NEW YORK: The US cable news network Fox News announced Friday its decision to “part ways” with a former host suspended amid allegations he had texted unsolicited lewd images to women co-workers.
“Eric Bolling and Fox have agreed to part ways amicably,” the spokesperson said, adding that Fox was canceling the program he had hosted.
Bolling was suspended last month pending an investigation into the accusations against him. Asked about the probe, the Fox spokesperson said “outside counsel undertook a privileged review of the allegations.”
It was the latest in a string of sexual harassment cases to rock Fox News, America’s most watched cable news channel and a favorite among US conservatives.
The suspension followed a HuffPost report that Bolling sent an image of male genitalia to two colleagues at Fox Business and one at Fox News.
The news report said the messages were sent several years ago, on separate occasions.
Last year, Fox News’s powerful chairman Roger Ailes left the company following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
And in April of this year, the network parted ways with its star anchor Bill O’Reilly following a flood of sexual harassment accusations that triggered a crash in advertising sales.
In July, Jamie Horowitz, who oversaw programming for Fox Sports, was abruptly fired in Los Angeles over allegations of misconduct.
Fox News parts ways with host accused of misconduct
Fox News parts ways with host accused of misconduct
Saudi Arabia ‘ideal partner’ in shaping next wave of intelligent age, communication minister tells WEF
- Abdullah Al-Swaha said aim was to “help the world achieve the next $100 trillion by energizing the intelligence age”
DAVOS: Saudi Arabia has accelerated efforts in “energizing the intelligent age,” making the Kingdom the world’s ideal partner in shaping the next wave of the technological age, said the minister of communication and information technology.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Abdullah Al-Swaha said the aim was to “help the world achieve the next $100 trillion by energizing the intelligence age.”
He said the Kingdom was expanding global partnerships for the benefit of humanity and highlighted both local and international achievements.
“We believe the more prosperous the Kingdom, the Middle East, is, the more prosperous the world is. And it is not a surprise that we fuel 50 percent of the digital economy in the kingdom or the region,” he told the audience. He added the Kingdom fueled three times the tech force of its neighbors and, as a result, 50 percent of venture capital funding.
Al-Swaha said Saudi Arabia was focused both on artificial intelligence acceleration and adoption. At home, he said, the Kingdom was doubling the use of agentic AI in the public and private sector to increase worker productivity tenfold. He also cited the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant, which was conducted in Saudi Arabia.
“If we double down on talent, technology, and build trust with partners, we can achieve success,” he said. “And we are following the same blueprint for the intelligence age.”
He said the Kingdom aimed to be a “testbed” for innovators and investors. Rapid technological adoption and investment have boosted Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy, with non-oil activities accounting for 56 percent of GDP and surpassing $1.2 trillion in 2025, ahead of the Vision 2030 target.
In terms of adoption, Al-Swaha said the Kingdom had introduced the Arabic-language AI model, Allam, to be adopted across Adobe product series. It has also partnered with Qualcomm to bring the first hybrid AI laptop and endpoints to the world.
“These are true testimonies that the kingdom is not going local or regional; we are going global,” he said.
