Secretly

• Viral social media posts have falsely claimed that the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest was secretly bought, sparking widespread accusations of rigging. • These claims gained significant traction online, fueling a broader debate regarding the transparency of the competition's voting rules and promotional strategies. • The controversy highlights the vulnerability of high-profile international events to misinformation and the intense public scrutiny surrounding the contest's integrity.

As communities push for publicly owned electricity, private utilities may be deploying dark money and local front groups to stop themThe utility industry is quietly dispatching a network of front groups to thwart the growing push for public power across the US – a push that comes amid mounting frustration over sky-high utility bills, electric outages, a slow transition to clean energy and private utilities’ soaring profits.Communities from Ann Arbor, Michigan to San Diego, California and St Petersburg, Florida are exploring municipalizing their grids to join the country’s approximately 2,000 public power companies. Continue reading...

Exclusive: A Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia hears closed-session evidence from cigarette manufacturersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnti-smoking campaigners have accused the Coalition of secretly giving tobacco giants access to a parliamentary inquiry, a move they say undermines more than 15 years of precedent to protect public health.On Monday, representatives from tobacco company Philip Morris appeared before a Senate committee considering the illegal tobacco trade in Australia. Continue reading...