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I recently made friends with a new colleague who joined the university where I teach. The campus is at the back of beyond, and everything a normal, non-young adult might require is reachable only by car. So, if you're a visiting teacher, you end up being dependent on the kindness of colleagues, friends, and strangers. ET Year-end Special Reads Take That: The gamechanger weapon's India acquired in 2024 10 big-bang policy moves Modi government made in 2024 How governments tried to rein in the social media beast When M and his wife joined as permanent faculty, I was happy to discover we shared some tastes and interests. It was also helpful that my new friends have a car for our local adventures. Rapidly, they became part of the faculty fleet, which ranged out in various vehicles carrying owners and some of us grateful non-owners to different destinations around the area. Now, everybody drives differently. So, we have the Bio guy with the spanking new 4-wheel-drive SUV zipping down the narrow road between the paddy fields as though he's competing in the Paris-Dakar rally. We have the Lit lady who drives fine inside cities, but can't handle the highway too well. We have the Ceramic lady who has no such problems, deftly swatting aside trucks as she gets you to the nearest big metro in record time. And you have the newly married young couple, driving with whom you feel like you're a stowaway on a honeymoon trip. Among these, my new friend M is different. The first time we go out in his pristine-looking 1-year-old sedan, I wonder if there is something wrong with the car. Then I realise he's just driving slowly, much more slowly than normal. There's a group of us in the car, so I don't say anything. The next time his wife makes a good-natured joke about his slow driving . But we all agree that the rural road is inimical to the low suspension of the city car. 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As a driver myself, if I'm sitting next to a reckless driver, I often find my foot pressing down on a non-existent brake. Here, it's the absent accelerator for which my foot twitches. Even in town and market traffic, M lets the vehicle in front get far away, so far that two cars could get in between us and them-something that indeed happens regularly. Even in a crowded pedestrian-heavy gali, M doesn't honk; he waits for the people to part. When there's a 50-50 on a gap, to use a football term for two players going for the ball, M waits and always lets the other guy take the space. As a normally aggressive desi driver, my whole body starts to twitch after a while. We do our shopping and get back, having taken not too much longer than if somebody 'normal' had been driving. Outside the car, M is not a shy or self-effacing person. In an intellectual or political argument, he gives no undue ground. He is good and firm in his dealings with people, saying no whenever required. And yet, his driving.... After the latest trip, it occurs to me that perhaps it is millions of us 'normal' drivers who are crazy, and M who is sensible. A car is a vehicle for getting from A to B, not an instrument for emotional release. Slow is always safer in a country where most people are on foot, where most of the ones driving have been taught very badly. Over the last half a century, generations of Indian drivers have been conditioned to elbow and brawl for shrinking road space. In a slow-moving country, every pause in speedy road progress feels like you're going backwards, sending tempers soaring. Just as in life, so in traffic, we hate to yield because we are afraid of the damage this will cause us. And yet, if everyone yielded a bit more, perhaps things would move more smoothly. If everyone, especially the men, managed to drain down their aggression, perhaps India would be a happier place. Here's wishing everyone a slow, uneventful, and happy 2025.
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By PETER SMITH A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but his campaign aggressively courted niche communities with the understanding that every vote could be critical, particularly in swing states. Voter surveys such as exit polls, which canvass broad swaths of the electorate, aren’t able to gauge the impact of such microtargeting, but some backers say the effort was worth it. Just one week before the election, Trump directed a post on the social-media platform X to Coptic Christians in the United States —- whose church has ancient roots in Egypt. He saluted their “Steadfast Faith in God, Perseverance through Centuries of Persecution and Love for this Great Country.” “This was the first time seeing a major U.S. presidential candidate address the community in this manner,” said Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian and research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “It was really a profound moment.” She said many Copts share the conservative social views of other Christian groups in the Republican constituency, and they may already have been Trump supporters. But the posting reinforced those bonds. Coptic bishops sent the president-elect congratulations after his victory and cited their “shared social and family values.” Some Assyrian Christians — another faith group with Middle Eastern roots — similarly bonded with Trump, whose mispronunciation of “Assyrian” at a rally created a viral video moment and drew attention to their support. Sam Darmo, a Phoenix real estate agent and co-founder of Assyrians for Trump, said many community members cited the economy, illegal immigration and other prominent voter issues. They echoed other conservative Christians’ concerns, he said, on issues such as abortion, gender identity and religious expression in public. But he said Trump supported various Middle Eastern Christians recovering from the Islamic State group’s oppressive rule. Darmo also credited Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, for mobilizing various Middle Eastern Christian groups, including Chaldean Catholics, and other voters, particularly in Michigan, such as Muslims. “He brought all these minority groups together,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue that relationship.” But members of Middle Eastern-rooted Christian groups, and their politics, are far from monolithic, said Marcus Zacharia, founder of Progressive Copts, a program of Informed Immigrants, an organization that promotes dialogue on sensitive topics among such groups in the United States and Canada. He said many younger community members question Trump’s stances on issues such as immigration, and sense that conservatives sometimes tokenize them by focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East while neglecting wider issues of repression in countries there that the U.S. supports. He said there needs to be more informed dialogue across the political divide in these communities. “There is no more high time than these next four years to have that way of conducting conversations,” he said. Republicans also made an aggressive push for Amish voters , particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where they are most numerous at about 92,000 (many below voting age). The GOP has made similar efforts in the past, even though researchers have found that less than 10% of them typically vote, due to their separatism from society. But Republicans used billboards, mailers, ads and door-to-door campaigner to drive turnout in Lancaster County, home base to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. On Election Day, Amish voters Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus said they were supporting Trump, citing their anti-abortion beliefs. “We basically look at it as murder,” Stoltzfus, 31, said outside a polling center in the Lancaster County community of New Holland, where dozens of other members of the local Amish community voted. Trump has wavered on the issue, dismaying some abortion opponents, though many have said Republicans still align more closely to their views. Stolzfus added: “Make America great again and keep the moral values,” he said. “Let’s go back to the roots.” Steven Nolt, a history professor at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster College who studies the Amish and their voting patterns, said that while it’s too early to say definitively without further research, he doesn’t see evidence of a larger turnout this year. Lancaster County as a whole — most of which is not Amish — is a GOP stronghold that Trump won handily, though both parties’ votes edged up from 2020, according to unofficial results posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. “Bottom line, percentage-wise, not much change in the parts of Lancaster County where the Amish live,” he said. Trump directly reached out to members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism. Related Articles National Politics | Trump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’ National Politics | Trump’s team is delaying transition agreements. What does it mean for security checks and governing? National Politics | Judge delays Trump hush money sentencing in order to decide where case should go now National Politics | Republicans scramble to fill JD Vance’s Ohio Senate seat National Politics | Fear of losing U.S. Space Command unites Colorado’s congressional delegation On Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump made a symbolically resonant visit to the “Ohel,” the burial site of the movement’s revered late leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Wearing a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish skullcap, Trump, who has Jewish family members, brought a written prayer to the Ohel and laid a small stone at the grave in keeping with tradition. The site in New York City, while particularly central to Chabad adherents, draws an array of Jewish and other visitors, including politicians. About two-thirds of Jewish voters overall supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. But the Trump campaign has made a particular outreach to Orthodox Jews, citing issues including his policies toward Israel in his first administration. Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowitz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida said it was moving for him to see images of Trump’s visit. “The mere fact that he made a huge effort, obviously it was important to him,” he said. Associated Press journalist Luis Henao contributed.The beginning of a new year holds so much promise: new breakthroughs, releases, and successes all hang in the balance. At the same time, the last few days of the year provide a perfect vantage point to look clearly at how the past 12 months have panned out and use this knowledge to help decide which successes are the most likely – and which may not pan out. As 2024 draws to a close, the ITPro team has drawn together some closing thoughts on the biggest trends of the past year and the technologies that could come to define 2025. AI continues to lead conversations Every member of the ITPro team points to AI as the standout focus for the IT industry in 2025, as vendors look to improve the sophistication of generative AI models and C-suites aim for better ROI on AI investments they've made in the past year or two. Jane McCallion, managing editor at ITPro, argues that AI will dominate 2025 even without any significant technological breakthroughs. This, she explains, is because businesses will finally be able to make good on AI spending. "Organizations, having thrown money at AI investment in the abstract, may finally establish what they really want to use it for," says McCallion. An outlier model for AI that's already leading conversations as we go into the new year is the use of AI agents, generative AI models that can complete tasks autonomously, with all the hyperscalers and major AI vendors having released their own agentic AI offerings. Get the ITPro. daily newsletter Receive our latest news, industry updates, featured resources and more. Sign up today to receive our FREE report on AI cyber crime & security - newly updated for 2024. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors "We've spent more than a year trying to work out how impactful AI assistants and 'copilots' will be for enterprises, and how they'll support workers," says Ross Kelly, news & analysis editor at ITPro.... ITPro
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Telecom Egypt and China Mobile International (CMI) have inked a strategic commercial partnership agreement to leverage the investments of both companies in subsea cable infrastructure and share resources to address the rapidly growing data needs of businesses and consumers worldwide. The agreement was signed by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CMI Wang Hua and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt Mohamed Nasr. This partnership entails a set of innovative, enterprise-grade digital and business services tailored to meet the dynamic needs of enterprises in Egypt and across the region. This strategic agreement signals a key step towards deepening partnership between CMI, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile-renowned for operating the world’s largest network, -and Telecom Egypt, the total telecom services provider in Egypt and one of the largest subsea cables operators in the region. The international infrastructure commercial agreement is deemed a key element of partnership between Telecom Egypt and CMI and is meant to expand the global reach of both companies, reinforcing their shared commitment to delivering high-quality, uninterrupted services in an increasingly interconnected world. Through combining CMI’s advanced digital solutions with Telecom Egypt’s robust nationwide infrastructure, extensive market expertise, and widespread regional reach, both organizations will explore customized DICT (Digital, Information, Communication, and Technology) solutions to advance smart services for enterprises, according to a statement issued by CMI on Tuesday. The collaboration in meant to empower businesses with scalable solutions that drive digital transformation and reinforce their positions as leaders in the enterprise services market, the statement added.Class 6A Crown Point at Westfield, 7 p.m., rrsn.com Class 5A Merrillville at Warsaw, 6:30 p.m., WEFM-FM (95.9), rrsn.com Class 2A Adams Central at Andrean, 7 p.m.
The semifinal round in the Connecticut high school football playoffs has come to an end, and matchups are set for this weekend's finals. Here's a look at who will be playing where in the state title games, and how they got there after Sunday's results.The overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime has opened the door to new dynamics in the Middle East, regional analysts say, with Turkey likely gaining superiority, Iran reeling and, with that, Iraq gaining more freedom from Iranian pressure. The Assad government in Syria spanned 54 years in power — first with the elder Hafez al-Assad and later with son Bashar of the minority Alawite community, a branch of Shiite Islam. Regional analysts say its fall marks a seismic shift in Middle East politics. Sinan Ulgen, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe speaking during a Carnegie Middle East Center webinar on Dec. 19 in Beirut, called it a “political earthquake” with far-reaching regional implications. “Fundamentally, we now see the emergence of a government in Syria that maybe after 50 years really is likely to be more pro-Turkey than pro-Iran,” Ulgen said. “This is a lasting change in the regional power constellation, which is another reason why the fall of Assad has been welcomed with such zeal in Ankara,” the capital of Turkey. Ellie Geranmayeh, the deputy head of the Middle East program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Israel’s attacks on Iran’s assets in Syria and its Hezbollah proxies in neighboring Lebanon, as well as Israeli military strikes in the heart of the Iranian capital, Tehran, “present a moment of regional reckoning” for Iran. ”It [Iran] is definitely on the backfoot,” she said. “There is now a strategic rethink ... happening in the establishment about where their policies — both at home and abroad — go from here.” Geranmayeh said prominent figures in Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps are likely to be replaced with others, given the nation’s demoted regional status and the near demise of its so-called axis of resistance in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. She said that Iran likely will spin a narrative that the late Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani’s regional project to surround Israel with a so-called ring of fire has been “accomplished,” and that Iran will look to devise other plans to deal with the new reality it faces. Harith Hasan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said, “Iraq is the last stronghold for Iran’s axis of resistance,” but that, too, could be changing. “So, Iran might try to strongly defend that influence,” Hasan said. “But as we see, the balance of power has shifted a lot, and the Iraqi government gained more freedom to be able to resist some of the pressure coming from Tehran.” Hasan said concerns about a possible Islamist-led government in Syria is giving cause for concern to its neighbors, as well as to regional political influencers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That, he said, “could give Iraq new leverage” because of its long border with Syria and strong cross-border ties between the two countries. Hasan said that also may give Iraq a way out from under Iran’s influence, as developments in the region continue to unfold.By JILL COLVIN and STEPHEN GROVES WASHINGTON (AP) — After several weeks working mostly behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role: Helping Donald Trump try to get his most contentious Cabinet picks to confirmation in the Senate, where Vance has served for the last two years. Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump’s choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox & Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump’s picks. Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a Republican senator from Ohio, walks from a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., center, and Vice President-elect JD Vance, left, walk out of a meeting with Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, March 15, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, center speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, right, speaks with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, before testifying at a hearing, March 9, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives for a classified briefing on China, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives for a vote on Capitol Hill, Sept. 12, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance R-Ohio speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a Republican senator from Ohio, walks from a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president’s transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can’t get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he’s kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It’s a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy.” His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. Related Articles On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates’ pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he’d missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time “with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that’s just me.” While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence , a powerful position that sits atop the nation’s spy agencies and acts as the president’s top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump’s “border czar.” In another sign of Vance’s influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump’s legislative affairs director. Allies say it’s too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son’s Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump’s most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president’s nominees usually visit individual senators’ offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump’s first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I’ve ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They’ll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. ′′He doesn’t have the long relationships,” he said. “But we all like people that have done what we’ve done. I mean, that’s sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he’s not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.Mayor Fule looks back on 2024
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, has granted pardons to 20 individuals described by rights activists as political prisoners, according to a statement released on his website this Saturday. This decision occurs amidst ongoing political repression in anticipation of presidential elections next month, which are expected to further consolidate Lukashenko's long-standing rule. The individuals' identities remain undisclosed, but all were convicted of 'crimes of an extremist nature', the statement reveals. Pavel Sapelka, a Viasna activist, contends that while Lukashenko sends mixed signals to the West by intermittently releasing prisoners, the overall climate of political repression intensifies. As Belarus braces for its upcoming elections, the regime continues its crackdown on any opposition, harshly treating those who dissent. (With inputs from agencies.)
Automobiles have long been more than a means of mobility, and how a car looks greatly affects how the public perceives both the car and the owner. Some cars leave factories as coveted mechanical works of art. However, the converse is true, and all too often, cars leave factories with styling choices that boggle one's mind. Sometimes, the proper description for a car — put plainly — is ugly, and sadly, there are far too many ugly cars in this world. For most regular production cars of the modern era, the time from the new model idea to delivery at the dealer runs about five to six years, although some automakers are implementing processes to shorten that to as little as three. Designs are sketched out early on and eventually approved for the production line. This process requires multiple teams of people working to manufacture each model, and sometimes, a car comes out, making you question how it ever got approved. It is baffling how dozens of people can go through with a truly bad design and subject it to the buying public, but it still happens today. Bearing in mind that heavy trucks and other specialty vehicles are built for purpose over style and that small production and experimental cars may be overseen by only a few people, these vehicles get an ugly pass. But for mass-produced vehicles built by established corporations with no excuses, these are 10 of the worst-looking cars. For decades now, the Pontiac Aztek has been the punching bag of bad design, lambasted by the public and press for having uniquely ungainly features and questionable styling. But long before being the butt of jokes, the Aztek was a budding concept known in the office as Bearclaw, existing only in two dimensions. However, being a part of a bloated corporation requiring cost-cutting to coexist with all designs, the powers that be offered the Pontiac design team an underwhelming U-body minivan platform on which to build a new crossover SUV, although the term crossover had yet to be coined. Bob Lutz, vice chairman of GM after the Aztek, told Car and Driver that bad vehicles "happen in stages." GM management mandated that 40% of vehicles would be innovative and started setting goals to that end. This ignores the reality that innovation comes from creative thinking that cannot be forced. Thus, the project team for the Aztek put together a model to achieve goals set by management instead of stepping back to ask if they were building something anyone might actually want. Instead, GM management ignored market research, insisting they knew what people wanted, only to be told flatly that the Aztek was not it. The Aztek offered many features ahead of its time and offered some inventive accessories, such as a trunk-mounted tent . But no amount of innovative features could overcome its hideous design-by-committee aesthetic. And that is why it regularly gets included on lists of the ugliest cars. While its presence in the United States has always been on the fringes, Fiat is a major automaker in Europe, and its small cars of the post-war period gave it success in multiple markets by providing consumers small and capable packages at affordable prices. By the '90s, consumers in Europe wanted vehicles a bit larger with capacity for full-size families. In 1998, Fiat revived a name previously applied to a tiny five-seater and introduced its new small people carrier, the Multipla. Based on the relatively small platform shared by the Bravo and Brava, the Multipla squeezes seating for six into a space ordinarily reserved for four. To do this, decisions were made. It required stretching the corners of the cabin out in all directions, giving it a large and tall greenhouse sitting on the body of a small hatchback. The taillights look like an afterthought, but they pale in comparison to the headlights. Placed in pairs, with one up front in the typical place and another on a bulge sitting at the bottom of the windshield, the top ones receive the most ire from the public. Specifically, the windshield bulge just looks odd and out of place. Even before he had joined Top Gear, Richard Hammond on Men and Motors said, "It's got to be beautiful to somebody." He struggled to offer any more on its appearance. At least it's practical. We are all familiar with an actor or musician who once had all the fame and fortune while living in the spotlight and riding high, only to see their fortunes fade along with their talent and looks. It is a familiar tale, and it also happens to automobiles. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Buick released a production version of its XP-300 concept, a stunning limited-production convertible loaded with options as part of GM's "dream cars for the public." That ended in 1955, and Buick revived the name in 1962 as a trim for the Special and kept it going for a few more decades. The pinnacle of its development came with the 1970 Buick Skylark Gran Sport 455, a powerful and attractive muscle car coupe and the pinnacle of the muscle car era. The Skylark's decline began in the '70s, hitting what many thought was its low point around 1980 with the X-body compact Skylark that helped sully GM's already lousy reputation. But when Buick released the 6th-gen Skylark in 1992, it hit a new low. The compact Skylark's most striking feature is also its least appealing, the bird beak grille. Its wraparound body cladding does little to help, and its partial rear wheel arch harkens back to a time when Buicks were classy and elegant, everything this is not. MotorWeek called its design controversial and divisive back then, but they probably held back so GM would let them film another car. Americans' first contact with Korean automobiles happened in 1986 with the Hyundai Excel. And while Kia later arrived, other Korean automakers stayed away. SsangYong is a Korean automaker that dates back to the end of the Korean War, first building an American vehicle under license, the Jeep CJ. SsangYong continued building off-road vehicles both for the domestic market and export, but the styling department seems to have lost its way. The attractive Jeep design gave way to more dubious styling with the later Korando, Musso, and Actyon. Hideous as those cars may be, SsangYong debatably saved the worst for the Rodius in 2005. SsangYong entered into a partnership with Mercedes-Benz in 1991, gaining access to well-developed platforms and technology — SsangYong even produced its own version of the successful and reliable Mercedes W124 called the Chairman. This may have meant the Rodius received a Mercedes engine, but it appears the styling department provided nothing, leaving it to suffer from multiple design flaws. Overall, the styling is bland, with little to set it apart, but more egregious are its proportions. To make it large enough for three-row seating comfortably accommodating 7 passengers, the roof line to the rear is high and looks like the cargo area is grafted onto a sedan as an afterthought. The front looks similar to a contemporary Mercedes sedan that's been a bit inflated like a balloon to remove what makes a Mercedes distinctive. Something about it is just wrong, and it's a wonder anyone bought one at all. When considering a car's aesthetics, one must really consider it as a whole package, including its name. Car names like Jaguar, Barracuda, and Mustang all evoke images of quick and agile creatures, while Challenger and Charger sound ready to fight. So, what exactly does Juke evoke? What exactly is a Juke? Mostly, why did Nissan choose Juke? Perhaps nobody knows. Nissan's Juke has been in production for many years across two generations now, and people keep buying it for some reason. Perhaps the name doesn't matter, but its styling should. Here's a pretty good indicator that something was wrong: back when it was first introduced, a writer for The Guardian compared it to a "pug-hog hybrid." Is that what a Juke is? The Juke is a compact crossover, sometimes called a city SUV, that sits taller than most hatchbacks while offering no more space or comfort. The front fenders are fat and swoopy, while the curvy exterior slopes heavily at the rear, rendering cargo space nearly useless. With bulbous lights high on the fenders and circular ones lower in the bumpers, it is difficult to discern which are the headlights and why it has the other ones. The round headlights do evoke "bugeye" cars of the past, such as the Austin-Healey Sprite or Subaru WRX , but without the charm. It also says something that Richard Hammond of The Grand Tour has openly shared his visceral hatred of this car. But according to The Autopian , at least it's "different." So yeah, there's that. Sometimes, a car can be ugly yet endearing. A car coming up short on looks can be overcome by being a curiosity. Rarity also sometimes can boost a car's street cred, and in the United States, cars built by Communists are like hen's teeth. In continuous operation since 1851, Tatra is the oldest of Europe's automakers. While it began as a capitalist company like any other, it fell under the control of the Communist Party after WWII. To its credit, before the war's end, Nazi officers liked driving the T87 but overestimated its handling, resulting in the death of hundreds of officers. After its Nazi-killing spree, Tatra produced the 603, a large executive car. Because Russian cars were of such poor quality, Tatra was given authorization to build it. The Tatra 603 is a large sedan driven by an engine in the rear, a setup usually reserved for small cars. Also unusual is that its 2.5-liter overhead-valve Hemi head V8 used air-cooling, a genuine anomaly. Each car was hand-built and provided sumptuous accommodations with large and plush bench seats offering a supple ride. Only about 20,000 of these were built as they were only for party leaders and others who were "more equal than others" in the Orwellian communist society — Fidel Castro owned one. And while some love it for being so awesomely weird, it really is kind of an odd bird. Although it may be ugly, that is part of its appeal. The '70s were a tough time for automakers. New governmental regulations, fluctuating energy prices, and evolving consumer tastes presented constant challenges for American automakers that were further compounded by emerging foreign competition. Automakers also catered to luxury buyers, building larger and larger cars throughout the decade. But when Cadillac released its downsized 1976 Seville to compete with imported cars from Germany, Lincoln was caught out in the cold. In response, it quickly came up with the Versailles and subjected it to buyers in 1977. While the Seville was Cadillac's attempt to woo buyers with a smaller car specifically designed to compete with imported luxury cars, the Lincoln was a rushed job. To quickly get a smaller car to market, Lincoln went to Ford and picked out its midsize Granada, and gussied it up with some leather, an optional sunroof, and a new grille and dumped it onto dealers. To be fair, Lincoln added a bunch of insulation to reduce vibration and quiet the cabin, along with thicker door seals, while it installed accessories like clocks and climate control inside. It received a luxury treatment, but underneath everything, it was still a Ford Granada with little discernible difference outside. The Ford was not a particularly attractive car, and the Lincoln grille may have made it worse. Moreover, the faux spare wheel hump on the trunk was always tacky and out of place. Sales never took off, and its ugliness and rareness are now its most endearing features. It seems that automakers were once more daring. This can be partially attributed to modern regulations and technology, but also in part to the attitude and risk aversion. Modern Nissans seem to follow a script, but in the late '80s, a few of them went completely off of it. Nissan announced a four-car series in 1985 coming from its Pike Factory. However, this factory was mythical and just part of a marketing push for cars debuting in 1987, including the Be-1, Pao, Figaro, and S-Cargo. All of these were retro-inspired designs created about a decade before the 1997 Volkswagen New Beetle kicked off the retro car trend . They were also only available in Japan. The Pike cars all paid tribute to historic models to varying degrees of success. The one practical model of the bunch became the S-Cargo, a small cargo van sitting on a March platform with a 2.5-liter engine. Its name and its shape evoke that of the French delicacy escargot, and its design pays tribute to the French Citroën 2CV Fourgonnette, a cargo version of the iconic 2CV that gave mobility to the French after WWII. The bugeye headlights, curved hood, and modest cargo area strike an uncanny resemblance to the historic French car. Regardless of its historic ties, the S-Cargo is a bit unsightly and weird. And while some may think it cute, even YouTuber Doug DeMuro bought one, proclaiming it to be the "ugliest car ever made." That just about makes it official. Most Americans have little experience or even knowledge regarding French vehicles. Citroën last sold in the States in 1974, followed by Renault in 1988, and finally Peugeot in 1991. Regardless, classic French cars are quirky and often have styling you might only call unique. They have also created some genuine gems. The hydro-pneumatic suspension of the Citroën DS is a marvel of post-war engineering , while the Renault 5 Turbo is a rally beast . However, the 1961 Citroën Ami 6 falls a bit short. Wanting something to fit in the lineup between the luxurious DS and the 2CV peoples' car, Citroën came up with the Ami 6. Using the architecture of the 2CV as a base, designer Flaminio Bertoni crafted its design. Once he had an initial design prepared, management made changes to muck things up. An engine change raised the height of the hood, while Citroën management wanted different headlights placed higher up. Therefore, instead of having a raked hood, it ended up with a weird dip up front. Perhaps the worst of things is the rear glass raked rearward in an attempt to make the car look bigger with a longer roofline. Bigger looking or not, it is a questionable choice and makes the car just look plain weird. Inside, the Ami 6 is as basic as it gets, and not even the rear windows opened at first. Today, it is the perfect kind of weird for some classic car buyers, but a beauty it is not. Introducing the Tesla Cybertruck today is likely a waste of time. Anyone spending five minutes on the interwebs has surely come across it if they haven't come across one in real life. Furthermore, the company's founder seems to relish being in the spotlight, but there's no need to feed his ego here. Furthermore, calling the Cybertruck ugly will undoubtedly catch some feelings. It seems that people either love it or hate it. There is no denying its styling is bold, and that can definitely be a draw for some buyers. However, for most people's tastes, it takes bold about three steps too far, looking a bit like what you might get if asking a seven-year-old to draw a truck with crayons. Vehicle design that pushes boundaries and breaks the mold is generally a good thing that is well-received by the public. But cutting-edge design is something displayed by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or the Lotus Emira , not something designed with a yardstick. Although the Cybertruck is full of cool features , it has already received six recalls in its first year. Only in person can you realize how huge it is, making it feel bigger and more pointless than on a screen. And for nearly $100,000, there are a dozen or more better choices. Perhaps if you want everyone to gawk at you while you drive, this is your truck. Ultimately, it is what it is. That just happens to be ugly.Hartford HeathCare team delivers gift of life with first beating heart transplant in CT
Trump's FBI pick Kash Patel goes scorched earth on MSNBC guest in wild letterBig 12 football power rankings: After starting at the bottom, ASU finishes on topA photographer who’s worked with Collections by Colleen Hoover, Ghost Golf and Talentless, Keating shared snapshots from her maternity shoot on Instagram, captioned, ‘New level of life unlocked’ Shazam! star Zachary Levi, who was previously married to FBI actress Missy Peregrym , is riding full speed on his right-wing agenda and claims the entertainment industry shows no signs of slowing him down. In a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, the Trump supporter confidently asserted that contrary to popular belief, his political preferences did not get him blacklisted from Hollywood. He insists that he has “multiple jobs” in hand but admitted to Deadline, “How it ultimately plays out in the future? I don’t know.” {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Zachary Levi at the world premiere of Shazam! in March 2019, in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP","url":"https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/12/11/f70bab58-c142-4f9b-8c74-18863c692e55_9af0fa1a.jpg"} Zachary Levi at the world premiere of Shazam! in March 2019, in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP Advertisement Meanwhile, Levi’s peers are far from impressed by his Republican antics. Not long ago, actress Laura Benanti, who starred with him in the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me , expressed her disgust over a statement he made about the untimely passing of actor Gavin Creel from cancer, in which Levi implied that the Covid-19 vaccine led to Creel’s death. “I never liked him,” Benanti said of Levi. “Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not. He’s sucking up all the f***ing energy in this room,’” she said on That’s a Gay Ass Podcast . Amid the backlash, however, Levi has reason to celebrate. The 44-year-old just announced on Instagram that his girlfriend, 27-year-old Maggie Keating, is expecting their first child. “I’ve wanted to be a dad since I was literally a kid,” he wrote in part, sharing an ultrasound image and a loving photo with Keating. So what do we know about Maggie Keating? She’s a photographer {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Maggie Keating is a model and photographer. Photo: @maggiekeating/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/12/11/1887eaa0-bfcb-41e9-849a-ff212785fa48_8a66ae79.jpg"} Maggie Keating is a model and photographer. Photo: @maggiekeating/Instagram Keating is a fashion photographer who divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. She has worked on photo shoots with brands like Talentless, Ghost Golf and Collections by Colleen Hoover, as well as bridal houses like Martina Liana, Essense of Australia and Stella York.The fall of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government led to the second collapse of a French government in 62 years – exactly 62 years after the first, in October 1962. It’s historic because the second prime minister came from a right-wing coalition, marking the first time since the creation of the Fifth Republic in 1958 that such a situation occurred. The Fifth Republic was established to end political instability and the anarchic parliamentary system. Barnier did resign and the president accepted his resignation according to Article 50 of the constitution. He will serve as caretaker government chief until the president appoints a new prime minister in the coming days. In the aftermath of this political drama, France has been grappling with instability since June when President Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the French lower chamber (L'Assemblée Nationale). Ever since, the political situation has worsened and the specter of political instability and economic anxiety has haunted both the president and the country. This president sought to change France’s century-old political culture, which has been defined by the aggressive role of political elites, the media and political parties toward political leaders – or, as they call it, the monarch, despite the end of the monarchy in France in 1792. Yet, Macron, who entered the political arena in late 2016, sought power and led a country where politics has been marked by violence, treason and cruelty. He positioned himself in 2017 as a new young president and a voice of change. In fact, he managed to dismantle the two main conventional political parties, the Socialists and the Gaullists, in both 2017 and 2022 – a revolutionary paradigm in French politics. He even published a book called La Revolution. President Macron ’s governing style and economic program quickly clashed with public opinion and the political opposition, both left and right. This began early on with the progressive media during the Benalla scandal in the summer of 2018 and worsened later with the long-running Yellow Vest protests. The conflict continued through last winter with a large anti-pension and retirement reform bill, which ex-Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne used Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass without a vote in the National Assembly. The no-confidence vote was related to Barnier’s government’s failure to convince Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally Party (RN), to back a budget that left-wing and far-right groups in the lower chamber judged too austere, with more taxes and spending cuts to address France’s spiraling deficit. This occurred despite concessions made to address Le Pen's concerns. This helps explain the main reason for the no-confidence vote that toppled Barnier’s minority government: 331 lawmakers from the left-wing coalition of New Popular Front (NFP) and the far-right coalition of the RN, joined by lawmaker Eric Cioti’s group in the National Assembly. This unlikely alliance of the NFP and the far-right seeks to end President Macron’s political career and force him into early retirement . Le Pen is positioning herself as the likely candidate for the 2027 French presidential election. Since the outcome of the July 2024 parliamentary elections, she has positioned herself as the “kingmaker” in French politics, given the incoherent axis in the newly elected lower chamber. Barnier, however, tried to bring Le Pen and her allies to the negotiating table in recent weeks. He made several concessions to the far-right alliance but Le Pen’s tactics seemed more focused on shifting the balance of power than on negotiations. This shift drew criticism from the so-called centrist or presidential alliance in the lower chamber, as well as from pro-president media and the president himself, who in his 10-minute speech to the nation, blamed Le Pen and the NFP coalition – particularly the France Unbowed Party (LFI) and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon – for causing chaos. The melancholy that dominates France’s general mood these days persists, despite the country being on a national celebration: the extravagant preparation for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, five years after the fire on April 15, 2019. Notre Dame did open its wooden high door with an official speech by Macron, attended by world leaders, such as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. This was followed by a liturgical ceremony to mark the cathedral's official reopening, in a secular republic where laicite has become, under Macron’s presidency, the de facto “religion of state.” Despite this, France’s domestic political crisis is weighing heavily, both locally and internationally. Paris is losing its prestige and influence on the world stage, with its diplomacy in sharp decline in both Europe and the MENA region. The latest diplomatic setback occurred in the African Sahel, where N'Djamena and Dakar decided to end military cooperation with Paris and demanded the removal of French military bases. This has exposed France to one of the most multi-dimensional crises it has faced since May 1968. If Macron steps down, it would be a historic moment for France, as no president in the modern republic has resigned apart from Charles de Gaulle in 1969 following the result of a constitutional reform referendum, months after the violent 1968 societal riots that dramatically changed France’s political and social trajectory. This partisan judgment extends beyond the RN. Left-wing lawmakers, after their victory in last July’s elections, have been calling for the president’s resignation. The French executive branch works at two levels: the prime minister controls day-to-day domestic affairs, while the president has significant powers, including foreign policy and defense. Constitutionally, Macron is right; there is no article stipulating that a president must resign after their government is ousted by the National Assembly. Macron has made it clear that he will not step down as requested by the LFI Party and the RN Party. However, there is a risk that if the political drama he calls “political fiction” is not resolved by next summer, he may be forced to dissolve the National Assembly again next June. This remains a possibility, as the French lower chamber is divided into three almost equal, but very heterogeneous, factions: the left-wing, right-of-center and far-right, which have been clashing for the past two and a half years. Macron has explicitly rejected calls for new legislative elections. The French Constitution stipulates that new elections cannot be held within 12 months of the previous ones. His supporters, including media and lawmakers, are defending the president but according to ELAB, 63% of public opinion favors his resignation. In a post-Barnier government fall context, Macron met on Tuesday afternoon with the so-called Republican arc that goes from the right to the left political parties to not censure the next government if the latter does not use the controversial Article 49-3 of the constitution – in other words an act of non-aggression pact from the Republican arc. This time Macron excluded the two main political parties of the opposition in the lower chamber: the LFI and RN Party on Tuesday afternoon. Macron’s strategy, however, is to take away the leisure from Le Pen for being France’s kingmaker, as on his left, Macron is in the process of imploding the NFP coalition, hence he removes the threat of his resignation and early presidential elections requested by the RN and the LFI. Macron is likely to appoint a new prime minister today — he may appoint a new premier, François Bayrou, leader of the center-right Democratic Movement Party, in the coming days. Bayrou, however, belongs to the old political establishment that Macron sought to dismantle when he came to power in 2017. In summary, politics is full of irony. A president who sought to usher in a “modern” style of governance now finds himself relying on help from a politician who has been in the arena for five decades, an ardent defender of parliamentarism – a system that would mark the end of Macron’s political vision.