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Susan Wojcicki, Former YouTube CEO and Influential Google Exec, Dies at 56

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Susan Wojcicki, Former YouTube CEO and Influential Google Exec, Dies at 56

Susan Wojcicki, who served as CEO of YouTube for nine years during a period of massive growth for the video platform and was one of Google‘s first hires, died on Friday, Aug. 9. She was 56.

Wojcicki’s death after a two-year fight with cancer was announced by her husband, Dennis Troper, in a public post Friday evening on Facebook.

“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” Troper wrote in the post. “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. We are heartbroken, but grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in your thoughts as we navigate this difficult time.”

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in a tribute posted on X said, “Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend @SusanWojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her.” Pichai continued, “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. Our thoughts with her family. RIP Susan.”

Wojcicki joined Google in 1999 as the 16th employee, becoming the search engine’s first marketing exec. Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially ran the company out of her garage in Menlo Park, Calif., which Wojcicki had rented out to the duo. Among her other accomplishments, she cut the company’s first deals to license search technology and led the initial development of Google’s image search.

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In 2005, Wojcicki led the launch of Google Video — and in 2006 she oversaw the internet company’s $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, a then-fledgling rival video-upload website.

In February 2014, Wojcicki was named YouTube’s CEO. Google’s appointment of Wojcicki, one of the company’s most senior execs, reflected how important the video platform had become to its advertising business. She stepped down as CEO of YouTube in February 2023, while remaining an adviser to the company. In a memo to staff at the time, Wojcicki said she was exiting as head of YouTube to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”

Wojcicki was a vocal advocate for employers to offer generous family benefits, particularly paid maternity leave. “At YouTube, it’s been an opportunity for me to be able to help other women,” she told Variety in 2015. “I see the potential that women have. And I enjoy being a mentor, figuring the best way for them to balance work with family.”

As head of YouTube, Wojcicki pushed to build out the platform’s expansion onto TVs, angling to win a bigger share of ad dollars from traditional television networks. “At a time when TV is losing audiences, YouTube is growing in every region, on every screen,” she said in 2016 at YouTube’s Brandcast event for marketers. Wojcicki also was forced to navigate an advertiser boycott the following year in response to ads on YouTube that ran in objectionable content, including terrorism and hate-speech videos, which prompted the platform to implement stricter brand-safety policies.

Neal Mohan, who succeeded Wojcicki as YouTube CEO, said he’d had “the good fortune of meeting Susan 17 years ago when when she was the architect of the DoubleClick acquisition,” the ad-tech company where he had been an executive. “Her legacy lives on in everything she touched @google and @youtube,” Mohan wrote on X. “I am forever grateful for her friendship and guidance. I will miss her tremendously. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones.”

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In her multiple stints at Google, Wojcicki had overseen product management of AdSense, Google Book Search and Google Video as well as the syndication of the company’s products. Prior to Google, she worked at Intel, Bain & Co. and R.B. Webber & Co.

Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara, Calif. Her father, Stanley Wojcicki, was a physics professor at Stanford and her mother, Esther Wojcicki, was a teacher. She graduated from Harvard in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in history and literature before earning a master’s in economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1993. She received an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1998. Wojcicki married Troper, who currently works at Google as a director of product management, on Aug. 23, 1998.

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‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Sets Summer Release, Reveals More First-Look Photos as Jason Sudeikis Returns to Richmond

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‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Sets Summer Release, Reveals More First-Look Photos as Jason Sudeikis Returns to Richmond

Jason Sudeikis‘ long-awaited return to AFC Richmond now has a date.

Apple TV has announced that that the fourth season of “Ted Lasso” will debut globally this summer, while the streamer has also sharing new stills and plot details.

Currently in production, the show will see the return of Sudeikis, who exec produces, plus Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Emmy winner Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift. New signings include Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsey, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely.

In season four, Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. As per the synopsis: “Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”

“Ted Lasso” season four also adds Emmy winner Jack Burditt (“Nobody Wants This,” “Modern Family,” “30 Rock”) as executive producer under a new overall deal with Apple TV. Sudeikis stars and executive produces alongside Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee, and Bill Wrubel. Goldstein serves as writer and executive producer alongside Leanne Bowen. Sarah Walker and Phoebe Walsh will serve as writers and producers for season four, and Sasha Garron co-produces. Julia Lindon will write for season four, and Dylan Marron will serve as story editor.

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Bill Lawrence executive produces via his Doozer Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer also serve as executive producers. The series was developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Kelly and Hunt, and is based on the preexisting format and characters from NBC Sports.

Following its global debut on Apple TV, “Ted Lasso” immediately broke records, the first season becoming the most Emmy-nominated comedy series. The series went on to land back-to-back outstanding comedy series Emmys for its first two seasons on air.

See the other first-look stills from “Ted Lasso” season 4 below.

Michael Becker Courtesy of Apple

Courtesy of Apple

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Courtesy of Apple

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Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America

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Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America

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Sen. Ted Cruz called for the U.S. to arm Iranian protesters Tuesday as unrest continues inside the nation and Iran-backed militias issued threats against Washington.

“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW,” Cruz wrote in a post on X.

“For the Iranian people to overthrow the Ayatollah — a tyrant who routinely chants ‘death to America’ — would make America much, much safer,” the Texas Republican added.

Cruz was responding to another post from Tehran Bureau, which cited a source inside Iran detailing what was described as a rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground as security forces continued to crack down on demonstrations.

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IRAN WILL RETALIATE ‘WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE’ IF US ATTACKS, SENIOR DIPLOMAT WARNS

“From trusted source in Tehran: Tell all of your friends [abroad] — everyone you know: there is absolutely nothing else we can do here inside Iran,” the post read.

“They are killing people in such ways, they’ve descended upon people so brutally, they’re attacking us in such ways… We’ve lost so many lives that no one dares go out anymore. They shoot directly with bullets. They kill outright. And even after killing, they come and behead you, and do countless other violent things to you,” it continued.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for the armament of anti-government protesters in Iran. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Going out into the streets is literally suicide. It’s not about bravery anymore. It’s madness. You go out and they shoot you point-blank. They don’t even ask why you came. They just kill you,” the post continued. “There is absolutely no way for us to gather unless we had weapons, unless we were armed like them. Otherwise they have weapons everywhere.”

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According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, activist groups estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Iran, with additional cases still under review.

The protests began in late December amid widespread anger over economic hardship, political repression and corruption, according to reports.

IRAN REGIME REPORTEDLY ISSUED NATIONWIDE SHOOT-TO-KILL ORDERS AS PROTEST DEATH TOLL SURGES

Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)

Cruz’s post came after armed militias aligned with Iran warned the U.S. they would retaliate against any American attack on the Islamic Republic, as the Trump administration moved forces into the region.

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Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” if the U.S. attacked Iran, according to The Associated Press.

Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the group’s leader, said the “enemies” of the Islamic Republic would face “the bitterest forms of death.”

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES THOUSANDS KILLED AS TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP: REPORTS

Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” should the U.S. attack Iran. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“You will taste every form of deadly suffering, nothing of you will remain in our region, and we will strike terror in your hearts,” the statement read.

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Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis also threatened to restart attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, releasing a video Monday showing a ship engulfed in flames, captioned: “Soon,” The Associated Press reported.

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As previously reported by Fox News Digital, President Donald Trump said Iran appeared to be seeking negotiations with the U.S. amid the growing military buildup, telling Axios, “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East on Monday as unrest inside Iran continued to escalate.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sen. Ted Cruz for comment.

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North Korea’s Kim to outline plans to boost nuclear arsenal

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North Korea’s Kim to outline plans to boost nuclear arsenal

Pyongyang expected to release five-year development plan for defence and economy at upcoming congress.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will unveil plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces at an upcoming governing party meeting, state media reported.

The report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday came the day after Kim oversaw the latest in a series of missile tests that have unsettled the region. Kim has ordered the “expansion” and modernisation of the country’s missile production.

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Details, which Kim has warned will bring “excruciating mental agony” to his enemies, are expected to be released at the upcoming ninth Communist Party congress, which is due to take place in the coming weeks.

At the meeting, the first such gathering since 2021, the governing party will unveil a five-year development plan for defence and the economy.

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Kim described Tuesday’s test-firing of a large-calibre multiple rocket launcher system as of “great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent” and said it showed the weapon system could be used for “specific attacks”, KCNA reported.

The missiles that were fired “hit a target” in waters at a distance of 358.5km (222.7 miles), the North Korean leader declared.

The missiles were fired in the direction of the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. Two landed outside North Korea’s Exclusive Economic Zone, Japanese state news agency Jiji Press reported, citing Defence Ministry sources.

South Korea’s military reported that it detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from north of Pyongyang towards the Sea of Japan.

“The result and significance of this test will be a source of excruciating mental agony and serious threat to the forces that attempt to provoke a military confrontation with us,” Kim said.

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Analysts told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that the “self-steered precision guided flight system” mentioned by Kim may indicate a new navigation system employed to help the weapon defy global positioning system (GPS) jamming.

Photos showed Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, accompanying him to the test, along with Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the party’s central committee, and Jang Chang-ha, chief of the Missile Administration, Yonhap reported.

While acknowledging that development of the rocket launcher system had “not been plain sailing”, Kim said the test was “of great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent”.

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