BBC -Sir Chris Wormald has been forced out as the head of the Civil Service and cabinet secretary.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who only appointed Sir Chris to the role in December 2024, said he was grateful “for the support he has given me over the past year”.

The Cabinet Office said the move was “by mutual agreement” but it follows months of negative media reports suggesting Downing Street was unhappy with his performance.

His responsibilities will be shared by Catherine Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, Dame Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Home Office and James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Treasury, until a replacement is appointed “shortly”.

It makes Sir Chris the shortest-serving cabinet secretary in the history of the post.

At the time of his appointment, the PM said Sir Chris would be tasked with “the complete re-wiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform”.

However, as a career civil servant some questioned whether he was the best person to reform the Civil Service.

Sir Chris also had ultimate responsibility for the due diligence checks carried out before Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, although he took up the role only a few days before the appointment was formally announced.

He is the third senior official to leave the government operation in a matter of days, following Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and his director of communications Tim Allan, as the PM seeks to reset his team after the Mandelson scandal.

Downing Street has not denied reports that Sir Chris received a payout in the region of £250,000.

Lord O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary, told the BBC a senior civil servant’s exit payoff was “determined by the HR department and that turns on how many years he’s been in there”.

He said in his experience, the prime minister had to approve the payoff and decide whether it represented good value for money in such circumstances.

Lord O’Donnell said the handling of Sir Chris’s departure had been “shabby”.

He suggested Sir Chris had been the victim of anonymous briefings, which were “one of the biggest failings of government”.

He said the prime minister had to “get a grip on his special advisers”.

Nigeria on Friday said it will hold its presidential election on February 20 next year and announced a staggered timetable for legislative elections in Africa’s most populous country.

Election commission chief Joash Ojo Amupitan made the announcement and called the upcoming election a “significant milestone in our democratic journey”.

Elections to pick state governors will be held on March 6, 2027, he said.

Earlier this week, the upper house of the Nigerian parliament adopted — after pressure and protests — an amendment allowing live publication of election results, after initially rejecting it.

Over the past decade, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has introduced technology designed to improve the integrity of election results.

But this has had little success in boosting confidence in the results, and post-election litigation is commonplace.

Experts say public trust in the election process would improve if the country’s 176,000 polling units were forced to publish their results instantaneously on a centralised public website.

President Bola Tinubu was elected in February 2023 in the first round with around 36 per cent of the vote, defeating Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, and Peter Obi.

Obi has already declared that he will run again in the 2027 election.

To be elected in the first round, a candidate must win at least 25 per cent of the vote in more than two-thirds of the country’s 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory.

The move is follows the amendment of the India Technology Communications Axt 2021 .

The new law will be implemented from February 2026. “Under the new rules social media outlets myst pull down AI images and content within 2 to three hours”, the Madras High Court ruled.

This India move sets precedence for review of ICT and social media laws in Kenya.

Politician Esther Pasaris was in the eye of the storm after AI generator inappropriate photos went viral pitting her with Mumias South Mp Peter Salasya.

NEW YORK

Amazon’s home security subsidiary, Ring, has scrapped a planned partnership with Flock Safety, a company that provides automated license plate reader technology to law enforcement, the companies announced Friday.

The termination follows a wave of public backlash triggered by a Ring ad that aired during the Super Bowl, though the companies insist the decision was mutual and unrelated to the commercial.

The 30-second spot, which depicted a lost dog being found through a network of Ring cameras, sparked fears among privacy advocates of a dystopian surveillance society. However, the feature highlighted in the ad, called “Search Party,” is a separate consumer tool and was not connected to the now-defunct partnership with Flock.

Ring and Flock had announced plans last year to integrate their services, which would have allowed Ring camera owners to voluntarily share video footage in response to law enforcement requests made through Ring’s “Community Requests” feature.

In a statement, Ring said the integration was shelved after an internal review.

“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” the company said. “The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.”

Flock Safety, which provides law enforcement with AI-powered cameras and license plate readers, confirmed that it never received any Ring customer data.

The company echoed Ring’s characterization of the split as a mutual decision, allowing both businesses to “best serve their respective customers.”

In its own statement, Flock added that it “remains dedicated to supporting law enforcement agencies with tools that are fully configurable to local laws and policies.”

The terminated partnership marks a rare retreat for Ring, which has long faced criticism from privacy advocates over its close relationships with police departments and its vast network of user-owned cameras.

By James Kisoo

FAIRFAX, Va.

A Brazilian au pair who admitted to shooting her lover’s wife while the husband fatally stabbed another man in the couple’s bedroom was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, despite prosecutors recommending she go free for her cooperation.

Juliana Peres Magalhães, 24, wiped away tears as she addressed the court before the sentencing, apologizing for her role in the gruesome February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan.

“I know my remorse cannot bring you peace,” Magalhães told the victims’ families, her voice breaking with sobs. “I hope you can someday understand that I really did not believe his plan would actually happen.”

The case unraveled a deadly love triangle. Magalhães had been carrying on an affair with her employer, Brendan Banfield. According to court testimony, the pair conspired to kill Banfield’s wife, Christine, and Ryan, another man, in what prosecutors described as a coordinated attack.

Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of manslaughter and became the star witness for the prosecution. She testified that she fatally shot Joseph Ryan while Brendan Banfield stabbed his wife, Christine, in the couple’s home.

Brendan Banfield was convicted by a jury earlier this month of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife and Ryan.

Despite her cooperation, prosecutors had recommended Magalhães walk free, citing her testimony as crucial to securing Banfield’s conviction. But Judge Penney Azcarate rejected that recommendation, handing down the maximum possible sentence.

“Let’s get it straight: You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and his family,” the judge said. “May it weigh heavily on your soul.”

The sentence ensures Magalhães, a Brazilian national, will spend a decade in prison before facing potential deportation proceedings.

By James Kisoo

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump has revoked a landmark 2009 scientific finding that serves as the legal bedrock for U.S. climate action, announcing the move Thursday while making a series of false claims about the ruling, climate change, and energy policy.

The “endangerment finding,” issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act, formally declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare.

It has long been the central justification for federal regulations aimed at curbing climate change, from auto emissions standards to power plant restrictions.

But in striking it down, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin misrepresented both the basis of the finding and the science behind it.

WASHINGTON

They are titans of their fields: Nobel laureates, best-selling authors, pioneering scientists, and at least one university president.

For years, a who’s who of American academia orbited Jeffrey Epstein, maintaining relationships with the convicted sex offender well after his crimes came to light.

Now, facing a wave of scrutiny following a massive new document dump from the Justice Department, many are offering a blunt and uniform explanation: it was about the money.

“Epstein had money to give, and we needed it,” is the common refrain from scholars whose chummy emails and social visits with the disgraced financier have suddenly become public.

The trove of files reveals an academic entanglement far deeper than previously understood. Dozens of researchers are shown exchanging warm, familiar messages with Epstein, leaning on him to bankroll their projects.

They sent him gifts, visited him in New York and Florida, and in some cases, offered sympathy as he faced escalating fallout from his sex crimes.

The conversations captured in the emails span a wide range—from serious discussions about scientific research to personal exchanges touching on sex and romance.

The fallout is already mounting. At least one scholar has resigned in the wake of the revelations.

Yale University has removed another from teaching duties while it conducts a review of his conduct, signaling that for some, the association with Epstein is proving to be a reputational liability no amount of research funding can offset.

By James Kisoo

NEW YORK

Kathy Ruemmler, the high-powered general counsel of Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, announced her resignation Thursday following the release of documents revealing a previously undisclosed closeness with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The announcement marks a stunning fall for Ruemmler, 54, whose legal career was defined by landmark achievements: prosecuting Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling as a federal prosecutor, serving in senior roles throughout the Obama administration, and once being considered by the president for U.S. Attorney General.

But newly unearthed emails and correspondence, reviewed by The Associated Press, paint a far more personal relationship with Epstein than Ruemmler or Goldman Sachs had previously acknowledged.

The documents detail intimate exchanges, social plans, and gifts, suggesting a connection that extended well beyond the professional bounds Ruemmler had insisted upon.

Ruemmler had previously distanced herself from the disgraced financier, describing him as a “monster” and expressing regret for their association.

She maintained their contact was strictly professional, rooted in her work as a private defense attorney before joining Goldman.

The trove of correspondence, released in recent weeks, contradicts those assertions, revealing a friendship that persisted years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for sex crimes, which required him to register as a sex offender.

By James Kisoo

MINNEAPOLIS

Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into whether two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers lied under oath about the shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis last month, the agency’s director confirmed Friday.

ICE Director Todd Lyons announced that the agency, in conjunction with the Justice Department, opened the probe after video evidence contradicted the officers’ accounts.

The development comes on the same day a federal judge dismissed all charges against the man who was shot, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, as well as another Venezuelan national, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.

According to Lyons, the two officers—who have not been named—provided sworn testimony that “appears to have made untruthful statements,” a discovery made only after video of the incident came to light.

“Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” Lyons said, confirming that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is actively investigating. He added that the officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal probe. Depending on the findings, they could face termination or criminal prosecution.

The incident involved an ICE officer shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg. The charges against both men have since been dropped.

“The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct,” Lyons said in a statement.

“Violations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated. ICE remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and the fair enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”

By James Kisoo