Names and faces

— Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie accepted undisclosed damages Thursday in London’s High Court to settle a privacy claim against a British tabloid that had reported they were planning to split. The celebrity couple began legal action against the News of the World after it reported in January that they had agreed to separate. The pair argued the newspaper had made false and intrusive allegations in saying that they had planned to divide assets worth $320 million and had made arrangements regarding the custody of their six children. “When the News of the World failed to publicly retract the allegations and apologize for them - thereby leaving their readers in the dark as to the true position - the couple felt they had no alternative than to sue,” the couple’s attorney, Keith Schilling, said in a statement. “Today’s victory marks the end of the litigation brought by Brad and Angelina.” The newspaper confirmed that a settlement had been reached, but declined to comment further. The couple did not attend the hearing.

ABC News’ Martin Bashir is leaving his post at Nightline to be a news anchor for MSNBC and a contributor to Dateline NBC, the network announced Thursday. Beginning in September, Bashir will anchor a daily afternoon program on MSNBC in addition to reporting for Dateline NBC. In an e-mail to his Nightline colleagues, Bashir said he plans “to work in both daily and long form journalism” at his new job. MSNBC president Phil Griffin said Bashir “fits in with what MSNBC wants to be: He’s smart, original and thoughtful.” Bashir joined ABC’s news magazine 20/20 in 2004. Also on Thursday, ABC News announced that Bill Weir, who is co-news anchor of the weekend edition of Good Morning America, will join Nightline alongside current co-anchors Terry Moran and Cynthia McFadden. They, with Bashir, made up the original three-host team that replaced Ted Koppel in 2005. In an e-mail to staff Thursday, ABC News president David Westin said Weir “has done some of our most innovative reporting from every conceivable venue, both as co-anchor of weekend GMA and for all of our other programs and platforms.”

Front Section, Pages 2 on 07/23/2010

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