The two faces of violenceAdam Clark scores 18 to help Merrimack knock off Niagara 80-62
Batteries not only power electric cars, but can supply energy to buildings and stabilize power grids, through bidirectional charging. Electric cars boast increasingly powerful batteries that are charged from the energy grid or rooftop solar systems. But when the car isn't in use, its battery can serve as storage for homes and the energy grid via a bidirectional charging process that can reduce power costs. How does it work, and are there drawbacks? What is bidirectional charging? Until recently, power flowed in one direction to electric vehicle (EV) batteries from the charging station. A charged battery could not only power the electric motor, electronics, lights and heating but external devices such as a fridge when camping, a drill on a building site or even another EV. These additional functions are called V2D (vehicle-to-device), and V2L (vehicle-to-load). But using the latest bidirectional chargers, EV batteries can also supply entire buildings with electricity using vehicle-to-home (V2H), or feed electricity into the public grid via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. They can also simply charge car batteries. However, bidirectional devices are currently only available in select charging station locations. How much electricity can a car battery store? The batteries in EVs are becoming cheaper and more powerful. The battery in the Tesla Model Y, for example, has at least 62 kilowatt hours (kWh), the VW ID.4 has 77 kWh and the Renault small car (R5) has at least 40 kWh. By comparison, the electricity consumption of a two-person household in Germany is around 54 kWh per week. A mid-range electric car could therefore completely cover this electricity requirement with a full battery charge. In addition, the new ID.4 and R5 models are already designed to power buildings and feed electricity into the grid. With a bidirectional charging station, solar power can flow from the roof of a house into the car battery during the day, and back into the building from the car in the evening. This means residents can use cheap solar power both day and night. By linking to the electric car, homeowners can save on installing additional battery storage units for the solar system. In single-family homes, solar battery systems usually have a capacity of 5 to 10 kWh, and cost up to €10,000 ($10,440). Meanwhile, bidirectional charging is "not harmful to the car battery per se," said Robert Kohrs, an expert in smart energy grids at German research body, the Fraunhofer Institute. "If you do it right, controlled charging and discharging can increase battery life by 5 to 10%." How can electric cars stabilize the power grid? Cars are driven on average less than an hour a day in Germany. During the time that e-cars are parked, grid operators could use the batteries to temporarily store electricity and thus compensate for fluctuations in the power grid. This will help use the growing amount of solar and wind power flowing into national grids. In recent years, that has amounted to 70% of power generated in Denmark and just under 50% in Germany — though it's often available when it's not needed. EV batteries can temporarily store the surplus electricity from these renewable energy sources. When demand increases, the electricity can be fed back into the grid. This also relieves the pressure on gas or coal-fired power plants during periods of high consumption, while less battery storage is required to stabilize the electricity grids. Meet you at the charging hub! To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The savings potential for the shared use of car batteries in the EU could reach €22 billion annually, according to a recent study commissioned by the European environmental organization, Transport & Environment. The report said EVs could cover up to 9% of the EU's electricity requirements, and temporarily up to 20%, making them an important pillar of the electricity system. While the affordable and climate-neutral energy supply of the future will be based primarily on solar and wind power, according to a study published in Science magazine, this will require battery storage systems with a capacity of 74 billion kWh worldwide by 2050. By 2050, there could be 1.5 billion EVs worldwide, said the researchers. With batteries averaging 60 kWh per vehicle, this global fleet could store a total of up to 90 billion kWh of electricity. What are the benefits of car batteries for car, home and grid? According to the Fraunhofer study on EV power integration, e-car owners could save between €31 and €780 per year by sharing the battery power with their own home or the power grid. In France, private owners of the new electric Renault R5 were offered 10,000 kilometers (around 6,200 miles) of free driving electricity in return for connecting their car to a bidirectional charging station for an average of 15 hours a day. The offer has been "well received in France, we are getting a lot of interest," said Thomas Raffeiner from Mobility House, a German-Swiss company that markets bidirectional charging — and the low cost of energy for consumers who utilize the flexibility of car batteries . Raffeiner told DW that more such offers are in the works. According to a survey commissioned by energy supplier Eon, 77% of respondents would use bidirectional charging technology to supply their own buildings, while 65% would support electricity grids. Experts recommend that the new generation of private and public charging stations should function bidirectionally wherever possible. The Fraunhofer study estimated that this would increase the initial costs by roughly €100 for small charging stations (up to 22 KW), and by around €250 for a fast charging station. However, these additional costs would be offset by the savings made within a few months of use. Sources: https://www.transportenvironment.org/uploads/files/2024_10_Study_V2G_EU-Potential_Final.pdf This article was originally written in German Is range anxiety real? EV charging problems and advances To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
A cereal switch-up is stirring up sweet — well, mostly salty — discussion. Post Consumer Brands confirmed to TODAY.com that it’s discontinuing its beloved Oreo O’s cereal and replacing it with something new: Oreo Puffs. > Watch NBC Bay Area News 📺 Streaming free 24/7 It features chocolaty cereal puffs and mini marshmallows with the aim of creating a similar experience to dunking an Oreo cookie into a glass of milk. According to Post, Oreo Puffs are made with real Oreo cookie wafers — which are the cookies that sandwich the creme.. The new cereal will be available at retailers nationwide including Walmart and Target for an MSRP of $4.99. According to Post, Oreo Puffs are made with real Oreo cookie wafers — which are the cookies that sandwich the creme.. The new cereal will be available at retailers nationwide including Walmart and Target for an MSRP of $4.99. “With its introduction, OREO PUFFSTM cereal will replace OREO O’s® cereal on store shelves,” Post tells TODAY.com in an email. Oreo O’s was introduced to U.S. markets in 1997, stayed on shelves until 2007, and then was brought back in 2017 during a big wave of nostalgic marketing. And just like that ... it’s returned to the vault of cereals past. We’ll check back in about 10 years to see if it’s revived from its sugary slumber again. News of the swap has hit the crumb-filled corners of social media, with popular snack-spotting Instagram account Markie Devo posting about the new product and its predecessor. As usual, his comments section had thoughts. “They should’ve kept the rings but added marshmallows,” wrote one commenter. “Sooo coco puffs,” another said , referencing the General Mills-brand analog to the new cereal. “ya know some things just need to be left alone !!” wrote another, and one more added , “I’m tired of every cereal turning into puffs 😢.” Others were excited about the breakfast-basednews. “These sound amazing,” wrote one user, and another added , “Oh wow my kids would be all over this one!” “OREO Puffs Cereal is out now and will be REPLACING OREO O’s Cereal!” one more user wrote on a separate post about the cereal, adding they think the new cereal is an upgrade. “It’s disappointing whenever a beloved item becomes discontinued, but this is actually very exciting news for us because we believe marshmallows BELONG in OREO Cereal!” This story first appeared on TODAY.com . More from TODAY :
The NFL wished Taylor Swift a Happy Birthday with a TikTok of her and Travis Kelce’s most memorable moments—on and off the field. Kelce’s employer posted the video of the singer and his relationship, which already has racked up over 1 million views. The caption read, “Karma is the guy on the @Chiefs saying happy bday to me.” The clips showed Kelce and Swift celebrating his wins at games, the pair at her concerts, and her glitzed out in Chiefs gear. “If you told me 2 years ago I would be following the NFL on tiktok and not falling asleep everytime a game is on TV... never would’ve believed it,” wrote one commenter. “Happy birthday Taylor. Thank you for uniting the Swifties and the Football Fans together in the name of art and sport,” another wrote. Swift has been seen at many Chiefs games since the beginning of her relationship with the tight end, with him visiting her at some of her tour dates. karma is the guy on the @Chiefs saying happy bday to me 🎶 #taylorswift #traviskelce #nfl #kansascitychiefs Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson , known best to some for his past relationships with Kim Kardashian , Ariana Grande , Kate Beckinsale , and more famous women, now says he doesn’t want to be known as “this f---ing loser who just dates people,” in a new interview for W Magazine . to promote his new role as creative director for colorful sock brand Doublesoul, Davidson told the outlet his feeling that he was one of “a handful of celebs every couple of years” that the media “destroys,” after multiple run-ins with tabloids over his famous exes. “For some reason, I’m one of the people they chose to go after,” he said. But, he added, “It’s actually, in a way, a blessing, because it allowed me to take a step back and evaluate things. What do you want to be? Who are you?” Davidson said he only wants to be seen publicly “when it’s movie, stand-up, charity, or business ventures” and to focus on his stand-up career. “I’m someone who is from Staten Island, wanted to do stand-up, and if I got to do anything else because of stand-up, it was a miracle.” Posters are a great way to celebrate your favorite fandom. But if you’re looking for that real “WOW!” factor, nothing beats Fathead . For 17 years, Fathead has been an industry leader in officially licensed graphic wall art across sports and entertainment. You can even create personalized products, making big-head cutouts and life-size wall decals from your own photos. Installing the decals is a breeze. Unroll the decal and lie it flat. Wipe down your wall with a damp cloth. After the wall is dry, peel off the decal backing and apply it slowly, smoothing out any bubbles as you go. Need to adjust? No problem— Fathead decals can be peeled off and reapplied easily. No matter your favorite football team, Fathead has a wall decal for them . Free Shipping The basketball season has just tipped off. Celebrate your favorite player with a life-size wall decal. Free Shipping From everyone’s favorite web-slinging New Yorker to the fourth-wall breaking merc with a mouth, Fathead’s superhero decals burst with vibrant colors. You’ll marvel at how they bring your walls to life. Free Shipping If you buy something from this post, we may earn a small commission. The iconic sitcom Malcolm in the Middle will hit screens for the first time in 18 years, with a limited run of four episodes set to premiere on Disney+ . Frankie Muniz, who will reprise his role as Malcolm, announced the reboot Friday, along with Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek, who play his parents. The original creator of the show will also return as a writer. The new series follows Malcolm returning home with his daughter for his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, according to Deadline . Christopher Kennedy Masterson, who played the eldest brother Francis, and Justin Berfield, who played the middle child Reese, are likely to be asked to reprise their roles. Though it’s unlikely that Erik Per Sullivan, who plays the youngest brother Dewey, will make an appearance. He quit acting in 2010 and has not appeared at any reunions. Malcolm in the Middle first premiered on Fox in 2000 and ran for seven seasons. Its success as a family comedy is credited with paving the way for other single-camera sitcoms. Legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers is finally opening up about his strained relationship with his family. In his new documentary, Aaron Rodgers: Enigma , Rodgers explained that he has “stunted emotional intelligence” because of the lack of open emotion in his home growing up. “I think I saw my dad cry when my grandfather passed. And that might have been it,” Rodgers shared. “There wasn’t space for emotion.” Rodgers’ brother, Jordan, first opened up about the family’s rift during his time on The Bachelorette in 2016. During a hometown date with his now-wife JoJo Fletcher, the family explained that while they “miss” Rodgers, they no longer have a relationship with him. In a 2017 profile with The New York Times , Rodgers’ father, Ed, confirmed that he hadn’t spoken to his son in three years. “Fame can change things,” he said. At the time, Rodgers said he didn’t want to talk about his family publicly. In the doc, Rodgers spoke about his family while participating in an ayahuasca ceremony. The quarterback said the psychedelic drug allows users to “model a new way of thinking about masculinity, or what it means to be a man.” Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission. Consuming cannabis as an adult feels very different than doing so as a fresh-faced 21-year-old—so why should your smoking habits make your space feel like a disheveled college dorm room? NWTN Home’s collection of chic smoking essentials offers a more elevated way to enjoy cannabis in the comfort of your home. NWTN Home is a smokeware brand bringing craftsmanship to the cannabis industry by designing what they call “homeware for the high-minded.” Its weed-associated products are built to double as elegant and functional houseware items , helping you upgrade your home into a full smoking sanctuary. Plus, they make the perfect holiday gifts for your favorite creative cannabis connoisseur! This hand-poured, marbled ashtray rests atop a sleek melamine rolling tray and includes a helpful brass tool that can assist in your rolling process, making it the perfect blend of form and function. This standout stackable flower pot ashtray set is a surefire solution to keep your space clean—and your houseguests impressed. No cannabis collection is complete without something to smoke out of! These avant-garde gravity bongs are inspired by vintage housewares and designed to seamlessly blend into your barware and greenware set-ups. Released bodycam footage shows Paris Hilton’s ex-fiancé, Chris Zylka, in a chaotic brawl with police after a failed carjacking. Police in a Cleveland suburb first responded to reports of a shirtless, barefoot man walking in traffic in freezing temperatures on Dec. 4, local outlet WKBN first reported. Zylka was found in the middle of an intersection, where he allegedly tried to break into a woman’s car. He pointed a cell phone at the cops and began foaming at the mouth, leading officers to believe he was under the influence of drugs, according to the police report. Footage shows Zylka struggling with police officers and resisting arrest even after being tasered in the leg twice. He was then put in an ambulance by paramedics. The actor is now facing felony charges of assault and attempt to commit an offense, as well as misdemeanor disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and aggravated menacing. Hilton and Zylka started dating in 2017 after being friends for years. He proposed in early 2018 during a ski trip in Aspen, Colorado, but they called off their engagement in November that same year. Vanderpump Rules alum James Kennedy is refusing to apologize for his domestic violence arrest . “We are in the process of conducting our own investigation into the allegations levied by the Burbank Police Department against James,” Kennedy’s attorneys said in a statement to the Daily Mail . “We understand that there were no injuries and we are hoping that, after careful review, the city’s attorneys will decide not to file formal charges.” Police were called to Kennedy’s home on Tuesday because of an argument between Kennedy and a woman. That night, Kennedy attended Kathy Hilton’s Christmas party with girlfriend Ally Lewber, though it’s unknown if she is the victim. Police told People that after an investigation, they arrested the reality star for misdemeanor domestic violence. He later posted $20,000 bail. A source at the Christmas party told People that Kennedy was acting “super aggressive.” “He was acting so erratic, running back and forth to the bar and body-checking people along the way,” the source alleged. “He appeared inebriated. Spent the evening mostly alone but when he did speak to people, he appeared irritated and rude.” A doctor has rubbished Brandi Glanville’s scary medical theory about her “deflated” face , saying he’s concerned about an infection that started via an injection. The 52-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum claims doctor s told her that it may have been caused by “a parasite that jumps around my face.” But Dr. Terry Dubrow, from Botched , has said he’s “concerned about an infectious process”. He told TMZ : “It’s an infectious process or a foreign body reaction to something she’s had injected.” A foreign body reaction is the response of biological tissue to any foreign material in the tissue, despite it often being inert and nontoxic, according to ScienceDirect.com Dubrow added: “Brandi needs a diagnosis... she has to figure out if there’s a microorganism in there. It’s not gonna be a parasite, it’s not gonna be something she ate... it’s going to be something that got into her bloodstream though, and seeded some foreign body.” Dubrow thinks Glanville either has a micro bacterium, a type of bacteria, or a fungus, a type of organism. Sick it! pic.twitter.com/hrtAzRwOCW A Buckingham Palace maid was arrested this week after she allegedly went “crazy” following a staff Christmas party which saw glasses and punches thrown in a London bar. A report in The Sun said as many as 50 royal servants gathered for an after-party following drinks at the palace Tuesday when the maid, 24, took a swing at a bar manager, threw glasses, and was ultimately arrested for common assault, criminal damage, and being drunk and disorderly. She was released after 24 hours with a fine. “The group walked in and this one girl just got hysterical,” a source told The Sun . “She started smashing glasses and abusing our staff members, so we had to call the police. I’ve never seen one person get that crazy during a night out. She was on another level.” A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident outside the workplace involving a number of Household staff who had previously attended an early evening reception at the Palace. While this was an informal social gathering, not an official palace Christmas party, the facts will be fully investigated, with a robust disciplinary process followed in relation to individual staff and appropriate action taken.” Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission. Apparently, boosting prostate health can actually be pleasurable—at least, that’s what premium sexual wellness brand MysteryVibe says. The Molto, an ultra-slim and bendable prostate vibrator designed by a doctor, is engineered to be the same size and width as a doctor’s finger and to mimic similar motions to that performed during an exam, allowing for not only intense prostate (the prostate is often hailed as the male ‘G-spot’) and anal stimulation but also a release of prostatic fluids. According to the brand, some studies have found that excess prostatic fluid can lead to inflammation and pressure, so not only is this a sex toy , but it’s also possibly an investment in your prostate health. Think of it almost like a lymphatic massage for your prostate—except one that can give you intense orgasms, too. Made with body-safe silicone, the multifunctional and gender-fluid vibrator is powered by one “anatomically-placed” motor that delivers potent yet precise vibration to the anus and prostate without feeling bulky or inflexible. It’s a great sex toy for those new to anal play or who are looking for an ultra-sleek vibrator with possible health-boosting benefits. The prostate vibrator is equipped with 16 vibration settings and eight pre-set vibration patterns, allowing for superior control and customization. Plus, the device comes with access to a catalog of vibration patterns with the free MysteryVibe smartphone app. Best of all? Because the Molto vibrator is an FDA-registered class II medical device, it’s also FSA/HSA eligible. Is Melania Trump finally back in action? The incoming first lady is joining Donald Trump on Sunday for a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Akie Abe, the widow of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to reports. Her husband, who was assassinated at a political rally in 2022, reportedly won over Trump during his first term with the proven combination of golf and flattery. Trump and Akie Abe have stayed close, with the president-elect regularly calling her to check in, a source told CNN. Melania Trump is scheduled to attend Sunday’s dinner, her latest public appearance after being largely absent on the campaign trail earlier this year. She also accompanied her husband to the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday for Trump’s ringing of the opening bell. Melania has always been a somewhat reluctant first lady, and it’s still not clear how much time she plans to spend in Washington after Trump takes office in January. She did, however, tell Fox & Friends last week that at least she knows what to expect this time around. Trump is set to have a private dinner this Sunday with Akie Abie, the widow of the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a person familiar says. The dinner will take place at Mar-a-Lago and Melania Trump is expected to attend. Trump and Mrs. Abe have maintained a close... The woman who accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 has admitted she fabricated the entire story—18 years after her case captivated the nation before quickly falling apart. Crystal Mangum, the woman at the center of the scandal who is serving a prison sentence for the murder of her boyfriend years later, confessed to lying about the assaults in a new podcast interview. “I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong, and I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me, and made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God,” Mangum told the podcast Let’s Talk with Kat . Mangum, who was working as an exotic dancer who performed at a lacrosse team party in March 2006, called the three lacrosse players she previously accused her “brothers,” and asked for their forgiveness. “I hurt my brothers, and I hope that they can forgive me, and I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve it. I hope they can forgive me.” The charges against the three lacrosse players were dropped by then-North Carolina Attorney General (and current Governor) Roy Cooper in 2007. The Durham County prosecutor who charged the Duke students was eventually disbarred and convicted of contempt of court for giving the defense incomplete DNA test results that would have excluded the lacrosse players, local station WRAL reported at the time. More than 18 years after the Duke lacrosse allegations, Crystal Mangum admits that she made it all up. "I testified falsely against [the lacrosse players] by saying that they raped me when they didn't...I made up a story that wasn't true...I hope that they can forgive me." pic.twitter.com/3yMjbQTQXH
By KELVIN CHAN LONDON (AP) — After a sprawling hacking campaign exposed the communications of an unknown number of Americans, U.S. cybersecurity officials are advising people to use encryption in their communications. To safeguard against the risks highlighted by the campaign, which originated in China, federal cybersecurity authorities released an extensive list of security recommendations for U.S. telecom companies — such as Verizon and AT&T — that were targeted. The advice includes one tip we can all put into practice with our phones: “Ensure that traffic is end-to-end encrypted to the maximum extent possible.” End-to-end encryption, also known as E2EE, means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is a garble that can’t be unscrambled without the key. Law enforcement officials had until now resisted this type of encryption because it means the technology companies themselves won’t be able to look at the messages, nor respond to law enforcement requests to turn the data over. Here’s a look at various ways ordinary consumers can use end-to-end encryption: Officials said the hackers targeted the metadata of a large number of customers, including information on the dates, times and recipients of calls and texts. They also managed to see the content from texts from a much smaller number of victims. If you’re an iPhone user, information in text messages that you send to someone else who also has an iPhone will be encrypted end-to-end. Just look for the blue text bubbles, which indicate that they are encrypted iMessages. The same goes for Android users sending texts through Google Messages. There will be a lock next to the timestamp on each message to indicate the encryption is on. But there’s a weakness. When iPhone and Android users text each other, the messages are encrypted only using Rich Communication Services, an industry standard for instant messaging that replaces the older SMS and MMS standards. Apple has noted that RCS messages “aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they’re not protected from a third party reading them while they’re sent between devices.” Samsung, which sells Android smartphones, has also hinted at the issue in a footnote at the bottom of a press release last month on RCS, saying, “Encryption only available for Android to Android communication.” To avoid getting caught out when trading texts, experts recommend using encrypted messaging apps. Privacy advocates are big fans of Signal, which applies end-to-end encryption on all messages and voice calls. The independent nonprofit group behind the app promises never to sell, rent, or lease customer data and has made its source code publicly available so that it can be audited by anyone to examine it “for security and correctness.” Signal’s encryption protocol is so reputable that it has been integrated into rival WhatsApp , so users will enjoy the same level of security protection as Signal, which has a much smaller user base. End-to-end encryption is also the default mode for Facebook Messenger , which like WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms. Telegram is an app that can be used for one-on-one conversations, group chats and broadcast “channels” but contrary to popular perception, it doesn’t turn on end-to-end encryption by default. Users have to switch on the option. And it doesn’t work with group chats. Cybersecurity experts have warned people against using Telegram for private communications and pointed out that only its opt-in ‘secret chat’ feature is encrypted from end-to-end. The app also has a reputation for being a haven for scammers and criminal activity, highlighted by founder and CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France . Instead of using your phone to make calls through a wireless cellular network, you can make voice calls with Signal and WhatsApp. Both apps encrypt calls with the same technology that they use to encrypt messages. There are other options. If you have an iPhone you can use Facetime for calls, while Android owners can use the Google Fi service, which are both end-to-end encrypted. The only catch with all these options is that, as with using the chat services to send messages, the person on the other end will also have to have the app installed. WhatsApp and Signal users can customize their privacy preferences in the settings, including hiding IP address during calls to prevent your general location from being guessed. Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.
Raya Jalabi and Sarah Dadouch in Damascus Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Last Sunday, Abdel Rahman was serving a 15-year sentence in a cramped cell in Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison, after an altercation with a corrupt police officer last year in Damascus. By Friday morning, he was in the ancient market of the old city selling the newly adopted green Syrian flag — the one anti-Assad rebels have flown during nearly 14 years of brutal civil conflict. At midday, he was able to listen to a sermon at the nearby mosque that called the deposed president Bashar al-Assad “a tyrant”. “How great is Syrians’ joy, how great is this victory!” declared the prime minister, who was giving the unprecedented sermon, his words roaring over the speakers outside the Umayyad mosque. The message was greeted with cheers. Euphoria and some disbelief was etched on the faces of the thousands of people who are still coming to terms with the fall of a dictatorship that ruled them with an iron fist for more than 50 years. Assad’s regime came to an abrupt end last Sunday when he fled to Moscow, following a lightning offensive by Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group immediately started to free prisoners held in the country’s grim warren of prisons. But the regime’s grip was so brutal that when men broke through the doors of Rahman’s cell block, the inmates held back and initially refused to stream out. Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings. “We thought they were engaged in clashes and that they had come to use us as human shields,” he says, watching the stream of people leaving the mosque after Friday prayers chanting anti-Assad slogans. “I’m still in shock. I feel I’m in a movie.” The sense of triumphalism and relief that has swept Syria over the past few days, however, is also mixed with realism about the challenges now facing the country. The HTS rebels are taking over a state devastated by more than a decade of civil war. Many of the people who thronged to the Umayyad mosque in celebration delighted at the text message they received the previous night from a group calling itself “Free Syria”: “Syria has been reborn. Congratulations to our people. Congratulations to our country.” But they also know just how complex such a rebirth will be for the rebels who have descended on the capital from northwestern Idlib — the province governed in recent years by HTS. The Islamist group is assuming control of a complex, multi-ethnic country with institutions that have been hollowed out by corruption and patronage, an economy shattered by conflict and sanctions, and a palpable desire for revenge from some of the victims of Assad’s regime. “For the past 13 years, nothing has worked: no electricity, shortages of everything and the complete choking of society,” says a civil servant in the Damascus governorate. “[HTS] has to get to work and organise things now and stop this corruption or people will turn on them, fast.” From the Assad regime’s inception, corruption, repression and brutality reigned: they were tools that kept the minority Alawi rulers in power in a predominantly Sunni Muslim country. Paranoia and a thirst for absolute control meant that Bashar’s father Hafez, an air force pilot who seized full power in a 1970 coup, crafted a centralised presidential system with absolute authority over the state’s affairs. This created a bureaucratic system that fostered the public’s dependency on government jobs and allowed corruption at all levels of society to go unchecked. While not efficient, it worked — at least until 2011, when popular uprisings were brutally repressed by Bashar and morphed into a bloody civil war. That period ushered in a transformation of the state from an antiquated system operated by Assad’s Ba’athist party into a patchwork of broken institutions. The country’s hospitals are in disrepair, the lack of funding visible in their decaying walls and overburdened departments; its dilapidated hotels are frozen in time. The majority of cars filling the streets of Damascus date back to the 1970s and 1980s, because parts for newer cars have been harder to source and more expensive to import. Western sanctions targeting the Syrian state, the deposed president and his financiers mostly hit civilians, as the upper echelons of the regime found ways to circumvent restrictions. The new prime minister, Mohamed al-Bashir, announced that an interim government will lead the country until March, but has not outlined what comes next and the topic of nationwide elections has yet to be broached. HTS, the offshoot of a former affiliate of al-Qaeda designated a terrorist organisation by the US and others, is the most powerful of myriad armed groups in a country that is home to a diverse mix of religions and sects. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani runs the group as a strongman, and there are concerns that authoritarianism could descend on Damascus, whose residents are already wondering whether HTS will limit public displays of Christmas celebrations. Despite everything we lost, we are now free In a strategic move, Bashir invited Assad’s prime minister, cabinet and civil servants to be part of the process in order to facilitate a smooth transfer of power. On Tuesday, he gathered the outgoing ministers (or at least, those who showed up) with their rebel equivalents in the Assad government’s regular meeting room — a short but symbolic meeting to signal to a country so used to centralised power that the wheels of the state were turning. Bashir has promised to fight corruption, restore order and protect Syria’s plethora of minorities despite the new administration’s politically Islamist roots. The national oil company was ordered to resume operations within 24 hours of the rebel takeover, and instructed to continue sending electricity to coastal provinces not yet taken by the rebels. Government staff trickled back to ministries on Tuesday and Wednesday, and schools were ordered to reopen this Sunday. On Thursday night, the eve of the weekend in Syria, traffic returned to the streets as restaurants and parks teemed with people. “Despite everything we lost,” says Abu Mohammed, a 54-year-old resident of a poor Damascus suburb, “we are now free.” One of the critical challenges ahead is rebuilding the economy, which has been in freefall for several years. More than 90 per cent of Syrians now live below the poverty line and most households in the country receive less than 6 hours of electricity a day. Pantries are frequently bare amid shortages of essential goods, sky-high inflation and the crumbling Syrian pound. More than 80 per cent of the country’s oil products were imported from Iran, which backed Assad during the war, the deputy head of the national oil company Mustafa Hasawiyeh told the FT this week. While there were enough stores to last a month, he said, it was unclear where fuel would come from after that. Domestic manufacturing has been severely hampered, with factories destroyed and workers sent to war during the decade of civil conflict. This will take time to jump-start: much of the country still lies in bloodied ruins, its people haunted by the ghosts of their loved ones, killed or disappeared. Assad’s government haemorrhaged cash to fund military spending, public sector salaries and subsidised goods — the latter two an essential part of the basic social contract in the Ba'athist state. When the regime’s benefactors, Russia and Iran, came calling for long past due war debts, Assad parcelled off segments of the state’s resources to Moscow and Tehran, including phosphates extraction. Other debts his government never repaid, including to Moscow, leave HTS with an unknown mountain of debt and a complex geopolitical calculus about who to repay and how. The ruling family and their select cronies extended their dominance over the state in the twilight years of the civil war, operating “mafia-style” shakedowns on the business elite to line their pockets. This proved decisive in eroding Assad’s support among the mercantile elite. Syrian citizens say they were also being shaken down on a daily basis at checkpoints scattered throughout regime-held areas, many of them linked to the army’s Fourth Division — a notoriously brutal unit run by Bashar’s brother Maher. Those checkpoints have been unmanned since HTS took over, to the disbelief of many, as regime soldiers dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and fled the rebel advance. Hours after Assad’s fall, the duty-free mall across the border from Lebanon, widely believed to be a Fourth Division revenue stream, was ransacked by looters. Hundreds of frenzied men, euphoric in their first few hours of relative freedom, carried out refrigerators, brand-new laptops and watches, calling it “justice” for years of torment. The Fourth Division was also the central node in several of the illicit revenue streams that helped keep the regime afloat: weapons, oil smuggling, alcohol and sales of the illegal amphetamine Captagon. Replacing this, as well as the entire state security apparatus, will be another key challenge facing HTS. An army of impoverished conscripts was not prepared to die for a dictator who had long ago decided to use them as cannon fodder. Instead, those men threw off their military fatigues and walked off the job. Within 48 hours of arriving in Damascus, HTS brought in traffic police from Idlib as well as government security forces. Two residents told the FT they had noticed a shift on the streets: people are obeying traffic lights again (in Assad’s Syria, stopping at a light was a sure-fire way of getting asked for a bribe by the traffic police). But there aren’t enough such individuals to secure the entire country, and reports of banditry on the highways connecting provinces have spread. There are also fears of retribution, from Jolani’s forces, but more so from the hundred of thousands of people who might be looking to settle scores. This is particularly true for families of the missing — untold thousands who were lost to Assad’s vast prison network. They descended on the country’s jails in a desperate search for their loved ones this week, with many coming away disappointed. In a nod to the mounting anger, Jolani said those involved with torture would face justice, while soldiers not involved would receive an amnesty. In a crowded stationery store in an affluent Damascus neighbourhood, where a printer spat out photocopies of the new Syrian flag to be sold for 40 US cents, the owner gleefully discussed the recent overhaul of the regime with customers. “But our question is, will they go after the criminals that [worked in prisons]?” he adds. “Will they hold accountable the people who tortured and killed our people?” Cartography by Steven Bernard and data visualisation by Keith Fray Comments have not been enabled for this article.Ellington Financial Inc. (EFC) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 31st
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Texans are running out to buy their Mega Millions tickets after no winning ticket was drawn for the jackpot on Tuesday night. AUSTIN, Texas - Texans are running out to buy their Mega Millions tickets after no winning ticket was drawn for the jackpot on Tuesday night. The big prize is now up to more than a billion dollars. "You play the lottery every day?" FOX 7 reporter Meredith Aldis asked Jake Utterback. "Every week, same numbers," Utterback responded. "Have you ever won?" Aldis asked. "A little here and there, but nothing, nothing great," Utterback replied. Some lucky person somewhere in the country has the change to become a billionaire before the new year begins. Last night's Mega Millions drawing yielded no grand winner pushing the new jackpot to around $1.1 billion. Utterback could win something really great Friday night. The Mega Millions Jackpot was up to $1.22 billion. "Billion with a B," Texas Lottery Commission Media Relations Division Director Steve Helm said. "It would be the largest jackpot of 2024. It is also currently the fifth largest in the game’s history." If there is one winner, and they choose the cash option, they’d bring home a whopping $549 million. "We’re living it up," lottery player Sal Capone said. No one hit the jackpot in the Christmas Eve drawing, so that means more ticket buying and more dreaming. MORE STORIES: "A Lamborghini Urus," Zane Allmon said. "I’d get a Lambo and a mansion," Capone said. It only takes one ticket to win, but there are slim odds, 1 in 302,000,000. "That's why I don't play because I know I'm never going to win," Capone said. Texas Lottery players seem to have more luck. "Two of the last five Mega Millions jackpot wins have happened right here in Texas, dating back to October 2023," Helm said. "Bought my ticket in Missouri and I bought my ticket down here in Austin as well," Utterback said. The drawing is on Friday, Dec. 27, at 10 p.m. CT. The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith AldisBruins Head Coach Joe Sacco Fires Back At John Tortorella After Calling Out The TeamATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died. He was 100 years old. The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. A moderate Democrat, Carter ran for president in 1976 as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith and technocratic plans for efficient government. His promise to never deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter said. Carter’s victory over Republican Gerald Ford, whose fortunes fell after pardoning Nixon, came amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over race, women’s rights and America’s role in the world. His achievements included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for 13 days in 1978. But his coalition splintered under double-digit inflation and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His negotiations ultimately brought all the hostages home alive, but in a final insult, Iran didn’t release them until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who had trounced him in the 1980 election. Humbled and back home in Georgia, Carter said his faith demanded that he keep doing whatever he could, for as long as he could, to try to make a difference. He and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 and spent the next 40 years traveling the world as peacemakers, human rights advocates and champions of democracy and public health. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped ease nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiate cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, the center had monitored at least 113 elections around the world. Carter was determined to eradicate guinea worm infections as one of many health initiatives. Swinging hammers into their 90s, the Carters built homes with Habitat for Humanity. Article continues after... Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess The common observation that he was better as an ex-president rankled Carter. His allies were pleased that he lived long enough to see biographers and historians revisit his presidency and declare it more impactful than many understood at the time. Propelled in 1976 by voters in Iowa and then across the South, Carter ran a no-frills campaign. Americans were captivated by the earnest engineer, and while an election-year Playboy interview drew snickers when he said he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” voters tired of political cynicism found it endearing. The first family set an informal tone in the White House, carrying their own luggage, trying to silence the Marine Band’s traditional “Hail to the Chief” and enrolling daughter, Amy, in public schools. Carter was lampooned for wearing a cardigan and urging Americans to turn down their thermostats. But Carter set the stage for an economic revival and sharply reduced America’s dependence on foreign oil by deregulating the energy industry along with airlines, trains and trucking. He established the departments of Energy and Education, appointed record numbers of women and nonwhites to federal posts, preserved millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness and pardoned most Vietnam draft evaders. Emphasizing human rights, he ended most support for military dictators and took on bribery by multinational corporations by signing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He persuaded the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties and normalized relations with China, an outgrowth of Nixon’s outreach to Beijing. But crippling turns in foreign affairs took their toll. When OPEC hiked crude prices, making drivers line up for gasoline as inflation spiked to 11%, Carter tried to encourage Americans to overcome “a crisis of confidence.” Many voters lost confidence in Carter instead after the infamous address that media dubbed his “malaise” speech, even though he never used that word. After Carter reluctantly agreed to admit the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979. Negotiations to quickly free the hostages broke down, and then eight Americans died when a top-secret military rescue attempt failed. Carter also had to reverse course on the SALT II nuclear arms treaty after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Though historians would later credit Carter’s diplomatic efforts for hastening the end of the Cold War, Republicans labeled his soft power weak. Reagan’s “make America great again” appeals resonated, and he beat Carter in all but six states. Born Oct. 1, 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. married fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946, the year he graduated from the Naval Academy. He brought his young family back to Plains after his father died, abandoning his Navy career, and they soon turned their ambitions to politics. Carter reached the state Senate in 1962. After rural white and Black voters elected him governor in 1970, he drew national attention by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Carter published more than 30 books and remained influential as his center turned its democracy advocacy onto U.S. politics, monitoring an audit of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. After a 2015 cancer diagnosis, Carter said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.” “I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”
By BILL BARROW, Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.At a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee hearing , Biggs also pointed out that the sponsors were found to be committing Social Security and other fraud under her watch. Biggs addressed rampant fraud in a program created by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for inadmissible citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, who don’t qualify for admission into the U.S. Under Mayorkas, they were flown into the country through a CHNV parole program, used a CBP One phone app to apply for entry, and were released into the country. Part of the process requires having a “supporter” fill out an application on behalf of the CHNV parolee. While Mayorkas claimed app user parolees and supporters were thoroughly vetted, multiple Office of Inspector General reports disproved this claim, expressing security risks at airports. In August, flights of CHNV illegal border crossers were temporarily suspended after a USCIS internal review found that tens of thousands of CHNV fraudulent applications were processed. Supporters used fake Social Security numbers and phone numbers and listed the same physical address on nearly 20,000 applications, according to the report, The Center Square reported . Biggs asked Jaddou if she disputed the fact that supporters used the same Social Security Number on CHNV applications, which “happened at least 3,200 times. The same phone number used at least 3,300 times. The same supporter email address was used on applications nearly 2,000 times.” Jaddou said she didn’t have the report in front of her and didn’t dispute it. “You don’t really want to admit there’s this much rampant fraud,” he said. Biggs next cited examples of fraud that weren’t fixed. “The same exact 184-word response was used on more than 1,800 applications by nearly 194 CHNV supporters,” he said. “More than 460 nonexistent zip codes were used on supported applications on behalf of more than 2,800 CHV aliens. You can dance around and say you don't have the report in front of you, but these are the facts. This program is rife with fraud.” As of Aug. 6, DHS had approved more than 80,000 CHNV supporters for the program who were in the U.S. on a temporary basis. USCIS approved 224 CHNV parolees who were already in the country illegally as sponsors for CHNV parolees that came after them, meaning illegal foreign nationals were sponsoring illegal foreign nationals. USCIS also approved 28,322 illegal foreign nationals shielded from deportation through Temporary Protected Status as CHVN supporters; “19,865 SLEs approved as CHNV supporters, 311 DACA recipients approved as CHNV supporters, 1,300-plus aliens in the U.S. on temporary visas approved as CHNV supporters, 64 refugees approved as CHNV supporters, 19,112 conditional permanent residents approved this season as CHNV supporters,” he said. “That is the program that you are administering. I'm not talking the aliens. I'm not getting into the violation of law of the U.S. code 1182, which states that the use of parole is supposed to be a case-by-case basis.” Biggs said the supporter application process was so rampant with fraud that it was temporarily shut down but wasn’t fixed. The fraud is “still ongoing. We're waiting for the next report to confirm that these things are still going on,” he said. In addition to the USCIS report, a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security investigation found that "as of mid-October 2023, there were 1.6 million inadmissible aliens awaiting travel authorizations through the CHNV program” and DHS was using 50 airports worldwide to fly them in, The Center Square reported . None flown into the country have a legal basis to enter the U.S. before being paroled through the CHNV program, DHS documents the committee obtained state. "All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV processes," one of the DHS documents states. The CHNV parole program was among more than a dozen that House Republicans identified as illegal and cited as reasons to impeach Mayorkas. According to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data , more than 852,000 illegal foreign nationals were processed and released into the country through the CBP One App and more than 531,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans deemed inadmissible were released into the country through the CHNV parole program, as of October. Under the Biden administration, more than three million illegal border crossers were reported from CHNV countries, The Center Square reported . Many have been directly linked to violent crimes committed against Americans, The Center Square reported .
Croatia's president faces conservative rival in election run-off
Broncos’ boom-or-bust offense leaves playoff hopes in jeopardy: “It doesn’t feel very good”WASHINGTON -- As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face . He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy . Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency. The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas . Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA , was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts. ___
315 houses constructed under NSHP
Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic will face conservative rival Dragan Primorac in an election run-off in two weeks' time after the incumbent narrowly missed out an outright victory on Sunday, official results showed. The results came after an exit poll, released immediately after the polling stations closed, showed that Milanovic, backed by the opposition left-wing Social Democrats, had scooped more than 50 percent of the first round vote and would thus avoid the January 12 run-off. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.US investors eye bull market in 202510 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’
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