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Tuesday evening news briefing: Miracle baby born under quake rubble

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Good evening. A baby born under rubble has been saved from the wreckage of her family home in Syria, as a rescue effort is underway following Monday's devastating earthquakes. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has carried out a shake-up of Whitehall and his top team.

Greg Hands made Tory chairman in Cabinet reshuffle

Greg Hands is the politician Rishi Sunak has tasked with energising the Tory membership, as its new chairman, to get out the vote in May’s crucial local elections. Mr Hands, who had been serving in the Government as an international trade minister, will replace Nadhim Zahawi after he was sacked from the role just over a week ago.

Our deputy political editor Daniel Martin writes that at a time when the Tory Party is seemingly haemorrhaging support to the anti-EU Reform UK party, it was perhaps a surprise that Mr Sunak promoted a prominent Remainer to be its chairman.

Dominic Penna has got a round-up of who’s in and who’s out of the Prime Minister's top team. He also decided to break up the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, creating a trio of new Cabinet roles in the process.

Camilla Tominey writes that the elevation of grassroots favourite Kemi Badenoch to the Secretary of State in charge of a newly beefed-up business and trade department is the Prime Minister's way of keeping the right on-side.



Downing Street said today's changes in Whitehall will "ensure the whole of government is geared up to deliver for the British people". No 10 added that the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, headed up by Grant Shapps, will be tasked with "securing our long-term energy supply, bringing down bills and halving inflation".

However, Janet Daley writes that the reshuffle shows the Prime Minister is out of ideas, arguing that there was nothing to suggest his government has an inspiring vision beyond small scale rearrangement.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak has suggested that Dominic Raab will be sacked if an investigation into the Deputy Prime Minister concludes he bullied people - follow our politics live blog for the latest.

Rapist former Met Police officer given 36 life sentences

In a two-day sentencing hearing, Southwark Crown Court heard how David Carrick, the Metropolitan Police officer and serial rapist, used his power and control to carry out a “catalogue of violent and brutal” sex attacks between 2003 and 2020.

The 48-year-old will serve at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out more than 70 sex attacks on at least a dozen women. His victims spoke of how they had “encountered evil”, and the court was told Carrick sent one of his victims a photograph of himself with a work-issue gun, saying: “Remember I am the boss.”

Carrick, who was sacked from the force following his conviction, was handed 36 life sentences with a minimum term of 32 years.

Miracle baby born under earthquake rubble in Syria

A baby who was born under rubble was saved from the wreckage of her family home in northern Syria on Tuesday morning, as stories of miracle rescues emerged in the aftermath of Monday’s catastrophic earthquake.

A widely-shared video showed the new-born baby girl being cradled and rushed to safety past rubble and diggers - you can watch the clip here. Neither of her parents, nor her four siblings survived, according to locals who witnessed her rescue in Jandaris, a small town in northern Syria.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary has confirmed that three British citizens are missing in Turkey.

Evening briefing: Today's essential headlines

Epsom College | The husband of the head of Epsom College owned a firearm found at the scene where the couple and their daughter were found dead, police have confirmed. George Pattison, 39, was a licensed gun holder, police said in a statement. Officers confirmed they are treating the discovery of the bodies of Mr Pattison, his wife Emma Pattison, 45, and their seven-year-old daughter, Lettie, as a murder investigation. Officers believe Mr Pattison killed his wife and daughter and then himself, a source briefed on the matter told The Telegraph.

Comment and analysis

World news: Russia suffers 'deadliest 24 hours'

Ukraine claims the last 24 hours were the deadliest of the war for Russian troops, as Moscow hurls tens of thousands of freshly mobilised soldiers and mercenaries into relentless winter assaults in the east. The Ukrainian military said 1,030 Russians were killed on Monday, describing it as the highest daily toll of the war so far and bringing the total to 133,190. The figure could not be independently verified and battlefield losses are notoriously difficult to estimate. But the unprecedented scale of reported casualties fits accounts from both sides that describe recent battles in snow-covered trenches as the deadliest combat of the war so far.

Tuesday interview

Hanneke Smits: ‘Do enough women want leadership roles? I don’t know – they need to speak up more’

As the City high-flyer becomes the new head of the 30% Club, she knows more than most how to overcome challenges women face in the workplace

Read the interview

Sport news: Vaughan is last man standing against Rafiq

Michael Vaughan is the last man standing to defend himself against Azeem Rafiq after the rest of the Yorkshire accused withdrew from disciplinary action or accepted charges. Next month’s hearing has been reduced dramatically in its scope after Richard Pyrah joined Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and John Blain in refusing to attend. With Vaughan, the former Ashes-winning England captain, the only person willing to fight to defend his reputation, pressure will now grow on England’s Adil Rashid to appear at the case in person.

Editor's choice

Global Health | Bike-ageddon: the country with the worst motorcycle death rate in the world

Art | The ‘stone from Heaven’ used to create a masterpiece… that’s now enriching the Taliban

Health | What a brain expert does daily to ward off dementia

Business news: Putin pressures Bank of Russia

Vladimir Putin is pressuring the Bank of Russia to be more upbeat about the outlook for the country's economy as his invasion of Ukraine heads for a second year. Kremlin officials want a clearer hint that interest rates may come down later this year when the central bank holds its first board meeting of 2023 on Friday, sources told Bloomberg. Governor Elvira Nabiullina and her colleagues have so far been unwilling to suggest any imminent easing because of risks of higher inflation, they said, and instead are likely to indicate that rates have little room to fall.

Tonight starts now

Missing Happy Valley? These 12 dramas will help fill the void | From Kate Winslet's gritty cop series Mare Of Easttown to Sarah Lancashire's abduction drama Kiri, there's more where Happy Valley came from.

Three things for you

And finally... for this evening's downtime

Why Nottingham is England’s most underrated city | For a weekend break, it has attractions to rival Oxford and York – so why is Nottingham only the 18th most visited city in Britain?

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