast celebrated the legislative progress. The president urged across-the-aisle cooperation to speed up resolution of the remaining issue, saying, “I hope all political sectors will work together so the remaining issue can be resolved quickly.”

    The 60-year-old leader campaigned on a platform of cracking down on rising violent crime and irregular migration, while also pledging to cut bloated public spending and unlock growth for the private sector. His election late last year marked the most dramatic rightward shift in Chilean politics since the end of the 1973-1990 military dictatorship, and Kast has explicitly promised a return to the market-centered economic policies that defined that era.

    Gilberto Aranda, a prominent Chilean political analyst, noted that the reforms represent a clear departure from the tempered neoliberal framework that has governed the country for decades. “The president’s efforts have essentially been focused on deepening and returning to the orthodox neoliberal model of the late 1970s and early 1980s,” Aranda explained. “What existed before was neoliberalism tempered by subsidies and other social protection measures.”

    Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz framed the overhaul as a critical step to restore investor confidence in Chile, cutting through burdensome red tape for new projects and making the nation’s tax code more competitive relative to regional peers. “We are enormously satisfied,” Quiroz told reporters after Tuesday’s vote.

    Opposition lawmakers have pushed back hard against the package, arguing that it disproportionately benefits large corporations and the nation’s wealthiest households. Left-wing parties have already vowed to challenge the legislation before Chile’s Constitutional Court once it is enacted.

    “It has become clear that all of José Antonio Kast’s talk about security, jobs and immigration was simply a Trojan horse to advance the project he truly cares about: cutting taxes for the richest Chileans,” said Constanza Martínez, president of the left-wing Broad Front coalition.