Image source: The Print, TOI, BNE and IntelliNews; Edited by Dinesh Raj M   President Donald Trump has struck a sharp blow to US-India trade ties, announcing a 25 per cent tariff plus an unspecified penalty on all Indian imports starting August 1, citing India's continued purchases of Russian oil and arms, high tariffs, and “obnoxious” trade barriers.  Hot off the Press As reported by Ajay Srivastava, Sidhartha and Pankaj Doval for The Times of India, Trump’s post on Truth Social linked the decision not just to trade surplus concerns but to India’s place in the BRICS grouping, calling it “an attack on the dollar.” T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan for The Hindu noted that New Delhi’s commerce ministry swiftly responded, stating the government is “studying its implications” and reaffirmed its commitment to securing national interest. The Economic Times added that high-level meetings were convened in India immediately, with top ministers including Piyush Goyal and S. Ja

With publishers across India losing organic traffic due to Google’s AI-generated summaries (AI Overviews), the tech giant will host the India News Summit 2025 on August 8 at its Ananta Office in Bengaluru, according to BestMediaInfo.   Launched in 2021 as part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), the summit has previously explored digital transition, revenue diversification, fact-checking, and audience growth. But this fourth edition, themed “Bridging the Gap,” faces heightened scrutiny as concerns mount over AI’s impact on news discoverability.  Google says the event will explore AI’s transformative role in newsrooms and strategies to reach younger news consumers. Yet for many publishers, the real “gap” remains visibility and value, with AI Overviews diverting clicks away from original reporting.  For the first time, the summit will be hybrid and offer sessions in five Indian languages, aiming to engage national, regional, and digital-native newsrooms al

Australia-based Surf publication Tracks Magazine has officially expanded to India with the launch of Tracks India, in partnership with TT Group.   The debut issue, Tracks India Issue 001, was launched during the official press conference of the Asian Surfing Championship.   According to Arun Vasu, managing editor at TT Group, the inaugural issue explores the untapped potential of India’s coastline, highlighting local surfers and coastal communities.   According to the official website, the expansion marks a significant step in fostering the love for surfing and other water sports across the region.   “By encouraging current athletes and inspiring newcomers to explore the sport both competitively and recreationally, Tracks India aims to become a vibrant platform for showcasing the finest talent and activities in India and around.”   Editor of Tracks India, Mitali Joshi, took to LinkedIn to express her happiness about taking on the new role.   “I moved

   The Australian has launched Wealth, a dedicated digital-first section aimed at help more Australians make smarter money choices. Some of the country's most experienced wealth and finance journalists have been assembled for the section.  Led by Wealth Editor Julie-anne Sprague, who joined The Australian to launch Wealth, the team includes Associate Editor - Wealth James Kirby, Personal Finance Writer Anthony Keane, and Digital Producer and Reporter Megan Neil. Editor Sprague, a former Perth radio presenter and podcast host, previously edited The Australian Financial Review Rich List during her 20-year career in business broadcasting and publishing. Wealth will also feature columns from leading Australian professionals across financial planning, funds management, and wealth creation, including James Gerrard, a leading financial planner, and Roger Montgomery, a fund manager with more than three decades of experience. They are joined by a team of financial planners providing

  Emily Griffiths has joined InDaily as a news producer, bringing a decade of experience in Adelaide media to the independent newsroom. Griffiths has expertise as a digital reporter and news producer, as well as a homepage and off-platform editor. She began her career in the media as a journalist at News Corp from 2011-2013, working across a range of platforms and mastheads, including the Messenger, adelaidenow.com.au, The Advertiser and Sunday Mail. Griffiths then moved into public relations, holding roles at Cancer Council SA, the Royal Society for the Blind and the Australian Dental Association SA Branch. After that she returned to News Corp Australia, where she has been a digital producer, homepage editor, digital reporter and off-platform editor since 2022. “I am a passionate storyteller, with more than a decade of experience in Adelaide newsrooms,” said Griffiths. “I look forward to sharing stories from across SA with a new audience at InDaily.”  

  AI’ll be back It’s nearly 100 years since the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell penned “In Praise of Idleness”, an essay in which he critiqued capitalist logic in the age of technological advancement. In it he asks the reader to imagine a pin factory in which a certain number of workers make all the pins the world needs by working 8 hours a day. Suppose an innovation suddenly allows the same workers to make twice as many pins in the same hours. In a rational system, Russell wrote, the workers would simply work 4 hours instead of 8 and everybody would enjoy increased leisure without loss of income. Awesome. But does that happen? No. In actual practice, hours aren’t reduced, twice as many pins are produced, and the surplus drives down prices and wages; or the same amount of pins are produced but half the workers are sacked. Yes, yes, antique Commie nonsense, obviously. Still, it sprang to mind afresh reading AFR tech writer Paul Smith’s front page

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has extended the deadline for submitting feedback on the proposed amendments to the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India by 30 days. Stakeholders and the public can now share comments on the draft, released on July 2, 2025, until September 1, 2025.  The draft policy proposes sweeping reforms to the decade-old Television Rating Points (TRP) guidelines, aiming to democratise the ratings ecosystem, foster competition, and capture the full spectrum of India’s increasingly digital-first content consumption.  A key concern is the outdated methodology overseen solely by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which excludes viewership from connected TV devices.   MIB has also flagged restrictive clauses and cross-holding limitations in the existing 2014 policy that have deterred new players, broadcasters, and advertisers from investing in or creating alternative measurement solutions, even when