Rachel Maddow says MSNBC laying off ‘non-white’ hosts and staff is ‘indefensible’

Majority of producers on Maddow and Joy Reid’s shows let go with option to re-apply amid network shake-up

MSNBC has told the majority of the employees who produce Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid’s primetime evening news shows they are being let go as part of the network’s programming overhaul with the option to apply for new roles, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.

Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers, the people said.

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Bibas family tells Netanyahu to ‘shut up,’ as he details the murders of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir – The Times of Israel

  1. Bibas family tells Netanyahu to ‘shut up,’ as he details the murders of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir  The Times of Israel
  2. Israel and Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact  The Associated Press
  3. Their Time Is Up  Tablet Magazine
  4. Bibas family learning details of murders from media and Netanyahu, relative says  Haaretz
  5. It's not over until it's over, today will only close one chapter - editorial  The Jerusalem Post
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BREAKING: A Peace Deal Has Been Reached Between Russia And Ukraine – Greek City Times – GreekCityTimes.com

  1. BREAKING: A Peace Deal Has Been Reached Between Russia And Ukraine - Greek City Times  GreekCityTimes.com
  2. Is there a deal to end Russia's war with Ukraine?  NPR
  3. A Ukraine ceasefire deal is starting to come into view. Would it work?  Vox.com
  4. Trump’s Art of the Deal turns around an unwinnable war against Ukraine  Fox News
  5. Trump is trying to clean up the mess created by Zelensky  Villages-News
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Gaza: Six babies have died from cold in two weeks, medics say – BBC.com

  1. Gaza: Six babies have died from cold in two weeks, medics say  BBC.com
  2. Seven babies die of hypothermia in Gaza, health officials say  CNN
  3. Father describes baby daughter’s death from the cold in Gaza  Al Jazeera English
  4. Newborns in Gaza are dying from the cold as fears rise over ceasefire's next phase  NBC News
  5. The Menace in Gaza That’s Still Terrifying All of Us Here  Slate
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ABC election guru Antony Green says it’s ‘time to retire’ as he prepares to leave on-air role

Analyst, who is about to turn 65, said the upcoming federal election would be the last he covers on air

The ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, has just announced that the upcoming federal election will be his last on-air with the ABC.

Green said on Wednesday morning it was “time to retire”.

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Newsom threatens to pull funds unless California cities crack down on homelessness

‘We’re not going to fund failure,’ says governor, who warned local authorities they could lose out on millions of dollars

California’s governor warned cities and counties that they could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they do not make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.

Gavin Newsom’s comments on Monday, while announcing $920m in funding to address the crisis, come as he escalates efforts to push local governments to take greater action. Last summer, Newsom told counties he could withhold state support if they failed to do more homeless encampment sweeps.

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Wes Streeting to axe thousands of jobs at NHS England after ousting of chief executive

NHS staff fear power grab by health department as health secretary looks to shrink body due to ‘duplication’ of roles

Wes Streeting will axe thousands of jobs at NHS England after his ousting of its chair and chief executive in what health service staff fear is a power grab.

The health secretary’s plan follows Amanda Pritchard’s shock announcement on Monday that she was stepping down as the organisation’s chief executive next month.

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Airport workers left stunned after ‘cutting man’s hair at security’ on his way into Amsterdam – LADbible

  1. Airport workers left stunned after ‘cutting man’s hair at security’ on his way into Amsterdam  LADbible
  2. Video. Colombian man caught with cocaine under toupee at Cartagena airport  Euronews
  3. Man caught with cocaine stash under toupee in Colombia  BBC.com
  4. Man caught trying to smuggle cocaine under a wig in Colombia  Sky News
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French fugitive whose escape left two officers dead extradited from Romania

Mohamed Amra’s arrest ends nine-month manhunt when armed assailants ambushed prison convoy in Normandy

A notorious French fugitive who staged a deadly escape that killed two guards last year has been extradited from Romania to France, days after his arrest in Bucharest ended a nine-month international manhunt.

Mohamed Amra, nicknamed “The Fly”, was arrested near a shopping centre in Bucharest on Saturday after being identified by Romanian police, despite having dyed his hair red, possibly to evade detection. The Bucharest court of appeal approved his extradition request on Sunday.

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Tim Westwood inquiry report: what new allegations against him have emerged?

The document contains a series of previously unpublished claims, including 22 from members of the public

The independent inquiry into what the BBC knew about the former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood’s conduct has been published almost three years after a joint investigation by the Guardian and BBC News.

The investigation told the stories of a number of women who accused the 67-year-old of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour.

“Hounded” a 17-year-old Black woman with phone calls and texts.

Invited a girl who was 15 or 16 back to his home following an under-16 night, after she had added him on Blackberry to get information about the event.

Contacted a woman who had shared her business card, and appeared agitated when she did not want to meet late at night.

“Hurled” a can of drink at a woman who was serving in a club.

A former BBC staff member told the corporation their son had witnessed Westwood propositioning a 15-year-old girl in a night club in around 2007. The BBC reported the complaint to the Metropolitan police, who took no action.

A BBC employee said in 2022 that a guest on Radio 1 had described potential sexual assault by Westwood between 2004 and 2007. They said they had reported it to a more senior employee, but White found no evidence the complaint had been documented. Westwood’s lawyers said he was never spoken to about the incident.

A student told the review about Westwood referring to her breasts during a 1Xtra DriveTime show in 2010, calling her “cuddly” and miming grabbing her breasts, which his lawyers say he strongly denies.

A Sun journalist contacted Radio 1 in November 2012 saying they had been given tipoffs about Westwood and “inappropriate relations with young girls”. A senior figure flagged allegations made about Westwood on Twitter to HR and the corporate investigations team, which decided that no action would be taken without further evidence.

White concluded that senior BBC staff did not think Westwood had had sexual contact with 15-year-old girls, but that the issue “ought to have been formally raised with him” and the online allegations should have been examined further.

“Many” BBC employees “perceived there to be a close relationship between the controllers and Tim Westwood”.

Witnesses felt they were unable to complain because of the “feeling that … senior management were likely to side with presenters”.

Westwood made repeated comments about guests and staff members’ bodies, particularly about women’s breasts.

Until Westwood was removed from the 1Xtra DriveTime show in 2012, “the approach appears to have been to raise issues informally … and, when the situation did not improve, to move BBC staff working on the 1Xtra DriveTime show to other programmes”.

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French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania – The Associated Press

  1. French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania  The Associated Press
  2. Nine-Month Manhunt for French Fugitive Finally Produces an Arrest  The New York Times
  3. French fugitive whose escape left two officers dead extradited from Romania  The Guardian
  4. Notorious fugitive known as "The Fly" arrested after deadly prison escape in France and 9-month manhunt  CBS News
  5. French prisoner 'The Fly' arrested nine months after deadly van ambush  BBC.com
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Starmer can only hope slashing aid to boost defence wins Trump’s favour

PM’s Washington trip clear impetus for abrupt news of budget switch to meet defence commitment by 2027

Before Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday, the prime minister thought it necessary to offer the president a gift. Britain’s defence spending will increase by 0.17 percentage points to 2.5% of GDP by April 2027, he told MPs in a hastily arranged Commons statement. The money, he added, would be taken directly from the overseas aid budget, whose level will be cut by nearly half to 0.3%.

The last measure is a remarkable turn for a Labour government. Uncomfortably, it comes at a time when Donald Trump wants to shut down perhaps the entire $40bn US aid budget – and at a stroke eliminates a signature commitment from the Blair-Brown years. It was back in 2004, when Tony Blair was prime minister, that Labour first committed to increasing aid spending to 0.7% of GDP.

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Farage’s trip to meet Musk was part-funded by former fraudster George Cottrell

Cottrell, who served eight months for fraud, paid £15,000 for Reform party leader’s flight to US in December

Nigel Farage’s trip to Florida where he met Elon Musk was part-funded by his friend and former fraudster George Cottrell, who paid for his £15,000 flight.

The Reform leader accepted the flight for his visit in December last year, when he was pictured smiling with Musk and the Reform party treasurer, Nick Candy.

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Three tropical cyclones are spinning in a row in the South Pacific – CNN

  1. Three tropical cyclones are spinning in a row in the South Pacific  CNN
  2. Multiple tropical cyclones churning in the Southern Hemisphere  Fox Weather
  3. There are 6 tropical storms in the Southern Hemisphere  Yahoo
  4. Three tropical cyclones are churning in the South Pacific — all at once  The Washington Post
  5. Tropical cyclone activity buzzing across the Southern Hemisphere  Fox Weather
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Starmer slashes aid to fund major increase in defence spending

Announcement prompts concerns that PM is pandering to US president and warnings over consequences of aid cuts

Keir Starmer has announced that Britain will “fight for peace in Europe” with a generational increase in defence spending paid for by slashing the foreign aid budget.

The move, just two days before the prime minister is due to meet Donald Trump, raised immediate concerns that he was pandering to the US president, and fury from aid groups that say it could cost lives in countries that rely on UK support.

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