ousted

FORMER Sugababes star Amelle Berrabah has confirmed she’ll “reveal secrets” about the band after being ousted from the reunion.

The popstar, now 41, joined the girl group in December 2005 as a replacement for Mutya Buena and stayed with the band until they went on hiatus at the end of 2011.

When the Sugababes came to end, Amelle was singing alongside Heidi Range, who joined the group in 2001, and last recruit Jade Ewen, who came on board in 2009.

Whilst with Heidi and Jade, Amelle released the Suagbabes seventh album Sweet 7 before the band “fizzled out”.

At the same time, the band’s original line-up, Mutya, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy began performing together again and by 2019 won a legal battle to re-gain the band name Sugababes – essentially preventing the other three from ever reuniting.

Now Amelle is getting her own back on being ousted from the band’s reunion.

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She is set to spill “secrets” in an explosive new BBC documentary called Girlbands Forever.

Posting about the doc on Instagram, she wrote: “Had such a wonderful time chatting all things girlbands for the BBC show ‘Girlbands Forever’.

“It brought back so many amazing memories — from my time in the Sugababes to the incredible era of pop that shaped so many of us.

“So grateful to have been part of it all, and to share a few laughs (and maybe a few secrets 😜) along the way!

“Sending love to all the girlbands who paved the way and to all the music lovers who still keep the music alive!

“Girlbands Forever promises a nostalgic trip through that time in pop music history.”

It comes as The Sun asked Amelle last year if she ever saw any of the Sugababes stars anymore.

She admitted she hadn’t heard from any of the original three and revealed that there has been virtually no contact with them ever.

The star, who is the only Sugababe to achieve a solo number one away from the group, said: “I’ve never met Siobhan, I’ve heard great things, though.

“Mutya, the only day I’ve ever met her was to wish me luck for CDUK and we had a little chat and a cuddle.

“That’s literally the only time I’ve ever met her.

“And then Keisha, we haven’t spoken in a few years to be honest.”

Girlbands Forever airs on BBC Two and the BBC iPlayer on November 1 at 9,20pm

Sugababes – over the years

Siobhan Donaghy (1998-2001, 2013-present)

Keisha Buchanan (1998-2009, 2013-present)

Mutya Buena (1998-2005, 2013-present)

Heidi Range (2001-2011)

Amelle Berrebah (2005-2011)

Jade Ewen (2009-2011)

Sept. 20 (UPI) — Replacements have been named for the acting U.S. attorney and nominee for the Eastern District of Virginia who was forced out after failing to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James regarding mortgage loan fraud.

Erik Siebert notified staff on Friday that he resigned, but President Donald Trump said he was fired. Siebert was nominated for the position and was awaiting Senate confirmation.

Trump posted on Truth Social he plans to nominate Lindsey Halligan, who “proved herself to be a tremendous trial lawyer, and later represented me (and WON!) in the disgraceful Democrat Documents Hoax, as well as MANY other major, high profile cases.” He was referring to his handling of classified material after leaving office following his first term.

Halligan, who is currently a special assistant in the White House, does not have any prosecutorial experience and her law license is in Florida, ABC News reported.

“Lindsey is a tough, smart, and loyal attorney, who has worked with me for a long time,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday night. “As a Partner at the biggest Law Firm in Florida, Lindsey proved herself to be a tremendous trial lawyer.”

Earlier Saturday, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Mary “Maggie” Cleary, an attorney active in Republican politics, as acting U.S. attorney for the division, according an internal email obtained by Politico and The Washington Post.

This month, Cleary rejoined the DOJ as a senior counsel in the criminal division in the District of Columbia after working in the Culpepper Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and Virginia state agencies.

She was placed on administrative leave in the DOJ’s Virginia Western District for being on Capitol grounds during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Clear said she was “framed” and was ultimately cleared.

Cleary will serve until a nominee is confirmed.

“This evening, I submitted my resignation as interim US Attorney for EDVA,” Siebert’s email, obtained by ABC News, read. “For the last eight months, I have had the pleasure of leading the finest and most exceptional of DOJ employees, who care deeply about our nation and our EDVA community. Thank you for the lessons you have taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day.”

On Saturday, Trump posted on X that he “withdrew the Nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support of the two absolutely terrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Great State of Virginia. He didn’t quit, I fired him! Next time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican.”

He was referring to Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

In a joint statement, Kaine and Warner said Siebert lost his job because his office was “unable to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud” against James, noting that there had been bipartisan support for his nomination.

“In April, after an extensive interview process that included the input of a bipartisan panel of former Virginia U.S. attorneys and other well-respected members of the Virginia legal community, Warner and Kaine sent a letter to the White House recommending Siebert for the U.S. attorney position,” they wrote. “In May, the White House announced that Siebert was formally nominated for the role,” Warner and Kaine said.

Both senators from a nominee’s state are sent a blue slip in which they may submit a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a nominee, regardless of their party. The Senate Judiciary Committee takes blue slips into consideration when deciding whether to recommend that the Senate confirm a nominee.

Media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, reported that Justice Department prosecutors in Virginia believed they have not gathered enough evidence to indict James.

“Erik Siebert is an ethical prosecutor who refused to bring criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies when the facts wouldn’t support it,” the senators wrote. “The Eastern District of Virginia is at the forefront of significant cases essential to our national security, and just like any court in America, should be focused on justice instead of a thin-skinned president’s vendettas.”

Siebert, who worked for 15 years in Virginia as an assistant U.S. attorney, was the lead attorney for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the deputy criminal supervisor for the Richmond Division.

He was also a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.

In March, he appeared with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and FBI Director Kash Patel on the arrest of an alleged MS-13 gang member in Northern Virginia.

Before posting on Truth Social, Trump told reporters, “Yeah, I want him out. When I learned that they voted for him, I said, I don’t really want him.”

New York’s attorney general is among three people targeted by the Trump administration for alleged loan fraud involving claims about two primary residences in Virginia and New York. No Republicans have been named, though Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have two primary residences on loan paper, ProPublica reported.

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, wrote a letter to Bondi alleging that James had “in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government-backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms.” The letter was obtained by CBS News.

“The allegations are baseless,” James told NY1, “The allegations are nothing more than a revenge tour.”

James has been in Trump’s crosshairs since June 2022, when she sued Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging they inflated the values of properties.

Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in restitution for “ill-gotten gains” from his inflated financial statements, state Superior Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled. With interest, the amount was raised to $527 earlier this year. But the Appellare Division in New York earlier this year canceled the fine and James has appealed.

Pulte has also targeted California Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, appointed by President Joe Biden. Trump fired Cook, but the district and appeals courts have ruled that Trump doesn’t have the authority to fire someone from the Federal Reserve without due process and only for cause. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is expected to install Jim O’Neill as acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), replacing a director who clashed with the White House over policies that defy scientific evidence.

News outlets, including The Washington Post and The Associated Press, reported O’Neill’s selection after Trump officials said they removed CDC Director Susan Monarez.

O’Neill is currently deputy to Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Sources close to Monarez have told news agencies that she butted heads with Kennedy over questions of misinformation and vaccine policy.

“She said that there were two things she would never do in the job. One was anything that was deemed illegal, and the second was anything that she felt flew in the face of science, and she said she was asked to do both of those,” Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC, told reporters.

Several high-level CDC officials resigned from their positions in solidarity with Monarez and in defiance of what they depicted as the undermining of scientific expertise as a basis of public health policy.

Monarez said that she refused to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts”. She had been in her job for less than a month.

Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccination activist before joining the Trump administration, has moved to reshape the agency and expel advisers who do not align with his views.

He purged a vaccine advisory board of its members in June, moving to replace them with individuals who share views closer to his own.

Speaking on the TV programme Fox and Friends on Thursday, Kennedy portrayed the CDC as an institute in dire need of reform.

“The  CDC has problems,” Kennedy said, accusing the centres of spreading COVID-19 “misinformation” after it advised mask wearing and social distancing.

While he did not mention Monarez by name, he argued the CDC’s culture was due for a change.

“ I cannot comment on personnel issues, but the agency is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it. And it may be that some people should not be working there any more,” he said.

“We need strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump’s broad ambitions.”

At Thursday’s White House news briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the sentiment that the CDC director had to be loyal to Trump’s agenda.

“Her lawyer’s statement made it abundantly clear themselves that she was not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again,” Leavitt said.

She also offered a White House account of how Monarez was allegedly fired.

“The secretary [Kennedy] asked her to resign. She said she would, and then she said she wouldn’t. So the president fired her, which he has every right to do,” Leavitt said. “It was President Trump who was overwhelmingly re-elected on November 5th. This woman has never received a vote in her life.”

But scientists and doctors who worked closely with Monarez said recent changes at the CDC undermined the agency’s mission to protect the public from health threats.

One top CDC leader who resigned this week, Demetre Daskalakis, warned that the agency’s new direction under Trump portended real risks to public health.

“I’m a doctor. I took the Hippocratic oath that said, ‘First, do no harm.’ I believe harm is going to happen, and so I can’t be a part of it,” said Daskalakis, the former director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Tensions had been especially high within the agency over the last several weeks, after a gunman who blamed COVID-19 vaccines for his health issues attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

That shooting left one police officer dead, and the suspect took his own life.

Kennedy himself has baselessly called the COVID-19 vaccine the “deadliest vaccine ever made”.

After the shooting, representatives for the CDC’s workers denounced Kennedy for contributing to public distrust of the health agency.

“This tragedy was not random, and it compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured,” a union representing CDC employees, AFGE Local 2883, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the group Fired But Fighting, composed of laid-off employees, condemned Kennedy for “his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust”.

As the CDC continues to winnow down its workforce, employees also issued an open letter to Kennedy, accusing him of “terminating critical CDC workers in a destroy-first-and-ask-questions-later manner”.