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AP Sports SummaryBrief at 6:24 p.m. ESTNew Delhi: As many as 28,818 applications for initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), having an underlying default of Rs. 10.22 lakh crore, were resolved before their admission till March 2024 due to the behavioural change in debtor-creditor relationship effectuated by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' year-end review Till September 2024, 1,068 CIRPs have culminated in resolution plans, achieving on average 86.13 per cent of the fair value of the Corporate Debtor (CD). Creditors have realised Rs. 3.55 lakh crore under the said resolution plans. By June 2024, the IBC successfully navigated 3,409 CDs through the insolvency process, with 1,068 achieving resolutions through plans and the remainder through appeals, reviews, settlements, or withdrawals. The resolution of these CDs has led to a realisation rate of over 161 per cent against liquidation value. The average expense incurred in the resolution processes is remarkably low, standing at only 1.37 per cent of the liquidation value and 0.83 per cent of the resolution value, the review states. The IBC has introduced a new era of transparency and fairness in insolvency resolutions. It ensures equitable treatment of all stakeholders, with a clear and predictable resolution process, the review further stated. The Government is also considering setting up an Integrated Technology Platform under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. This would lead to more transparency, minimisation of delays, effective decision making and better oversight of the processes by the authorities. Meanwhile, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has received 1,289 antitrust matters since its inception and has disposed of 1,157 (90 per cent approx.) cases till September this year, the review further stated. Further, from January 2024 to September 2024, the Commission received 30 new cases and disposed of 30 cases (including carry-forward cases from the previous year). The Commission considered and approved mergers and acquisitions relating to various sectors of the economy such as financial markets, power & power generation, pharmaceuticals & healthcare, and digital markets. The CCI also initiated a study on "Competition Issues in the Renewable Energy Sector across BRICS Nations". The study report is being prepared based on inputs received from the competition authorities of BRICS nations. Over the past two years, the Ministry has also significantly improved compliance with Section 148 of the Companies Act, 2013. This progress is evident from a substantial increase in the filings of e-Form CRA-2 (Intimation of Appointment of Cost Auditor) and e-Form CRA-4 (Filing of Cost Audit Report). Specifically, there has been a 35 per cent increase in e-Form CRA-2 filings and a 36 per cent rise in e-Form CRA-4 filings in the fiscal year 2023-24 compared to 2021-22, the review added.OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party is ready to introduce motions as early as today that would help the Liberals pass legislation to create their promised GST holiday but only if they separate it from their parallel promise to send $250 cheques to working Canadians. Singh said his party would open the procedural "gates" including motions to extend the sitting hours of the House of Commons to debate and pass the legislation in time for it take effect as promised on Dec. 14. Last week, the Liberals brought forward a plan to pause the GST on items like premade grocery items, beer and wine, toys and other holiday staples. The pause would last for two months. Singh says the NDP supports this idea, but oppose the associated $250 working Canadians benefit that is supposed to be mailed in the spring to anyone who earned an income up to $150,000 last year. Singh wants the benefit expanded to include non-working seniors and people who rely on disability benefits who did not have a working income in 2023. The Liberals have put the GST and benefit cheque bill on notice in the House of Commons but have been unable to introduce it because of an ongoing filibuster by the Conservatives over an unrelated matter of privilege. A Conservative motion demanding the government turn over unredacted documents to the RCMP on a green technology fund has been debated since late September, preventing any bills or other motions from being introduced or debated. The Conservatives insist that debate will continue until the documents are given to the RCMP or the NDP join them and the Bloc Québécois to vote non confidence in the government. At least two parties would need to support a motion to end or pause that debate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that both the GST holiday and the $250 cheques are aimed at helping people struggling with the cost of living. The rebate as planned would be issued to an estimated 18 million Canadians in the spring and cost around $4.7 billion. The government has issued notice of the legislation but hasn't introduced it in the House yet. It also has put on notice a motion calling for debate on the bill, when it is introduced, to be limited to one 10-minute speech per party, and undergo just one vote for all the required stages of debate. Some Liberal MPs said Wednesday they think their government should consider expanding the eligibility for the benefit cheques. After the Liberal caucus meeting Seniors Minister Steven MacKinnon said the government has created a number of benefits to help low-income seniors. But Milton MP Adam van Koeverden said he wants to see more ambition in helping seniors and Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski said if the government can afford to include seniors in the payments it absolutely should. The Bloc Québécois is also calling on the government to offer the rebate to seniors who are fully retired. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the measure a "tiny, two month tax trick" and says if Trudeau cared about affordability he'd get rid of the carbon tax. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024. David Baxter, The Canadian Press
HUNTINGTON, W.V. (AP) — Marshall has withdrawn from the Independence Bowl after a coaching change resulted in much of its roster jumping into the transfer portal. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * HUNTINGTON, W.V. (AP) — Marshall has withdrawn from the Independence Bowl after a coaching change resulted in much of its roster jumping into the transfer portal. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? HUNTINGTON, W.V. (AP) — Marshall has withdrawn from the Independence Bowl after a coaching change resulted in much of its roster jumping into the transfer portal. The Thundering Herd were slated to play Army on Dec. 28 in Shreveport, Louisiana. But the Independence Bowl and Louisiana Tech announced on Saturday that the Bulldogs will take on the 19th-ranked Black Knights instead. Marshall said it pulled out “after falling below the roster minimum that was deemed medically safe.” The Herd (10-3) beat Louisiana-Lafayette 31-3 last weekend to win the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the first time. The program has won seven games in a row in the same season for the first time since 2020. “We apologize for the nature and timing of this announcement and for the turmoil it has brought to bowl season preparations for Army, the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, the American Athletic Conference and ESPN,” Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill said in a statement. Coach Charles Huff left Marshall for Southern Miss last Sunday, and Tony Gibson, the defensive coordinator at North Carolina State, was announced as his replacement less than an hour later. By Thursday, at least 25 Marshall players had entered the transfer portal. Gibson held a meeting shortly after arriving on campus in Huntington to introduce himself to the team. He followed that up with phone calls, text messages and more meetings Friday and Saturday. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. “Any time coaches leave to take other jobs, it is emotional,” Gibson said at a news conference Thursday. “And kids that are 18-to-22 years old are going to make emotional decisions instead of just breathing for a day or two.” It’s the first bowl for Louisiana Tech (5-7) since 2020. The Bulldogs have won two of their last three games, but they haven’t played since a 33-0 victory over Kennesaw State on Nov. 30. “We are excited to accept the opportunity to play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against a fantastic and storied program as Army,” Louisiana Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey said in a release. “I believe our football program is moving toward positive structure and the opportunity to play in this bowl adds to that momentum. We are looking forward to being in Shreveport for this matchup.” ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football Advertisement AdvertisementThe AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . CYPRESS LAKE, Fla. (AP) — Peter Suder’s 16 points helped Miami (Ohio) defeat Mercer 75-72 on Tuesday. Suder had six rebounds and four steals for the RedHawks (4-2). Eian Elmer scored 15 points and added five rebounds and three steals. Antwone Woolfolk shot 5 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, while adding six rebounds. Ahmad Robinson finished with 19 points, six assists and three steals for the Bears (3-4). Brady Shoulders added 14 points and four steals for Mercer. Alex Holt also put up 12 points and nine rebounds. Miami went into the half leading Mercer 35-30. Elmer scored 11 points in the half. Suder scored 12 second-half points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
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HUNTINGTON, W.V. (AP) — Marshall has withdrawn from the Independence Bowl after a coaching change resulted in much of its roster jumping into the transfer portal. The Thundering Herd were slated to play Army on Dec. 28 in Shreveport, Louisiana. But the and announced on Saturday that the Bulldogs will take on the 19th-ranked Black Knights instead. Marshall said it pulled out “after falling below the roster minimum that was deemed medically safe.” The Herd (10-3) beat Louisiana-Lafayette 31-3 last weekend to win the for the first time. The program has won seven games in a row in the same season for the first time since 2020. “We apologize for the nature and timing of this announcement and for the turmoil it has brought to bowl season preparations for Army, the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, the American Athletic Conference and ESPN,” Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill said in a statement. Coach Charles Huff left Marshall for last Sunday, and Tony Gibson, the defensive coordinator at North Carolina State, less than an hour later. By Thursday, at least 25 Marshall players had entered the transfer portal. Gibson held a meeting shortly after arriving on campus in Huntington to introduce himself to the team. He followed that up with phone calls, text messages and more meetings Friday and Saturday. “Any time coaches leave to take other jobs, it is emotional,” Gibson said at a news conference Thursday. “And kids that are 18-to-22 years old are going to make emotional decisions instead of just breathing for a day or two.” It’s the first bowl for Louisiana Tech (5-7) since 2020. The Bulldogs have won two of their last three games, but they haven’t played since a 33-0 victory over Kennesaw State on Nov. 30. “We are excited to accept the opportunity to play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against a fantastic and storied program as Army,” Louisiana Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey said in a release. “I believe our football program is moving toward positive structure and the opportunity to play in this bowl adds to that momentum. We are looking forward to being in Shreveport for this matchup.” ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up . AP college football: and The Associated PressBrendan Rodgers praises Celtic and Cameron Carter-Vickers’ mentalityMore than 10% of Baltimore’s 2024 auto fatalities occurred on one road
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Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia peanut farmer who vowed to restore morality and truth to politics after an era of White House scandal and who redefined post-presidential service, died Sunday at the age of 100. The Carter Center said the 39th president died in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family. The White House has been notified that Carter has died, per a Biden administration official. Preparations for the state funeral have begun, according to a law enforcement official. Carter had been in home hospice care since February 2023 after a series of short hospital stays. Carter, a Democrat, served a single term from 1977 to 1981, losing a reelection bid to Ronald Reagan. Despite his notable achievements as a peacemaker, Carter’s presidency is largely remembered as an unfulfilled four years shaken by blows to America’s economy and standing overseas. His most enduring legacy, though, might be as a globetrotting elder statesman and human rights pioneer during an indefatigable 43-year “retirement.” Carter became the oldest living former president when he surpassed the record held by the late George H.W. Bush in March 2019. Carter’s beloved wife, Rosalynn, died in November 2023. They had been inseparable during their 77-year marriage, and after she passed away, the former president said in a statement that “as long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.” The former president attended his wife’s memorial events, including a private burial and a televised tribute service in Atlanta, where he was seated in the front row in a reclined wheelchair. He did not deliver any remarks. Carter took office in 1977 with the earnest promise to lead a government as “good and honest and decent and compassionate and filled with love as are the American people” following what had started as an unlikely long-shot bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination. The Southerner with a flashing smile did enjoy significant successes, particularly abroad. He forged a rare, enduring Middle East peace deal between Israel and Egypt that stands to this day, formalized President Richard Nixon’s opening to communist China and put human rights at the center of US foreign policy. But Carter was ultimately felled by a 444-day hostage crisis in Iran, in which revolutionary students flouted the US superpower by holding dozens of Americans in Tehran. The feeling of US malaise triggered by the crisis was exacerbated by Carter’s domestic struggles, including a sluggish economy, inflation and an energy crisis. At times, Carter’s principled moral tone and determination to strip the presidency of ostentation, such as by selling the official yacht, Sequoia, seemed to verge on sanctimony. But out of office, Carter won admiration by living his values. Just a day after one of several falls he suffered in 2019, he was back out building homes for Habitat for Humanity, even with an ugly black eye and 14 stitches — and teaching Sunday school as he had done several hundreds of times . The devout Southern Baptist’s life’s work was only just beginning when he limped out of the White House, humiliated by Reagan’s 1980 Republican landslide, in which the incumbent won only six states and the District of Columbia. “As one of the youngest of former presidents, I expected to have many useful years ahead of me,” Carter wrote in his 1982 memoir, “Keeping Faith.” He proved as good as his word, going on to become a humanitarian icon, perhaps more popular outside the United States than he was at home. Over four decades, Carter, Rosalynn and his Atlanta-based organization monitored hot-spot elections, negotiated with despots, battled poverty and homelessness, fought disease and epidemics, and promoted public health in the developing world. In the process, Carter did nothing less than reinvent the concept of the post-presidency, blazing a philanthropic path since adopted by successors such as Bill Clinton and, in Africa, George W. Bush. His efforts on behalf of his Carter Center, founded to “wage peace, fight disease and build hope,” yielded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Even into old age, Carter remained a polarizing political figure. He was an uneasy member of the ex-presidents’ club, sometimes frustrating successors like Clinton and criticizing the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and of US allies such as Israel. In recent years, he came full circle as he warned of the corrosive impact on American politics of a scandal-plagued White House — just as he did when his critique of the Nixon era helped him beat the disgraced Republican ex-president’s unelected successor, Gerald Ford, in 1976. (After Carter left office, he and Ford became close friends.) In September 2019, Carter warned Americans against reelecting President Donald Trump . “I think it will be a disaster to have four more years of Trump,” he said. After losing reelection, his work at the Carter Center became a great consolation. The ex-president said in a moving news conference detailing a cancer diagnosis in August 2015 that being president had been the highlight of his political career, even if it ended prematurely — though he would not swap another four years in the White House for the joy he had taken after leaving office in working with the Carter Center. And he said he was at peace with his legacy after a rich, fulfilling life: “I think I have been as blessed as any human being in the world.” Carter also said at that August news conference that marrying Rosalynn was the “pinnacle” of his life. He is survived by four children — Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy — 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, according to the Carter Center. In April 2021, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the Carters at their home in Plains, after the former presidential couple was unable to travel to Washington for the 46th president’s inauguration. An unlikely president Carter had always seemed an unlikely president. No one gave the Georgia governor and former Navy submariner a hope when he launched his campaign for the White House. But Carter spent months crisscrossing the cornfields and small towns of Iowa, building support voter by voter. In many ways, his success created the political lore of the modern Iowa caucuses as a place where little-known outsiders — Obama, for instance — could build a grassroots campaign that could lead to the White House. Democrats have recently downgraded the Hawkeye State’s role in their nominating process, reasoning that its mostly White demographic doesn’t represent the diversity of their supporters or the nation. Timing is crucial for presidential hopefuls, and as it turned out, Carter proved to be the right man at the right time in 1976. The deep political wounds of the Watergate scandal, which had forced the resignation of Nixon, remained raw. The nation was still deeply cynical about politicians following the social dislocation of the Vietnam War. “I’ll never lie to you,” Carter promised voters, forging a public image as an honest, humble, God-fearing, racially inclusive son of the “New South.” “He was never embarrassed to have a Georgian accent or be in blue jeans and play horseshoes and softball,” said his biographer Douglas Brinkley. That down-to-earth persona of Carter proved alluring. He followed up victory in the Iowa caucuses with wins in New Hampshire and Florida, beating out Democratic candidates including George Wallace of Alabama, Morris Udall of Arizona and Jerry Brown of California. “My name is Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president,” Carter said, poking fun at his leap from obscurity as he accepted his party’s nomination at the 1976 Democratic convention in New York City, where he tapped Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate. Carter’s openness was crucial to his appeal with voters — but occasionally, his truth-telling appeared off-key. On one such occasion, Carter admitted to Playboy that he had looked on women with lust and “committed adultery in my heart many times.” A focus on human rights Carter beat Ford by 297 to 240 electoral votes and vowed in his inaugural address to put universal rights at the center of US foreign policy. “Our moral sense dictates a clear-cut preference for those societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people,” he said. Carter’s most significant achievement as president was the Camp David Accords, reached after exhaustive negotiations between Egypt and Israel that peaked at the presidential retreat in Maryland. It was the first peace deal between the Jewish state and one of its Arab enemies. The agreement, signed by Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978, called for a formal peace between the foes and the establishment of diplomatic relations. It resulted in the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and called for an Israeli exit from the West Bank and Gaza, with promised future negotiations to resolve the Palestinian question. While it did not settle the question of East Jerusalem, and subsequent violence and political unrest between Israel and the Palestinians meant the deal’s full potential was never realized, the enduring peace between Israel and Egypt remains a linchpin of US diplomacy in the region. In subsequent decades, Carter soured on the Israeli leadership, becoming deeply critical of what he saw as a failure to live up to obligations toward the Palestinians. He sparked controversy in 2006 by saying that Israel’s settlement policies on the West Bank were tantamount to the apartheid policies of South Africa. The Carter administration also forged progress outside the Middle East, in Latin America and Asia. He countered growing hostility to the United States throughout the Western Hemisphere by concluding the Panama Canal treaties in 1977, which would return the strategic waterway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to the control of its host nation in 1999. There had been fears that the Panamanians, increasingly resentful of US sovereignty, could trigger a showdown by closing the canal — a step that would have had significant economic and strategic consequences. Carter also built on Nixon’s achievement of opening China by formalizing an agreement to establish full diplomatic relations in January 1979. An iconic visit to the United States by a cowboy-hat-wearing Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping followed. The decision was a tough one for Carter and required him to sever formal diplomatic relations with the renegade government and US ally in Taiwan — which had claimed to be the legitimate government of China — in favor of the communists in Beijing. That June, Carter and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the treaty concluding the second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), which placed broad limits on strategic nuclear arms. Some analysts also give Carter credit for beginning the buildup of sophisticated weaponry that later helped Reagan outpace the Soviet Union and win the Cold War — a heavy political lift as the Pentagon remained unpopular in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Crises at home and abroad At home, meanwhile, Carter established the Department of Energy and exhorted Americans to cut down on consumption amid an oil price spike. He installed solar panels on the White House roof. He also began the process of deregulating the airline and trucking industries. But in 1979, Carter did himself significant political damage in an extraordinary address to the nation on the energy crisis in which he listed criticisms of his presidency, painting a picture of a listless nation trapped in a moral and spiritual funk. “It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation,” Carter said. Ultimately, the speech came back to haunt Carter and made it easy for opponents, not least Reagan, to portray him as a pessimistic and uninspiring leader. Still, in the late 1970s, it seemed conceivable that Carter’s command of foreign policy at the height of the Cold War would give him a fair shot at a second term. But a swelling of revolutionary Islam — heralding a trend that would confound future presidents — conspired to sweep him out of the White House. In October 1979, the United States let the shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi — who had been overthrown by the Iranian Revolution a few months earlier — enter the country for medical treatment. That infuriated Islamic revolutionaries who saw him as an oppressive US puppet and wanted him returned to Iran for trial. On November 4, a year before the US election, students who supported the Islamic revolution seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage. The 444-day standoff transfixed the nation, souring the national mood day by day as television news bulletins tallied how long the hostages had been in custody. Gradually it dashed Carter’s hopes of a second term. His fortunes were also battered by a daring and ultimately disastrous rescue bid in which a US helicopter carrying special forces crashed in the desert, killing eight US servicemen. At the same time, the Cold War was approaching a pivotal point. After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, Carter decided to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow and asked the Senate to delay ratification of SALT II. As November 1980 approached, a sense of Soviet belligerence and the lengthening humiliation of the hostage crisis fostered an impression of US power under siege. “It was a perfect storm of unpleasant events, and that inability of Carter to get those Iranian hostages released before the 1980 elections spelled doomsday,” Brinkley said. Carter wrote in his memoirs that his destiny was out of his hands as the election approached, but he prayed the hostages would be released. “Now, my political future might well be determined by irrational people on the other side of the world over whom I had no control,” he said. “If the hostages were released, I was convinced my election would be assured; if the expectations of the American people were dashed again, there was little chance I could win.” Throughout the campaign, Reagan berated Carter as an ineffectual leader consigning America to perpetual decline. “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his,” Reagan charged. The actor-turned-California governor pulled off a stunning landslide on Election Day 1980, winning 489 electoral votes. In the final humiliation for Carter, on January 20, 1981, 20 minutes after Reagan was sworn in, Iran released the hostages. Humble beginnings Carter was born on October 1, 1924, to James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter, who lived in a house without electricity in the south Georgia village of Plains. The oldest of four children, he was the first future US president to be born in a hospital. Growing up during the Great Depression in the segregated Deep South, Carter showed a flair for music, art and literature, and often played with African American children — a factor influencing his thoughts on integration that played out in his political career. After studying reactor technology and nuclear physics at Union College in Schenectady, New York, Carter was assigned to the submarine force. The future peacemaker served in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets before he was tapped by Adm. Hyman Rickover, the crotchety “Father of the Nuclear Navy,” to serve as a senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second US nuclear submarine. After leaving active Navy duty in 1953, Carter spent time raising his children, running the family peanut farm and taking his first political steps, winning election to the Georgia Senate in 1962. He lost the Democratic nomination to run for governor to segregationist Lester Maddox in 1966 but ran successfully for the same office four years later. Political energy undimmed Carter was 56 when he left the White House, and he soon looked for new outlets for his undimmed political energy. “In the presidency, he got a sense of the fact that the world can be changed, and it doesn’t take a government to change it; it can be changed one person at a time, one disease at a time, building one house at a time,” said Andrew Young, who was a US ambassador to the United Nations under Carter. The former president and first lady visited more than 130 countries to meet with foreign leaders and other prominent individuals. Carter was still traveling after his 90th birthday. As recently as May 2015, Carter went to Guyana to monitor the country’s most important election in two decades. The Carter Center has observed more than 125 elections in 40 nations since its founding in 1982. “We try to fill vacuums in the world,” Carter told an audience at the center in 2010, “by doing things that others don’t want to do or cannot do because of diplomatic niceties. That’s part of bringing peace.” Sometimes that meant mixing with unsavory company. In 1994, the United States and North Korea were edging toward conflict over US concerns that Pyongyang was building a nuclear weapon. Absent diplomatic relations between the two countries, President Clinton gave Carter and Rosalynn permission to travel to the isolated Stalinist state to meet its supreme leader, Kim Il-Sung. In exchange for dialogue with the United States, North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear program, which defused the crisis — for a few years at least. The same year, Carter was credited with helping avert a US invasion of Haiti and restoring President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. In 2002, he became the first former or sitting US president since 1928 to visit Cuba, where he called on the United States to end its “ineffective” economic embargo and challenged President Fidel Castro to hold free elections, grant more civil liberties and improve human rights. In 2008, he met with leaders from the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US State Department, and from Syria. At times, Carter also criticized the United States in public. In a June 2012 op-ed in The New York Times, Carter accused the United States of “abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.” He cited revelations that officials were targeting people — including US citizens — for assassination abroad as “disturbing proof” that the nation’s stance on human rights had changed for the worse. An enduring partnership In the summer of 1945, Carter, then a fresh-faced US Naval Academy student, met Eleanor Rosalynn Smith and, after their first date, told his mother, “She’s the girl I want to marry.” Rosalynn rejected his first proposal but accepted the second a few weeks later. They wed in 1946 and would eventually become the longest-married presidential couple in history. Carter was asked the secret of his enduring marriage on CNN’s “The Lead” in July 2015. “Rosalynn has been the foundation for my entire enjoyment of life. ... First of all, it’s best to choose the right woman, which I did. And secondly, we give each other space to do our own things,” Carter told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We try to be reconciled before we go to sleep at night and try to find everything we can think of that we like to do together. So we have a lot of good times.” When he published his book “A Full Life” shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, Carter contemplated his own mortality. He wrote that he was at peace with his accomplishments as president as well as his unrealized goals. He said he and Rosalynn were “blessed with good health and look to the future with eagerness and confidence, but are prepared for inevitable adversity when it comes.” This story has been updated with additional information. Tom Watkins and CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.From left: Scott Monroe, Julia Arenstam, John Richardson and Meg Robbins The Maine Trust for Local News is making several changes to its newsroom leadership team. Executive Editor Carolyn Fox, who was hired in September from the Tampa Bay Times where she served as managing editor, outlined them in a memo to staff this week. The Maine Trust is the parent company of the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal in Augusta, Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Times Record in Brunswick and more than a dozen southern Maine weekly papers. • Scott Monroe , previously managing editor for the Central Maine newspapers, has been promoted to managing editor for the Maine Trust for Local News. His role will be to manage newsroom production, including a combined digital team, for all of the company’s newspapers, and to oversee the editors of Maine Trust’s weekly papers. • Julia Arenstam and John Richardson have been promoted to co-managing editors of the Press Herald, overseeing reporters and managers in the Portland newsroom. Richardson, who has been a reporter and editor at the paper for more than three decades, will continue to manage the state desk and politics team. Arenstam, who was hired in 2022, retains oversight of city desk reporters, while also managing a general news and culture team led by editor Katherine Lee. Arenstam previously was an executive producer at a television station in Louisiana. • Meg Robbins has been promoted to Press Herald deputy managing editor. She will oversee both the business desk and food and restaurant coverage, as well as the visuals team. Before being hired by the Press Herald last year, Robbins was a reporter and editor in Central Maine. “My hope is these changes help us continue fostering collaboration among the METLN newsrooms while showing off the talents of our rising leaders,” Fox wrote. “The goals continue to be: Produce impactful journalism, find the path to sustainability through digital audience growth and foster a healthy, creative work environment.” The Maine Trust for Local News is a subsidiary of the National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit news organization that purchased the Maine news media group from businessman Reade Brower last year. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . 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France’s new premier Francois Bayrou vowed to sharply narrow the nation’s deficit to close to 5% of GDP, a plan that threatens a repeat of the stand-off which toppled the last government. Bayrou, who presented his new cabinet on Monday, will lay out his new policy agenda to parliament on Jan. 14 and has pledged to have a 2025 budget by mid-February. A fragmented National Assembly means the new government made up mostly of centrists will need to placate opposition lawmakers from across the political spectrum. And there are early indications that key parties aren’t pleased with the composition of the new administration or its direction, risking another no-confidence motion. Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally, called the new administration a “coalition of failure.” And on the left, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure called the casting of the new government a “provocation.” France has been in political turmoil since June, when President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called early elections. The ballot returned a lower house split roughly among three feuding blocs: the leftist New Popular Front alliance, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and a smaller group of centrists that support the president. The first two joined together to force out Prime Minister Michel Barnier in early December. France has long been out of compliance with European Union rules that require member states’ debt to be below 60% of GDP and a deficit under 3%. Next year’s budget will need to chip away at France’s current deficit, which has ballooned to 6.1% of economic output. Bayrou has recruited a new cabinet stuffed with heavyweights and veteran figures to attempt the urgent budget tightening that lead to his predecessor’s eviction. The premier brought two former prime ministers back to government and tapped Eric Lombard, a seasoned investment professional with ties to left, to run the finance ministry. Finding support for a 2025 budget will be difficult in the National Assembly, where Macron’s lawmakers are in the minority and opposition forces have shown little desire for compromise. Because France doesn’t yet have a budget law for 2025, the state will be reliant from January on emergency legislation that took effect on Saturday and permits only vital spending. France’s political and budget difficulties have sparked a sell-off in the country’s debt in recent months, driving up the country’s borrowing costs compared to European peers. The spread between the yields on France and Germany’s 10-year debt closed at 81 basis points on Monday, the highest level since Dec. 4. While the deficit target may be similar as the one sought by the previous cabinet, Bayrou said that the implications of his government’s budget, particularly regarding businesses, would be different. “I’m for protecting companies,” Bayrou said. “I’m not saying that we can’t find some some short-term efforts to make, but I think it’s necessary for everyone to know where the national treasure is. The national treasure is companies. They create wealth. They create jobs.” Lombard also signaled a slight change of approach to the budget from Barnier’s proposal of €60 billion ($62.4 billion) in taxes and spending cuts — an unusually large adjustment for France. “We must reduce the deficit without killing growth,” Lombard said at a handover ceremony at the finance ministry late Monday. “It’s this balance we must look for and that’s the meaning of the 2025 budget.” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday that to remain credible France must still deliver a significant improvement that brings the deficit closer to 5% next year than 6%. “We are at risk of gradually sinking little by little as we lose weight in Europe and the world and we lose our margin for maneuver,” he said on France 5 television. Earlier this month, Moody’s Ratings cut France’s credit grade in an unscheduled change, warning that the country’s finances will be weakened over the coming years and that there is a “low probability” that the next government will be able to sustainably reduce the size of fiscal deficits beyond next year. Bayrou is counting on Lombard’s credentials in helping get the 2025 budget over the line. “He’s someone who’s had a very long career in business, insurance and banking, and is respected, I think, by everyone,” the premier said on Monday. Lombard, 66, has a long experience of finance, most recently as chief executive of the Caisse des Depots Group, a two-century-old financial institution that reports to parliament. The institution is designed to serve public interests, combining asset management, financing of social housing and management of the state’s strategic holdings. Lombard has spent most of his career before that in the financial sector, with stints at BNP Paribas and Generali France. In the early 1990s, he briefly served as an adviser to Socialist Finance Minister Michel Sapin, who himself returned to the same post for part of Francois Hollande’s 2012-2017 presidency. But his biggest hurdle will be finding a compromise among opposition lawmakers. The Ecologist party leader Marine Tondelier said on Monday that the new government was “imbalanced” with too much influence given to the right. “The same causes will have the same effects and Bayrou is following the same path as Barnier and it’s unlikely he doesn’t share the same destiny,” she said on BFM TV. Faure, whose Socialist party could prove decisive in a no-confidence motion, said on Tuesday that none of the conditions are met for a “no-censure” pact with the new government, but that he will wait until the Jan. 14 policy speech to decide what action to take. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.ATLANTA — On Jan. 18 and 19 the AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! will be held at State Farm Arena in advance of the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 20. The star-studded lineup was announced Thursday at a news conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Performances will include Lil Wayne and GloRilla on Saturday; and Camila Cabello, Myles Smith and Knox on Sunday. On game day, the Allstate Championship Tailgate, taking place just outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Home Depot Backyard, will feature country acts on the Capital One Music Stage, including global superstar Kane Brown and iHeartCountry “On The Verge” artist Ashley Cooke. The concerts are just two of the festivities visiting fans can enjoy in the days leading up to the big game. The fan experience for both ticket holders and the general public has been a focus for event planners. All weekend long, an estimated 100,000 people from across the country are expected to attend fan events preceding kickoff. “It will be an opportunity for fans of all ages to come together to sample what college football is all about, and you don’t have to have a ticket to the game to be a part of it,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP in a press release. “We’ve worked closely with the Atlanta Football Host Committee to develop fan-friendly events that thousands will enjoy come January.” On Saturday, Jan. 18, Playoff Fan Central will open at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The free, family-friendly experience will include games, clinics, pep rallies, special guest appearances, autograph signings and exhibits celebrating college football and its history. That day, fans can also attend Media Day, presented by Great Clips, which will feature one-hour sessions with student-athletes and coaches from each of the College Football Playoff national championship participating teams. ESPN and social media giants X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will be taping live broadcasts from the event. On Sunday, Jan. 19, the Trophy Trot, both a 5K and 10K race, will wind its way through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Each Trophy Trot participant will receive a T-shirt and finisher’s medal. Participants can register at atlantatrackclub.org . On Sunday evening, the Georgia Aquarium will host the Taste of the Championship dining event, which offers attendees the opportunity to indulge in food and drink prepared by local Atlanta chefs. This premium experience serves as an elevated exploration of local cuisine on the eve of the national championship. Tickets to the Taste of the Championship event are available on etix.com . Atlanta is the first city ever to repeat as host for the CFP national championship. The playoff was previously held in Atlanta in 2018. “We are honored to be the first city to repeat as host for the CFP national championship and look forward to welcoming college football fans from around the country in January,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and Atlanta Football Host Committee. “This event gives us another opportunity to showcase our incredible city.” The College Football Playoff is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be Jan. 9-10, 2025. The CFP national championship will be Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com . Get local news delivered to your inbox!
NFL fans slam Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo for his 'disgusting' Lamar Jackson criticism READ MORE: Tom Brady predicts Mahomes and Allen will meet again this year By JAKE FENNER Published: 15:17 EST, 21 November 2024 | Updated: 15:19 EST, 21 November 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Fans on social media slammed ESPN's Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo for disrespecting Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on Wednesday morning's episode of 'First Take'. Russo was one of four people on the desk alongside hosts Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim and contributor Kimberly Martin. In one segment, the panel was discussing whether Jackson was better than Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. It was pointed out by Martin that Russo had praised Jackson weeks ago, but this time, he appeared to take Allen's side. Russo closed his argument by saying, 'You can take those two MVPs and you can put them where the sun don't shine.' Despite Qerim and Martin pleading with him not to finish that sentence, Russo did so anyway - much to the amusement of Smith, who laughed along. Sports fans are outraged by a comment made by ESPN's Chris Russo on First Take Wednesday Russo said Ravens QB Lamar Jackson could stick his MVP awards 'where the sun don't shine' Read More Former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Claire Wolford goes public with MLB star boyfriend Colton Cowser But fans of Jackson's weren't happy - going so far as to demand that Russo be fired for his comments. The account that posted the video to X, formerly Twitter, said, 'ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING and yes Stephen A Smith is smiling and laughing along!!!' Another user attacked Russo as well as Smith for laughing, saying, 'This is highly disrespectful and unprofessional. ESPN and [Smith] allow this s**t to happen because it gets them clicks. Don't ever say [Smith] is on our side, he play both sides to appease to the audience and for his bosses. F*** both of these dudes tbh!!!' 'Haven't watched ESPN in over a decade and this is why,' wrote one fan of the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Another user wrote, 'Yall still watch this s**t @espn take this s**t off TV nun of them know what they be talking about.' 'People keep putting that rambling moron on tv and I'll never understand why,' read another post. Russo, 68, has been in sports talk radio for years and has developed the occasional bad take across his resume. Among the many include his take that Shaquille O'Neal was not a top-five center in the history of the NBA - and that Moses Malone was deserving of being on the list over him. Fans blasted Russo, Stephen A Smith, and ESPN for having him on the show in the first place Russo also regularly drew the ire of fans and fellow ESPN panelists whenever he argues professional basketball by citing players who haven't touched a court in decades. One time, former ESPN NBA panelist and current Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick called Russo, 'the absolute worst'. Last year, Russo famously declared that if the Arizona Diamondbacks came back to win the National League Championship Series over the Philadelphia Phillies, that he would retire from sports talk. When Arizona completed the comeback to reach their second World Series in franchise history, Russo went back on his promise. As for Jackson, he is currently second in the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns - behind Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow in both categories. Jackson also has the most rushing yards by a non-running back in the league. The Ravens (7-4) look to improve their record this week with a trip to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers on Monday Night Football. Baltimore Ravens Share or comment on this article: NFL fans slam Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo for his 'disgusting' Lamar Jackson criticism e-mail Add commentA new theory has emerged, raising questions about whether ride-hailing apps charge iPhone users more than Android users for the same rides. Recent tests conducted by The Times of India (TOI) have sparked speculation, with findings showing consistently higher prices for iOS users in Chennai. The tests compared cab fares for identical routes checked simultaneously on iPhone and Android devices. Although the price differences were most noticeable for shorter, single rides, the results are not definitive proof of discrimination. Factors like varying demand and fluctuating algorithms make it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Nonetheless, the findings have reignited concerns about the opaque pricing strategies used by ride-hailing platforms. In response, Uber has denied any practice of personalizing fares based on the type of phone a user owns. They attributed the discrepancies to dynamic pricing, which is influenced by factors such as real-time demand, estimated travel time, and distance. However, Ola, another popular ride-hailing service, did not respond to TOI’s inquiries. Experts, however, have raised doubts about these explanations. C. Ambigapathy, managing director of Chennai-based ride-hailing platform Fastrack, suggested that it is technically possible for companies to adjust fares based on the user’s hardware. He believes ride-hailing companies could easily manipulate fares while citing dynamic pricing algorithms as a cover. P. Ravikumar, a former senior director at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, explained that advanced machine learning technologies such as Google Cloud AI and Azure ML enable ride-hailing platforms to incorporate a range of variables—including device type and usage patterns—into their pricing models. He suggested that if consistent factors like estimated travel time and distance were accounted for, users should not face discrepancies based on their device. One expert involved in framing India’s aggregator policy noted that surge pricing is not only tied to the type of device a user owns. Instead, platforms adjust fares based on a user’s behavior and patterns, with frequent users or those who check fares multiple times often facing higher prices. Despite these claims, the allegations have yet to be independently verified. However, experts are calling for greater transparency from ride-hailing platforms to ensure fair pricing practices for all users, regardless of the device they use. Also Read: Indigo Launches Holiday Packages, Direct Flight From Kolkata To PhuketFrench premier seeks budget cuts that toppled prior cabinet