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Jet crash disaster in South Korea marks another setback for Boeing WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company’s jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday’s incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, an airline consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. 'Sonic 3' and 'Mufasa' battle for No. 1 at the holiday box office Two family films are dominating the holiday box office, with “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” winning the three-day weekend over “Mufasa” by a blue hair. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Sonic movie earned $38 million, while “Mufasa” brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The R-rated horror “Nosferatu” placed third with an unexpectedly strong $21.2 million. Thanksgiving release holdovers “Wicked” and “Moana 2” rounded out the top five. Christmas Day had several big film openings, including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the Nicole Kidman erotic drama “Babygirl” and the boxing drama “The Fire Inside.” Big Lots reaches deal to keep hundreds of US stores open The discount chain Big Lots has reached a deal that will keep hundreds of its stores open. Big Lots said it will be sold to Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, which specializes in distressed companies. Gordon Brothers will then transfer Big Lots’ stores to other retailers. Variety Wholesalers, which owns more than 400 U.S. discount stores, plans to acquire between 200 and 400 Big Lots stores and operate them under the Big Lots brand. Big Lots filed for bankruptcy protection in September, saying inflation and high interest rates had cut back on consumer demand for its furniture and other products. Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision founder, dies at 98 Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent U.S. media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98. Newsday reports that a statement issued Saturday by his family says Dolan died of natural causes. Dolan’s legacy in cable broadcasting includes founding HBO in 1972, Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in New York City, the first U.S. 24-hour cable channel for local news. Dolan also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes office President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. Trump's request Friday came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The brief said Trump opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower as Wall Street ends a holiday-shortened week on a down note. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 333 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5%. The “Magnificent 7” stocks weighed on the market, led by declines in Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft. Even with the loss, the S&P 500 had a modest gain for the week and is still headed for its second consecutive annual gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.62%. 10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025 NEW YORK (AP) — As the calendar changes to 2025, you might be thinking about how to approach your relationship with money in the new year. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated. If you’re planning to make financial resolutions for the new year, experts recommend that you start by evaluating the state of your finances in 2024. Then, set specific goals and make sure they’re attainable for your lifestyle. Janet Yellen tells Congress US could hit debt limit in mid-January WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14th, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon. The department has taken such action in the past. But once those measures run out the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow. An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in the president-elect’s political movement into public display. The argument previews fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — that is, wealthy members of the tech world who want more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.

Musk causes uproar by backing German far-right party ahead of key electionsA recent study that recommended toxic chemicals in black plastic products be immediately thrown away included a math error that significantly overstated the risks of contamination, but its authors are standing by their conclusions and warn against using such products. Published in the peer-reviewed journal , experts from the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future said they detected flame retardants and other toxic chemicals in 85% of 203 items made of , take-out containers, children’s toys and hair accessories. The study initially said the potential exposure to chemicals found in one of the kitchen utensils approached the minimum levels the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a health risk. But in an update to the study, the authors say they made an error in their calculations and the real levels were “an order of magnitude lower” than the EPA’s thresholds. The error was discovered by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society in Canada. Related Articles In a blog post, Schwarcz explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it’s actually about one-tenth of that. Though Schwarcz said the risks outlined in the study aren’t enough for him to discard his black plastic kitchen items if he had them, he agreed with the authors that flame retardants shouldn’t be in these products in the first place. “The math error does not impact the study’s findings, conclusions or recommendations,” said Megan Liu, a co-author of the study who is the science and policy manager for . She added that any traces of flame retardants or toxic chemicals in cooking utensils should be concerning for the public. Flame retardants are getting into commonly used items because black-colored products are being made from recycled electronic waste, such as discarded television sets and computers, that frequently contain the additives. When they’re heated, the flame retardants and other toxic chemicals can migrate out. If you’re wondering whether your old black plastic spoon or other utensils are a part of this group, Liu shared some more guidance. It’s nearly impossible to know whether a black plastic product is contaminated. That’s because these products that include recycled e-waste don’t disclose a detailed list of all ingredients and contaminants in the product. Liu said it’s also unclear how many types of flame retardants are in these black plastic products. Some of the products that researchers tested in this recent study “had up to nine different harmful chemicals and harmful flame retardants in them,” she said. Anytime you’re looking for the type of recycled plastic a product is made of you’re going to look for a number within the chasing arrows (that form a triangle) logo. Recycling symbols are numbered 1 to 7 and we commonly associate the numbers with what we can toss in our blue recycling bins. The polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene or Styrofoam, and miscellaneous plastics (including polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass and nylon). The study found higher levels of toxic flame retardants in polystyrene plastic, which is labeled with the number 6, said Liu. There isn’t a definitively timeline of when recycled electronic-waste started to be incorporated into black plastic products specifically, but e-waste started to get recycled in the early 2000s, Liu said. The way computers, cellphones, stereos, printers and copiers were being disposed of previously was to simply add them to a landfill without reusing salvageable parts. But as the National Conference of State Legislatures notes, electronics production required a significant amount of resources that could be recovered through recycling. Recovering resources such as metals, plastics and glass through recycling used a fraction of the energy needed to mine new materials. However, the study pointed out that flame retardants and other chemical contaminates have been detected in and near e-waste recycling facilities, in indoor air and dust at formal e-waste recycling facilities in Canada, China, Spain and the U.S. It also noted contamination in soil samples surrounding e-waste recycling sites in China and Vietnam. The safest nontoxic material options for kitchen utensil are wood and stainless steel.

National People’s Power (NPP) MP Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne has lodged a formal complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over a series of malicious and false news posts circulating on social media, including personal attacks targeting her. In a statement, MP Ariyaratne condemned the deliberate campaign to tarnish her reputation and called for swift action against those responsible for creating and spreading such content. She emphasised that these “cheap tactics” would not deter women from participating in politics nor harm the Government, stating, “If anyone believes such tricks can intimidate us, they are sorely mistaken. While you resort to petty ploys, we will continue to focus on progress.” The complaint comes in the wake of a national Sinhala daily newspaper publishing a report about an alleged domestic dispute involving an NPP Colombo district MP and his wife, which also mentioned a fellow female MP. Following this, social media posts falsely alleged that MP Ariyaratne was the female MP referenced in the report. The posts escalated into a vicious online campaign, spreading unfounded accusations and defamatory content about her. MP Ariyaratne has called on the CID to investigate the orchestrated campaign and take appropriate legal action against those responsible for harming her good name.Here's Why Zoom Video Communications Stock Dropped Today

Some quotations from Jimmy Carter: We have a tendency to exalt ourselves and to dwell on the weaknesses and mistakes of others. I have come to realize that in every person there is something fine and pure and noble, along with a desire for self-fulfillment. Political and religious leaders must attempt to provide a society within which these human attributes can be nurtured and enhanced. — from 1975 book “Why Not the Best?” Our government can express the highest common ideals of human beings — if we demand of government true standards of excellence. At this Bicentennial time of introspection and concern, we must demand such standards. — “Why Not the Best?” I am a Southerner and an American, I am a farmer, an engineer, a father and husband, a Christian, a politician and former governor, a planner, a businessman, a nuclear physicist, a naval officer, a canoeist, and among other things a lover of Bob Dylan’s songs and Dylan Thomas’s poetry. — “Why Not the Best?” Christ said, “I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery.” I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do — and I have done it — and God forgives me for it. But that doesn’t mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. — Interview, November 1976 Playboy. This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it. — Inaugural address, January 1977. It’s clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper — deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation and recession. ... All the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. ... It is a crisis of confidence. — So-called “malaise” speech, July 1979. But we know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges. For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival; liberty is human rights; the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants. — Farewell Address, January 1981. We appreciate the past. We are grateful for the present and we’re looking forward to the future with great anticipation and commitment. — October 1986, at the dedication of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum. War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. — December 2002, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Fundamentalists have become increasingly influential in both religion and government, and have managed to change the nuances and subtleties of historic debate into black-and-white rigidities and the personal derogation of those who dare to disagree. ... The influence of these various trends poses a threat to many of our nation’s historic customs and moral commitments, both in government and in houses of worship. — From 2005 book “Our Endangered Values.” I think that this breakthrough by Barack Obama has been remarkable. When he made his speech (on race) a few months ago in Philadelphia, I wept. I sat in front of the television and cried, because I saw that as the most enlightening and transforming analysis of racism and a potential end of it that I ever saw in my life. — August 2008, commenting on then-Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy. I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president. ... No matter who he is or how much we disagree with his policies, the president should be treated with respect. — September 2009, reacting to Rep. Joe Wilson’s shout of “You lie!” during a speech to Congress by President Barack Obama. I’m still determined to outlive the last guinea worm. — 2010, on The Carter Center’s work to eradicate guinea worm disease. You know how much I raised to run against Gerald Ford? Zero. You know how much I raised to run against Ronald Reagan? Zero. You know how much will be raised this year by all presidential, Senate and House campaigns? $6 billion. That’s 6,000 millions. — September 2012, reacting to the 2010 “Citizens United” U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting unlimited third-party political spending. I have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States. — From 2014 book “A Call to Action.” I don’t think there’s any doubt now that the NSA or other agencies monitor or record almost every telephone call made in the United States, including cellphones, and I presume email as well. We’ve gone a long way down the road of violating Americans’ basic civil rights, as far as privacy is concerned. — March 2014, commenting on U.S. intelligence monitoring after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks We accept self-congratulations about the wonderful 50th anniversary – which is wonderful – but we feel like Lyndon Johnson did it and we don’t have to do anything anymore. — April 2014, commenting on racial inequality during a celebration of the Civil Rights Act’s 40th anniversary. I had a very challenging question at Emory (University) the other night: “How would you describe the United States of America today in one word?” And I didn’t know what to say for a few moments, but I finally said, “Searching.” I think the country in which we live is still searching for what it ought to be, and what it can be, and I’m not sure we’re making much progress right at this moment. — October 2014 during a celebration of his 90th birthday. The life we have now is the best of all. We have an expanding and harmonious family, a rich life in our church and the Plains community, and a diversity of projects at The Carter Center that is adventurous and exciting. Rosalynn and I have visited more than 145 countries, and both of us are as active as we have ever been. We are blessed with good health and look to the future with eagerness and confidence, but are prepared for inevitable adversity when it comes. — From 2015 book, “A Full Life.”A U.S. appeals court has halted enforcement of an anti-money laundering law that requires corporate entities to disclose the identities of their real beneficial owners to the U.S. Treasury Department ahead of a deadline for most companies to do so. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday reinstated a nationwide injunction that had been issued earlier this month by a federal judge in Texas who had concluded the Corporate Transparency Act was unconstitutional. The order marked a change of course for the court. On Monday, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit at the urging of the U.S. Department of Justice put the injunction on hold while the government appealed the Texas judge's decision. But a different panel will ultimately decide whether to uphold the judge's ruling, and in Thursday's order, the court said it decided to keep enforcement of the law paused "to preserve the constitutional status quo while the merits panel considers the parties' weighty substantive arguments." Most companies had before Thursday's order faced a Jan. 13 deadline to submit their initial reports to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Invest wisely: Best online brokers The injunction had been obtained by the National Federation of Independent Business, which along with several small businesses challenged the law through lawyers at the conservative Center for Individual Rights. Holiday week stocks: The stock market is slumping today. Why is the 'Santa rally' over? "Given that we have established that the CTA is likely unconstitutional, this intrusive form of government surveillance should be halted until the law's fate is finally resolved," Todd Gaziano, the Center for Individual Rights' president, said in a statement. FinCEN did not respond to requests for comment. Under the law, which was enacted in 2021, corporations and LLCs were required to report information concerning their beneficial owners to FinCEN, which collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to combat money laundering and other crimes. The measure's supporters said it was designed to address the country's growing popularity as a venue for criminals to launder illicit funds by setting up entities like limited liability companies under state laws without disclosing their involvement. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant in Sherman, Texas, on Dec. 3 ruled Congress had no authority under its powers to regulate commerce, taxes and foreign affairs to adopt the "quasi-Orwellian statute" and that it likely violated states' rights under the U.S. Constitution's Tenth Amendment. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

FORT WORTH, Texas — Navy capped a turnaround football season with an uplifting victory in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. And it made some history in the process. Quarterback Blake Horvath directed a gutsy 12-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that put Navy ahead of Oklahoma. The Midshipmen hung on thanks to defensive end Justin Reed, who preserved a 21-20 win by sacking Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. on a two-point conversion attempt with six seconds remaining. Horvath’s 6-yard keeper with 4:34 left capped a string of 21 straight Navy points to fully erase a 14-0 lead Oklahoma built in the first quarter. However, the Sooners drove 65 yards in 1:41 to get in position to win the game after Hawkins threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jake Roberts. Coach Brent Venables decided to go for the win and Hawkins never had a chance to get off a pass as several Navy defenders broke into the backfield. Reed dropped the dangerous freshman as the Midshipmen breathed a collective sigh of relief. Navy’s winning score came after taking possession at its own 34-yard line following a missed field goal by Oklahoma early in the fourth quarter. The Midshipmen converted on third down twice and fourth down once to stay on the field. Horvath completed a clutch 10-yard pass to snipe Brandon Chatman on a third down, then later found snipe Eli Heidenreich open in the flat for a 16-yard gain on fourth down to set up the winning score. On first-and-goal from the 6, Horvath found an opening on the right side, got a great block from fullback Alex Tecza and scooted untouched into the end zone, giving Navy its first lead of the game and causing a raucous celebration along the visiting sideline. The drive took more than seven minutes off the clock and left less than five for the Sooners to tie or win. An exchange of punts left Oklahoma at its own 35-yard line with 1:47 to go. Hawkins calmly completed seven passes as the Sooners drove 65 yards in 13 plays. He got the touchdown the Sooners needed, but couldn’t escape Reed with the game on the line. Horvath was the offensive hero for Navy (10-3), rushing for 155 yards and two touchdowns, with almost all of that coming in the second half. Horvath overcame a slow start throwing the ball to complete 7 of 12 passes for 92 yards. Inside linebackers Colin Ramos and Kyle Jacob spearheaded the defense for the Midshipmen. Ramos recorded a game-high 12 tackles, while Jacob totaled nine tackles, a forced fumble and a sack. This Navy team became just the sixth in program history to reach double digits in wins, the first since 2019, which also was the last time Navy won a bowl game. It was all Oklahoma early as the Navy defense was overmatched on two straight possessions to start the game, while the offense shot itself in the foot. Gavin Sawchuk’s 21-yard scamper and Hawkins’ 56-yard pass to Zion Kearney put the Sooners up 14-0. Navy finally got its offense going late in the second quarter. Oklahoma’s second turnover on downs gave Navy a short field and the Mids took advantage. Horvath used a fake quarterback draw and jump pass to convert a third down with a 21-yard completion to tight end Cody Howard. Two plays later, Alex Tecza found a seam up the middle, then ran through two defenders for a 21-yard touchdown that made it 14-7 at the break. Following an exchange of punts to start the second half, Horvath electrified the crowd by bursting up the middle on a quarterback keeper and racing 95 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest touchdown run in Navy football history and the also the longest in Armed Forces Bowl history. Set up in shotgun formation and standing on his own goal line, Horvath saw the parting of the Red Sea and galloped untouched the length of the field. Snipe Eli Heidenreich made a great hustle play by racing downfield to get in the way of the nearest chasing defender. Nathan Kirkwood’s extra point tied the game at 14 with 3:49 left in the third period. Oklahoma appeared to take the lead back with a 56-yard Hawkins touchdown run late in the third quarter, but it was called back for holding. The Sooners still put together a couple of first downs to get to Navy’s 34, but a 52-yard field goal by Zach Schmitt was off the mark and Navy proceeded to embark on its winning touchdown drive.Oilers Facing Tough Decision With Waivers Plan As Holiday Roster Freeze EndsDua Lipa And Callum Turner's Romantic Captures Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s pictures have stolen our hearts and are now trending on social media following their engagement. Scroll down to check out their adorable moments together! It's Their Summer Love They can't stop smiling looking at each other. The Perfect Couple They shell out major couple goals. Lost In Each Other's Eyes Manifesting a moment like this. Strolling Around The City The couple make a perfect pair! Walking Hand-In-Hand Together The forehead kiss won the internet. Fun Times Together They make each other happiest. Side By Side Always They are twinning and winning. A Picture Worth Framing Dua Lipa's smile says that she won in life.

Cameron Schmidt scored his 25th goal of the season 1:08 into overtime on Friday night to lift the Vancouver Giants past the Kamloops Blazers 4-3 at the Sandman Centre. Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison had 28 saves. Adam Titlbach, Connor Levis and Jakob Oreskovic provided the other three Vancouver goals. John Szabo, Emmitt Finnie and Connor Radke each scored for Kamloops. Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio said their third period was their best period. "Our guys were dialled in. You could tell. It's hard coming off Christmas break. A little bit of sloppiness on both sides and that's to be expected, but I just liked our approach. They stuck with it. Our third period was our best period. " Maglio praised Hoilett, Lipinski, Oreskovic as "a real good grind line. They get us a lot of o-zone possession time. I thought they had some good looks from grind time. And then just seeing Jake score tonight – really happy for him." As for Hutchison, "calmness in the net. He made saves at key moments that kept us in the game, early on especially. He just looks comfortable in the net these last two games. He's tracking pucks well; his rebound control has been good. And the other thing is he's not getting rattled when one goes in on him. I think our team feeds off that." With less than three minutes left in the opening frame, the Giants struck first, when Tyler Thorpe sprung Titlbach for a breakaway, who deked to the backhand and tucked it home for his 13th of the season. The Blazers tied the game midway through the second period when Szabo fired a shot from the left circle, but the Giants responded just 11 seconds later when Levis put home a loose puck after goaltender Dylan Ernst failed to cover it. Before the second period came to a close, the Blazers tied the game 2-2 when Finnie deflected a shot that Szabo took from the point. Less than six minutes into the third period, Oreskovic gave the Giants their third lead of the game, when Jaden Lipinski found him open in the left circle for a quick release top shelf. Just 39 seconds later, the Blazers would tie it yet again after Radke's centering pass went off a skate and into the net. Hutchison stopped Layton Feist and then Finnie on a wrap-around early in the 3-on-3 overtime to keep the Giants alive. Schmidt would end the game after he absorbed a hit and popped free from the left corner, where he proceeded to chip a quick shot top shelf. Levis (1G), Thorpe (2A) and Titlbach (1G-1A) combined for five points. The trio has now combined for 27 points over their last five games. Schmidt's 25th goal moves him into a tie for 2nd in the WHL, two back of Shea Van Olm's league-leading 27. Lipinski's third period assist was the 150th point of his WHL career. . Oreskovic's goal was his first since Oct. 19, breaking a 20-game goalless drought. Next, a 4 p.m. visit by Kelowna at LEC this Sunday, Dec. 29.Germany is to vote in an early election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy. Mr Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag – a sister publication of Politico owned by the Axel Springer Group – published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month that he has supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD. “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” he wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say that the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”. The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gives him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. Billionaire Mr Musk, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Mr Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Mr Musk’s social media platform, X. Eva Marie Kogel wrote: “I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print.” A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Mr Musk’s opinion piece. “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” he wrote. Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Mr Burgard – who is due to take over on January 1 – said in a joint statement that the discussion over Mr Musk’s piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.” “This will continue to determine the compass of the ‘world’ in the future. We will develop ‘Die Welt’ even more decisively as a forum for such debates,” they wrote to dpa.

China Imposes Sanctions On 7 US Defense Companies Over Taiwan Military Aid

Mobileye Global (NASDAQ:MBLY) Trading 2.1% Higher – Here’s WhyBy Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times A recent study that recommended toxic chemicals in black plastic products be immediately thrown away included a math error that significantly overstated the risks of contamination, but its authors are standing by their conclusions and warn against using such products. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Chemosphere , experts from the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future said they detected flame retardants and other toxic chemicals in 85% of 203 items made of black plastic including kitchen utensils , take-out containers, children’s toys and hair accessories. The study initially said the potential exposure to chemicals found in one of the kitchen utensils approached the minimum levels the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a health risk. But in an update to the study, the authors say they made an error in their calculations and the real levels were “an order of magnitude lower” than the EPA’s thresholds. The error was discovered by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society in Canada. In a blog post, Schwarcz explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it’s actually about one-tenth of that. Though Schwarcz said the risks outlined in the study aren’t enough for him to discard his black plastic kitchen items if he had them, he agreed with the authors that flame retardants shouldn’t be in these products in the first place. “The math error does not impact the study’s findings, conclusions or recommendations,” said Megan Liu, a co-author of the study who is the science and policy manager for Toxic-Free Future . She added that any traces of flame retardants or toxic chemicals in cooking utensils should be concerning for the public. Flame retardants are getting into commonly used items because black-colored products are being made from recycled electronic waste, such as discarded television sets and computers, that frequently contain the additives. When they’re heated, the flame retardants and other toxic chemicals can migrate out. If you’re wondering whether your old black plastic spoon or other utensils are a part of this group, Liu shared some more guidance. It’s nearly impossible to know whether a black plastic product is contaminated. That’s because these products that include recycled e-waste don’t disclose a detailed list of all ingredients and contaminants in the product. Liu said it’s also unclear how many types of flame retardants are in these black plastic products. Some of the products that researchers tested in this recent study “had up to nine different harmful chemicals and harmful flame retardants in them,” she said. Anytime you’re looking for the type of recycled plastic a product is made of you’re going to look for a number within the chasing arrows (that form a triangle) logo. Recycling symbols are numbered 1 to 7 and we commonly associate the numbers with what we can toss in our blue recycling bins. The 1 through 7 numbers stand for, respectively, polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene or Styrofoam, and miscellaneous plastics (including polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass and nylon). The study found higher levels of toxic flame retardants in polystyrene plastic, which is labeled with the number 6, said Liu. There isn’t a definitively timeline of when recycled electronic-waste started to be incorporated into black plastic products specifically, but e-waste started to get recycled in the early 2000s, Liu said. The way computers, cellphones, stereos, printers and copiers were being disposed of previously was to simply add them to a landfill without reusing salvageable parts. But as the National Conference of State Legislatures notes, electronics production required a significant amount of resources that could be recovered through recycling. Recovering resources such as metals, plastics and glass through recycling used a fraction of the energy needed to mine new materials. However, the study pointed out that flame retardants and other chemical contaminates have been detected in and near e-waste recycling facilities, in indoor air and dust at formal e-waste recycling facilities in Canada, China, Spain and the U.S. It also noted contamination in soil samples surrounding e-waste recycling sites in China and Vietnam. The safest nontoxic material options for kitchen utensil are wood and stainless steel. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.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.