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Ex-YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki, Is Dead

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Former YouTube Chief Executive Officer, Susan Wojcicki, has died at the age of 56 after battling lung cancer, her husband announced on Friday.

Tech pioneer, who played an instrumental role in the rise of Google, is one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley.

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Wojcicki spent nearly two decades helping transform Google from the search engine startup that was launched in her garage to a global tech behemoth.

At YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006, Wojcicki helmed operations for nearly a decade, before stepping down last year to focus on her family, health and personal projects.

READ ALSO: FG To Pay Julius Berger N280bn To Complete Abuja- Kano Highway

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Her husband, Dennis Troper, wrote on Facebook that she had been living with lung cancer for the last two years. She and Troper had five children.

He wrote, “My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today.

“Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many. Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable.”

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Wojcicki was working at Intel when her friends Sergey Brin and Larry Page set up shop in the garage of her Menlo Park, California home in 1998.

A year later, she joined the company as its 16th employee and first marketing manager.

At Google, she played a role in creating image searches and worked on the acquisitions of YouTube and ad platform DoubleClick.

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READ ALSO: UK Opens Application For Chevening Scholarship

“She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, wrote on social media platform X.

“She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world, and I’m one of countless Googlers who is better for knowing her. We will miss her dearly.”

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Wojcicki was named the CEO of YouTube in 2014. She introduced new forms of ads and helped steer its growth by launching a streaming television service as viewers increasingly turned to the internet for shows and films.

She also oversaw the company as it navigated concerns over child privacy, hate speech and the spread of misinformation, notably during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wojcicki, who was four months pregnant when she joined Google, was a vocal advocate for paid parental leave, arguing in a 2014 opinion essay that it was good for businesses to offer generous policies.

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Alarming Food Shortage Forces People To Eat Animal Feed In Sudan

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Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a “gender emergency” in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.

Particularly hard hit is El Fasher, where hunger is growing, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warning of a deteriorating situation that is putting even more civilians’ lives at risk.

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UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq disclosed the alarming shortages of food in the war-torn country on Thursday at the UN Headquarters in New York.

With increasingly alarming food shortages and spiralling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation,” Haq said.

READ ALSO:US Justifies Sending Migrants To South Sudan

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El Fasher has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide at nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families.

This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country, Haq said.

These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation,” he added.

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He noted that engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is “more important than ever”.

READ ALSO:Over 1.3 Million Return To Homes In Sudan – UN

Similarly, OCHA’s Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said the suffering was immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to face communities in ruins.

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She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship.

Warnings also came from UN Women, the gender equality agency of the UN.

READ ALSO:At Least 19 Dead In Sudan Army Plane Crash

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“This crisis is a gender emergency,” Salvator Nkurunziza, the agency’s representative in Sudan, said.

Displaced women and girls can be subject to the risks of exploitation and abuse, especially during the delivery of aid, where protection mechanisms are weak or absent in some locations.”

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30 Injured As Train Derails In Iran

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A train derailed in the southern Iranian province of Kerman on Friday, injuring more than two dozen people though no deaths were reported, according to local media.

“Thirty people were injured when a train derailed on the Kerman-Zarand railway path,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.

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A statement from the public relations office of the national railway body carried by the Tasnim news agency reported that after “the timely arrival of railway technical personnel and rescue forces, all passengers safely exited the train”.

READ ALSO:Family Of Five Killed In Iranian Missile Strike After Fleeing Ukraine For Safety In Israel

Train derailments are not uncommon in Iran, and while they do not generally result in deaths, there have been fatal disasters in the past.

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In June 2022, 21 people were killed and dozens were injured when a train derailed near the central Iranian city of Tabas after hitting an excavator beside the track.

In 2016, two trains collided and caught fire in northern Iran, killing 44 people and injuring scores.

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Authorities Order Evacuations In Los Angeles Zones As Wildfire Spreads

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A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations in two US counties, scorching nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), authorities said Friday.

At least 10 zones in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were under evacuation orders, with 2,700 residents displaced as of 11 pm (0600 GMT) Thursday, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd told AFP.

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At least 400 personnel have been deployed to contain the fire, according to Dowd.

The blaze erupted as firefighters battled a separate wildfire — California’s largest of the year so far — which raged for an eighth straight day and engulfed more than 99,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, threatening hundreds of homes.

READ ALSO:10 Die, 33 Missing As Floods Hit Northwest China

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The latest fire has so far burned 4,856 acres and remains zero percent contained, Dowd said.

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the area, urged residents to heed evacuation guidelines.

The #CanyonFire is spreading fast under extreme heat & dry conditions near Ventura–LA County line,” Barger wrote on X.

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“If you’re in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously — when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep aware–please don’t risk lives.”

READ ALSO:Outrage In Los Angeles As Residents Demand Reason For Wildfires

The fires follow a July blaze that scorched more than 70,000 acres and needed hundreds of firefighters to contain it.

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Fire authorities at the time noted that dry brush, sustained winds and high temperatures were fueling the flames.

That came after several earlier fires, stoking fears of a difficult season in a state still reeling from wildfires that killed 30 people in January.

Earlier this week, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re said natural disasters caused $135 billion in economic losses globally in the first half of this year, fuelled by the Los Angeles wildfires.

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