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mcw casino online How Did NASA Improve The F-15's Life Support Systems For Flight Testing of the Supersonic X-59?Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. In the summer of 2018, when former President Donald Trump launched a trade war with Beijing, the Chinese economy was riding high. There was even talk it could soon overtake the United States as the world’s largest. Now, with Trump months away from retaking office, what had appeared to be a juggernaut has been greatly diminished. Contending with property , debt and deflation challenges, China doesn’t look ready for another fight. But appearances can be deceiving. Armed with an understanding about the way the president-elect operates, the Chinese leadership is better equipped to deal with the real possibility of Trump making good on his promise to impose upwards of 60% tariffs on goods sold to the United States, according to economists and analysts, through a combination of trade diversification, targeted retaliation against US companies and support for domestic consumption. “China has been preparing for this day for quite some time. The US is much less important to its trade network (than it was before),” said Dexter Roberts, author of the Trade War newsletter and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. In part because of the first trade war which continued under President Joe Biden, Beijing, as well as Chinese companies, have already started actively reducing its trade dependence on the United States. The impact is visible in trade data and has come at warp speed. As recently as 2022, bilateral trade was at a record high . But last year, Mexico overtook China as the top exporter of goods into the United States, according to the Commerce Department. China had held that perch for 20 years before its exports to the United States fell by 20% to $427 billion last year. Just under 30% of China’s exports went to the Group of Seven (G7) rich countries last year, down from 48% in 2000, according to Matthews Asia. That’s why, despite selling less to the United States, China’s share of global exports is now at 14%, up from 13% before the first Trump tariffs. At a press conference on Friday, Wang Shouwen, international trade negotiator and vice minister of commerce, told reporters: “We have the ability to resolve and resist the impact of external shocks.” What’s unlikely to be in China’s retaliatory arsenal are the big, showy moves like selling US Treasury bonds (of which China is the world’s second-biggest holder ) or a major devaluation of its yuan currency, which has lost 12% of its value against the US dollar over the past three years as growth momentum slowed. “Those dramatic measures wouldn’t help,” Andy Rothman, China strategist at Matthews Asia, told CNN. “The Chinese side typically doesn’t tend to retaliate directly in that way.” Targeted retaliation Don’t expect a simple tit-for-tat on tariffs, said Liza Tobin, senior director for economy at the Special Competitive Studies Project, a US think tank. Instead, Beijing’s response will probably be more targeted and asymmetric. “They’re already squeezing foreign companies operating in China, and they could turn up the heat on American firms, selecting targets they want to push out of the China market anyway,” she said. In September, Beijing said it was investigating fashion retailer PVH Corp, the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, for refusing to source cotton from the Xinjiang region — where Beijing has been accused of carrying out widespread human rights abuses — in a move that could lead to sanctions on an American company with major business interests in China. Last year, Chinese police raided the Shanghai office of Bain & Company, a US management consultancy, in a development that alarmed the wider American business community. Shortly after that visit, state media revealed that security authorities had raided multiple offices of international advisory firm Capvision, a consulting firm based in Shanghai and New York. Reprisals on US firms or agricultural industries would be much more likely than China selling its vast holdings of US Treasury notes in response, say economists, because the market for such bills is deep and liquid, with no shortage of buyers. Selling them could also hurt Beijing’s own interests. Lowering the value of the yuan currency could also help Chinese exports, if Trump imposes new tariffs, but analysts don’t believe this move is in the cards either. “Policymakers are unlikely to view a devaluation as being worth the various costs and instead choose other steps,” said Sean Callow, a senior foreign exchange analyst at ITC Markets. A sudden devaluation in August 2015 generated turmoil in the stock market, he said. In recent months, China’s government has indicated it wants to bolster confidence in its share markets, both for domestic investors and to present China to the world as an attractive destination for investment. It also wants the yuan to be viewed as a reliable alternative to the US dollar for central bank reserve managers, particularly those rattled by the US and European freezes on Russian assets since 2022, Callow said. Cleaning house China isn’t the only target of Trump’s intended tariffs. He has proposed a 10% to 20% tariff on all imported goods, a significant increase from the current average of 2% or, in many cases, zero. He has also floated 100% or 200% tariff on cars made in Mexico or on the products made by companies that move manufacturing from the United States to Mexico. At 60% tariffs, a number of economists have calculated that the tax on imports to the United States could cut China’s economic growth rate by half (Trump’s tariff proposals would also cost the typical US household over $2,600 a year, according to a separate analysis from the Peterson Institute.) But China, a country of 1.4 billion people, also has a huge domestic consumer market it can look to if it plays its cards right. “The best response to the tariffs that Beijing can make is to get its own house in order, by restoring confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs, who account for 90% of urban employment and most innovation,” said Rothman. “This would boost consumer confidence, which would lead to stronger domestic consumption, which would mitigate the impact of weaker exports to the US.” Last month, the National Bureau of Statistics announced the economy had moderated further in the July to September months, weighed down by weak consumption which was caused in part by ongoing problems in the property market. Gross domestic product grew by 4.6% in the three-month period, compared with a year ago. The government is targeting around 5% growth. China’s economy is grappling with a range of problems. After a summer of dismal data, Chinese leader Xi Jinping finally decided to go ahead with a much-needed stimulus package, mostly focused on monetary measures, in the last week of September. Further measures, which disappointed many, were announced earlier this month. Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Bank, wrote in a recent research report that bigger moves may have to wait until Trump’s tariffs are announced, which could happen as soon as he takes office in January. “If exports collapse, policymakers will have no choice but to escalate stimulus to the next level and housing policy will be the key to watch. But history suggests that Beijing tends to react to the actual situation ... not preemptively,” he said.

A concerning trend has popped up on social media leaving many worried for the dangerous ramifications. Across TikTok and Instagram, young people are showing off their tan lines with excitement and pride. Some are even showing off their "tanning routines". "I could not believe this when I saw it," Today's Lara Vella said in conversation with Sally Sitou and John Mangos this morning. READ MORE: WWE stars and legends: Then and Now "You know, the hashtag sun burnt tan lines has more than 200 million views on TikTok," she continued. "What on earth are they thinking?" Sitou elaborated that it is a "really disturbing trend" and that it is "part of the reason we wanted to restrict social media to those under the age of 16 because they are impressionable young people and we don't want them taking up these really, really bad trends." Many of us grew up with the successful sun safety campaign, "slip, slop, slap," but it seems this important messaging is losing its grip for some. "I think that that is a public health message that we want to reinforce," Sitou says. "[This is] a reminder that public health messages have to keep getting reinforced," she added. "And so we've got to re-energise those public health messages. And I think it's the same for tanning. It's not healthy." READ MORE: Actress and former supermodel Dayle Haddon dies aged 76 in carbon monoxide leak Mangos feels the same about the concerning online trend. "It's very worrying. I'll cut straight to the chase on this one. Firstly, who thinks it's a good look? For a start, a million people get treated for melanoma in Australia every year. "1,500 people die from melanoma every year, and 15,000 new cases are detected every year [in Australia]. That's the statistics. It ends there, right? It's a no brainer. "I mean, I think maybe ultimately the way you hit these young people and you get through to them is the most ageing thing you can do is put your skin in the sun. So slip, slop, slap, guys. It was such a successful campaign back in the day so it can save lives now." For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here . Sun tanning has been a long standing trend, but it's having a resurgence on social media. The trend sees creators share videos of their tan lines after being in the sun. Some even share their "sun tanning routines" and others share their excitement over high UV rays because of the tanning potential. The trend picked up momentum earlier this year during summer in the United States, but now that its summer in Australia its made it's way here. As much as these creators may love the look of sun kissed skin, the public health messaging in Australia stands that there is nothing healthy about a tan. New research undertaken by Cancer Council showed that, in Australia, the "majority of people aged 18-30 desire a tan, and almost 9 in 10 intentionally or unintentionally suntan". On top of that "almost one in three young Australians believe it's fine to suntan at their age and fewer than one in 10 are using all five forms of sun protection (Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide). READ MORE: Actress and former supermodel Dayle Haddon dies aged 76 in carbon monoxide leak But the statistics show that two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime - a diagnosis that is almost entirely preventable. And every year, nearly 2000 Australians will die from skin cancer. According to the Cancer Council, even "just 15 minutes" of sun exposure can start to damage your skin it's also the cause of 80 per cent of premature aging. The Cancer Council says it is important to End The Trend of tanning because "normalising suntanning is causing skin cancer to trend." Information on skin cancer risks and proper sun safety can be found on the Cancer Council website. For cancer information and support call Cancer Council's 13 11 20 Information and Support line. FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE : Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.Roslindale, MA (CommonWealth Beacon) Adrian Ventura, executive director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT), prepares for a meeting in early December. Ventura co-founded the CCT after the 2007 Michael Bianco Inc. raid in which 361 undocumented workers were arrested. Credit: Sophie Park for CommonWealth Beacon. Credit: Sophie Park for CommonWealth Beacon On a chilly November evening, the first after a string of 70-degree days, people made their way to a former storefront on Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford's North End. Some of the 50 or so gathered made small talk with friends, mainly in Spanish and K"iche", a language spoken by over a million people in rural Mayan communities of Guatemala. Voters had elected Donald Trump to the presidency a second time just two weeks before, and this fact sat heavily in the air among those in attendance -- primarily immigrants from Central America, many of them undocumented -- at the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT), or Worker's Community Center. During the campaign, Trump promised voters mass deportations, pledging at points to declare a national emergency and involve the military in rounding up immigrants. He has publicly mused about changing the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. In an appearance on "Meet the Press," Trump said he'd consider deporting US citizen children of deportees to avoid separating families, and his pick for border czar, Tom Homan, said the largest deportation operation in history would start on January 21, the day after Trump's inauguration. The first speaker of the evening was New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira, who was peppered with questions in Spanish about how Trump's deportation plans might affect the work of the local police. If we suffer a hate crime, can we still report it? If Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issues a detainer, do police act on it? "We have nothing to do with ICE," Oliveira reassured the crowd through an interpreter. "Nothing changes between the police and how we interact with the community." After Oliveira, Jennifer Velarde, a New Bedford immigration attorney, stood in the front of the room and began listing ways to prepare for a dramatic shift in immigration policy: Don't open the door to anyone you don't know unless they have a warrant. You have a right to remain silent. Abstain from -- and seek treatment for disorders related to -- alcohol and other mind-altering substances to avoid legal problems. Velarde also advised people to draw up documents granting custody of their children to a trusted person and to ensure their passports are ready to visit parents abroad. "If you know there's a chance you could be deported, now's the time to talk about it with your family," she said. All the advice she had to offer could be summed up in two words: brace yourselves. "There is much about what will happen that we don't know about," Velarde said. "What I do know is much of what I know about immigration [law] is going to change, and it's not going to be pretty." For two centuries, immigrants have sought refuge in New Bedford and have become the backbone of the city's main economic driver -- the fishing industry -- which generates $11.1 billion annually in economic activity, according to a 2019 study commissioned by the Port of New Bedford. Their presence in this city -- extending back to the heydays of the whaling and textile industries -- continues to grow. More than one-fifth of New Bedford's more than 100,000 residents were foreign-born as of the 2023 American Community Survey One-Year Estimate, almost 55 percent of them non-citizens. Immigrant advocates have good reason to think New Bedford may figure prominently on a list of places that will be targeted under an aggressive deportation campaign by the new administration. Activists here founded CCT in the aftermath of the March 2007 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid -- the largest in US history at the time -- on the Michael Bianco Inc. textile plant in New Bedford's South End, which resulted from a tip from a worker. Agents detained 361 undocumented workers from Cabo Verde, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Portugal, and other countries. One activist with the group, an undocumented Guatemalan man who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fears of deportation, said CCT was born of struggle and will continue to fight for local workers and the immigrant community under the second Trump administration. Mass deportations on the scale Trump is promising would, many experts say, mean families ripped apart, livelihoods lost, and a drain on the social safety net as undocumented immigrants pay billions into Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes without being able to access payments or services from the programs themselves. It would not only upend New Bedford's fishing houses but also affect state tax coffers and potentially force many residents to leave in search of jobs. Having lived through the Bianco raid, New Bedford already has more first-hand experience than most communities with deportations at scale. In 2007, more than half of those deported were from Guatemala, and most were indigenous Maya from the district of El Quiché in the nation's northwest. Families were split apart as social services, city agencies, and even schools attempted to navigate the chaos. The raid also made it impossible to ignore how large swaths of the US economy quietly rely on undocumented immigrants. The lack of details about Trump's plans leaves officials, activists, and civilians apprehensive and anxious about the scale, tactics, and impacts of such an operation. Nonetheless, activists in New Bedford say they are sure the city won't escape the consequences. "I'm confident [Trump] will follow through," said a CCT activist who also works with Pescando Justicia (Fishing for Justice), an organization focused on labor conditions in fish houses in New Bedford and the surrounding areas. He asked to remain anonymous due to fears of deportation related to his undocumented status. "Our community is not ready for what's coming." Though a small segment of the Massachusetts economy, fishing and seafood processing dominate New Bedford. City officials tout its status as the largest fishing port in the country when measured by the value of the catch. In 2023, the port's landings were valued at more than $363 million, National Marine Fisheries Service data show. (The second-place port, Dutch Harbor in Alaska, had a catch value of $224.5 million.) Much of this is due to the price of the Atlantic sea scallop, which makes up 80 percent of the New Bedford catch. The city's maritime heritage is key to its identity, with deep roots reaching at least to the 19th century, when it was a world leader in whaling and processed whale products. A history of whaling ships stopping in the Azores and Cabo Verde islands to rest, recrew and resupply planted those communities' roots in the city. Both groups have become an integral part of New Bedford's identity. Those immigrants were vital to the city's maritime industries then and remain so now, whether in the US legally or not, said Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants' Assistance Center (IAC) -- a local social services nonprofit. "You can't talk about how New Bedford is the number one [fishing] port in the country for 20 years without talking about who's doing the work. [The fish houses] are the economic engine of New Bedford," Hughes said, and without immigrant labor "they would cease to function." About 10,000 undocumented people reside in New Bedford, according to the most recent estimate provided by the IAC, a conservative one in Hughes's eyes. She added that her organization is arranging clinics to help families prepare for the worst. "It's not just going to be undocumented immigrants who are deported; legal permanent residents are not citizens yet, and they can be deported as well," she said. "There are a lot of people who are perceived as undocumented but really are not," said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts (CEDC), another local social services nonprofit that works extensively with immigrant populations. "They are under precarious circumstances because a lot of the programs they are here under need to be periodically renewed." Programs such as deferred action for enforcement purposes, childhood arrivals, and Temporary Protected Status have enabled many to stay in the country and work legally in the US, as have asylum policies. Their continuation under a new Trump administration remains an open question. Yet that uncertainty is, to an extent, the point, said Williams, even if deportations do not happen in as flashy a manner as the Bianco raid. "The purpose is to terrorize communities and instill fear," she added. Immigration happens more at an individual level, she added, as each case has its own context and nuance that makes legal processes difficult to navigate. Overwhelm the system, and not only do processes slow, but the resources to help maneuver through the system disappear altogether. "That was the tragedy of the Bianco raid," she said. "It was a big sweep, and people didn't get access to legal counsel. But who has the bandwidth to stand beside every single case?" The Central American presence in New Bedford began in the 1980s due to the confluence of two significant events. The first was the Guatemalan Genocide, a part of that nation's almost 36-year civil war, when the US-backed military regime killed or "disappeared" around 200,000 mostly indigenous Maya. The violence launched a wave of Guatemalan migrants north, many without documentation. The second was a series of strikes by fishermen and fish house workers in the 1980s over earnings, pensions, and hiring practices. The Seafarers International Union of North America strike in December 1985 was broken when non-union workers were brought in to keep the boats in operation. Shortly thereafter, the union dissolved and became one of the many destroyed amid the anti-union sentiment ushered in by the Reagan administration, creating vacancies for new arrivals willing to work at lower rates. As a result of the unions' dissolution, many hiring restrictions were lifted on boats and in New Bedford's more than 45 fish houses and processors. Undocumented workers, initially led by Guatemalan K"iche" and hired through temporary placement agencies, began to stream into New Bedford via Providence, with friends and family often following. That's how the Pescando Justicia activist -- who labored in multiple fish houses for 17 years -- found work. "[Fish houses] would regularly give work to undocumented people," he said in Spanish, adding that he was only aware of two among 50 coworkers at his last job with proper documentation. "They definitely know it, too." His former employer -- Atlantic Red Crab Co. -- has been under investigation by the US Department of Labor for "possible violations of child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation laws," The Public's Radio, Rhode Island's NPR station, reported in September 2023. A year before that, Pescando Justicia began circulating a Code of Conduct for fish house operators and local officials to sign, asking them to respect the rights of all workers regardless of their citizenship status. Around this time, the activist said the company began cutting hours. "They'd hire us because they knew we wouldn't complain because of worries about our status," he said. "When we started [organizing], that's when they came after us." Atlantic Red Crab Co. officials did not respond to a request for comment. But in an interview with The Public's Radio, owner Jon Williams said a 16-year-old found to be working at his plant came through a staffing agency. "It isn't like I hired this person, but the staffing agency sent that person to my building," he said in the interview. "And yes, that person worked in my building. I can't deny that. But sometimes I have 150 people working in my building, and they all wear hairnets and face masks. So it's pretty hard to tell an 18-year-old from a 16-year-old." The most recent census data show that 1,500 Guatemalans now live in New Bedford, though that figure is likely low because many undocumented residents don't respond to the census for fear of being deported. Many familiar with the community say 6,000 is a more accurate estimate. (By 2022, their presence was strong enough for New Bedford Public Schools to enter into an agreement with the Department of Justice to improve interpretation services in K"iche", an indigenous language.) The flow of migrants from Guatemala never stopped as decades of war shattered society and institutions. Immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras -- nations dealing with similarly tumultuous histories and politics -- soon followed. "The processing sector couldn't survive [mass deportations]. It's low wage, hard work." - Daniel Georgianna, a fisheries resource economist Many of those immigrants work on fishing boats and in processing houses, but the actual numbers are difficult to calculate, said Daniel Georgianna, a fisheries resource economist and chancellor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "They don't count undocumented people," he said. "They just don't." Whatever the exact number, Georgianna said undocumented workers are essential to the operation of New Bedford's fish houses. "The processing sector couldn't survive [mass deportations]," he added. "It's low wage, hard work." Representatives from the Port of New Bedford, the National Marine Fisheries Institute, a business group, and multiple seafood processing plants did not respond to requests for comment. Jobs in the fish houses are often monotonous and physically demanding, requiring long hours on one's feet in low-temperature environments with hands submerged in water for long periods, swiftly fileting marine products with sharp tools. "If you ever saw a fish cutter at work, you just wouldn't believe it," Georgianna said. "They filet a fish in 20 seconds and get a better yield than a machine." Should mass deportations begin on the new administration's first day, as Trump frequently says they will, Georgianna conceded wages might increase to attract citizen labor. But with the rise of technology, he suspects most companies would simply freeze the products and ship them overseas for processing before returning to American markets, much like what happened with the textile and garment industries. Once there, transportation costs and the potential impact of tariffs proposed by the president-elect would impact prices in stores and restaurants. He said that is where most Massachusetts residents would feel the effect. "It would cause a large shift, not only immediately but longer term," he said. "Quality would decline, and prices would go up because immigrants do food production. Period." State Rep. Christopher Hendricks, a New Bedford Democrat whose district includes the North End and much of the city's port, concurred. "It could potentially be devastating for New Bedford," Hendricks said of Trump's mass deportation threat. "Especially the fishing fleet in New Bedford. When fish comes off the boat, it gets processed, chances are, by an immigrant from Central America." "I don't know anybody who's not from that community who's gotten a job in fish processing in the last 20 years," he continued. "I hope those companies are vocal about their workforce and their true needs and how it's going to be disruptive." Despite the widespread knowledge of immigrant labor's role in their industry, support for Trump is high among fishermen here. Many were drawn by hopes that he'd lift fishing restrictions and take their concerns about the effects of offshore wind farms on marine habitats seriously. Tyler Miranda, a captain of four scalloping boats docked in New Bedford who voted for Trump in November, said the local impacts of such deportations would be short-term and evolve over time. "I don't think [fish houses] will shut down," he said. "He can't just come through and take everybody; that's just unrealistic." Miranda added that he thinks border crossings need to be brought under control, and not deporting people incentivizes more migrants to come to the United States. "It is not that they've committed any crimes or anything while they're here, but they are here illegally," he said. "Our workforce shouldn't be made up of illegal immigrants." Trump has not released specifics about deportation plans beyond saying he would declare a national emergency and use the military to round people up. (In a December interview with NBC News, Trump said he would like to work with Democrats to figure out a legislative solution to help undocumented immigrants who came to America as children stay in the country legally.) Miranda acknowledges the contributions of immigrants -- with or without documentation -- to the industry. Nonetheless, he said they should face consequences for entering the country illegally. "Unfortunately, there will be some economic ramifications because we're in this position," he said. "Most of them are good, hard-working people. But there's a process for coming to this country." Recent history may have lessons as to what those ramifications may be. Georgianna pointed to the textile and apparel industries that once employed thousands. In the 1920s, there were 70 textile and fabric mills in New Bedford before those began to close and move south to states like Alabama and Virginia where wages were lower. Apparel and stitching mills began employing many immigrants, especially women -- a trend that continued into the 1990s. When the US signed the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which became effective in 1994, companies moved millions of jobs to Mexico. According to the Executive Office of Labor and Development, there were 14 textile and fabric mills in New Bedford in 2001. Today, only three remain. The apparel mills, more prominent in the city by the 1990s, dropped from 28 to 13 over the same time period. "I came in [19]77, and there were still a lot of stitching shops in the city," Georgianna said. "They're pretty much gone now." That meant paychecks disappeared, and spending and tax revenues were severely diminished -- a trend made worse by more people leaving the area to find work. According to one city analysis, New Bedford's population dropped by 6 percent in the 1990s. It also led to a 6 percent drop in median household income, from $29,441 in 1989 to $27,569 in 1999. Significant as the effects of the garment and textile industry collapse were, sudden mass deportations could have a far bigger impact given the truncated timescale. The adverse effects would be felt swiftly and widely, activists say. "Southeastern Mass. in general is vulnerable because we haven't enjoyed the boom that happened in the Boston area and we depend on sectors like fishing, manufacturing, construction," Williams, of the Southeastern Massachusetts CEDC, said. Massachusetts has taken center stage in the immigration debate on multiple occasions in recent years. In September 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida airlifted 50, mostly Venezuelan, asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard. The ensuing media storm generated widespread public sympathy for their plight. However, many red state governors followed suit, and a steady stream of migrants, most notably 14,000 Haitians, many seeking asylum and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections, arrived in the two years since. Stories swamped the local media about the new migrants sleeping in Logan Airport and overwhelming the Massachusetts shelter system, prompting Gov. Maura Healey to declare a state of emergency last year. Consequently, sympathy among sectors of the general public ebbed and gave way to hostility toward the new arrivals. It was against this backdrop that Trump promised to "launch the largest deportation program in American history" on day one of his second term and to deport people "as fast as possible." What that looks like in practice remains to be seen. The logistics of deporting millions of people -- some estimates put the number of undocumented residents as high as 11 million nationwide -- would be costly and have ripple effects across the economy. Massachusetts is home to an estimated 130,300 undocumented immigrants, with a total spending power of $3.7 billion. They tend to work in cleaning, construction, food service, and manufacturing jobs. Nonetheless, several prominent politicians statewide -- including Healey -- have said they will not allow the use of state or municipal resources to assist ICE with enforcement actions. "I think it's absolutely appropriate that there be enforcement and deportation of individuals who commit crime, including violent crime. That's very, very important," Healey told NBC Boston shortly after Trump's victory. "We recognize it would be devastating if there were mass raids, here and across the country, that took out people who've been working in this country for a long time, who have families and kids here." Healey's office declined requests for an interview from CommonWealth Beacon. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has also gone on record to say that the city will be relying on the Boston Trust Act, an ordinance that prohibits Boston police from asking people their immigration status and making arrests on administrative ICE warrants, to resist pressure from the Trump administration to assist in deportations. "The Boston Trust Act puts strict prohibitions on local law enforcement from being pulled into becoming the enforcement arm for the whims of whatever the sort of approach of the federal immigration law might be," Wu said in November on "Boston Public Radio." "Our charge here is to take care of the residents of Boston and to use the resources that we have from all the sources that are available to get things done on the issues that matter." Neither Massachusetts nor New Bedford has sanctuary legislation on the books prohibiting police cooperation with ICE. But a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling declared that police officers in the Commonwealth lack the authority to arrest or hold an individual solely based on an ICE detainer. When asked for comment from New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, city spokesman Jonathan Darling said municipal authorities are waiting to see how the situation evolves. "The City will monitor potential changes in federal policy on immigration and other areas and will continue to advocate for the interests of New Bedford residents and businesses," he said in an email. "Are we going to break up families like [what] happened in the Bianco case? Little kids, US citizens, who expected to see their mother or father after school and that didn't happen. That's devastating and I think there are better ways of dealing with the issue." - State Rep. Antonio Cabral In the reigning confusion and panic following the Bianco raid, families were separated, and many began their journeys through immigration court. State Rep. Antonio Cabral, a Democrat whose district contains New Bedford's South End and portions of the port, said he remembers the moment vividly. "Are we going to break up families like [what] happened in the Bianco case?" he said. "Little kids, US citizens, who expected to see their mother or father after school and that didn't happen. That's devastating and I think there are better ways of dealing with the issue." He did not feel comfortable speaking about possible actions to navigate such a situation in the coming years until it is clear how Trump's mass deportation plan plays out. "At this point, we don't even know what mass deportation means," Cabral said. Corinn Williams said state and local leaders should be exploring how best to support communities now, though she knows it's difficult when so much is uncertain. Still, she hopes they take these concerns seriously since the mere threat of mass deportation is enough to hamper local activities. "There are certain vulnerabilities we have as a community, and many have told us they don't want to even ride the bus or take their kids to school," she said. "People are going to retrench, and it's creating the kind of terror that stops people from circulating in the community and the economy." Police Chief Oliveira told Commonwealth Beacon that the city's police will continue to serve all members of the community, regardless of their immigration status. "I'm going to continue coming and continue to be an advocate for what they do here in our city," he said. "They're a vital piece of our city. I'm proud of that, and I know they're proud of that." "They're a big part of our workforce here in New Bedford," he continued. "[Mass deportation] would definitely take a toll on our city, and that's why I don't even like speculating on it." The Pescando Justicia activist noted that low wages and the struggle for survival mean that many in the community are unaware of the political situation and the chaos he foresees. "They're only thinking of work and getting their daily bread," he said. "They don't stop to think beyond that." He added that the Bianco raid taught the community a lot and gave many firsthand experiences with family separation. Even though he worries about the potential scale of the coming immigration enforcement, the threat is something he's grown accustomed to. "It's not the first time we've faced massive deportations," he said, noting that millions were deported under the Obama administration. We've lived through them before. It's just that no one talked about it then." He said he and his wife, who is also undocumented, have two US citizen children, aged 15 and 17. The family has made contingency plans and spoken about the possibility of their removal. "My family is psychologically prepared as well," he said. "These are things that our community still needs to do." Williams said it looks like the message is starting to hit home and that people are bracing for the worst even amid the daily struggles for survival. "The day after the election a woman called from St. Luke's Hospital," she recalled. "She just had a daughter and wanted to know how to get her passport so she could come with her parents to Guatemala." The best activists say they can do now is to take Trump at his word and prepare their communities for the worst. That's work that Adrian Ventura, CCT's founder and director, takes on every day. "Look at all we have accomplished," Ventura said to a gathering of 350 mostly K"iche" and Spanish speakers in mid-December, trying to strike a hopeful tone. "We're not going to stop fighting just because Trump won." CCT had once again convened a meeting to help immigrants -- many in attendance had obtained deferred action permits, but many more remained undocumented -- navigate the incoming administration. Oliveira again pledged local police support for the community and immigration attorneys went through the list of actions people could take now to protect themselves. But then the talk turned to the Code of Conduct pledge Pescando Justicia began circulating two years ago, asking the fish houses to agree to advise workers of their schedules with 12 hours' notice, give regular breaks, and refrain from using deportation as a threat. CCT organizers along with Justice at Work, a Boston-based non-profit that helps workers in low-wage jobs, were hoping to get the crowd motivated to stand up for their rights and advocate for better working conditions, despite the changing federal landscape. "Who's going to sign the petition?" asked Ventura, who obtained US citizenship earlier this year. Everyone's hand went up. This story is provided as a service of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ On the Ground news wire. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a network of more than 475 independent, nonprofit newsrooms serving communities throughout the US, Canada, and globally. On the Ground is a service of INN, which aggregates the best of its members’ elections and political content, and provides it free for republication. Read more about INN here: . Please coordinate with should you want to publish photos for this piece. This content cannot be modified, apart from rewriting the headline. To view the original version, visit:

The one easy thing you could do to save $317 a year on your billsChristopher J. Logothetis, MD The influence a patient has on a clinician can go deeper than ever imagined. Carrying their stories, either of triumph or defeat, allows for the improvement of care for all other patients to follow. Over his nearly 50-year career, Christopher J. Logothetis, MD, has had many of these patient interactions. Through these experiences, he has begun to think about a more patient-first approach by accommodating their needs rather than having one mindset of treating their cancer to prolong life. Logothetis is the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Huffington Clinical Research in Urologic Oncology, Distinguished Chair, and professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, as well as the director of the Department of The David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) in Houston. His career has spanned a multitude of successful clinical trials in testicular cancer exploring randomization and clinical trial statistics. He has also been working on creating personalized therapies that are individualized for each patient. Although Logothetis has had an expansive career, he has no plans on slowing down and is still passionate about teaching and passing on as much knowledge as he can. “I want to transfer what I’m doing to the next generation. To try to understand and teach them where my failings were, what advances we have, and make sure that we address the challenge of a process-driven health care system [is important].” Logothetis on his graduation day from medical school in 1974 It was Logothetis’ work with the late Melvin Samuels, MD, at MD Anderson that taught him to believe that anything was possible. Under Samuels’ direction, he worked on creating a cure for testicular cancer. He described Samuels as an old-fashioned clinician who expected nothing less than 100% dedication and who gave everything to his profession. He met his other mentor, Gardidas, in Greece. Gardidas was trained in the US and taught Logothetis how to best prioritize opportunities to focus on. “He taught me [to surround myself] not with the ones who are active and industrious, but the ones who always search for the meaning beneath. He was like that. He had this way of doing impactful things. [He] was intellectually efficient and a role model for us,” Logothetis said. Teaching the current generation of clinicians so that they are more knowledgeable than he was when Logothetis began his career is a personal goal of his. Most are inundated with information and opportunity, which he equates to a kid in a candy store. Determining which information or technology to use among all the distractions can be hard, and his job is to guide them and help them decide which prospects to pursue. When Logothetis first dove into testicular cancer research, the field was transitioning from empirical research to randomized clinical trials. Through this switch, robustness, honesty, and clarity were gained. A series of trials taught Logothetis that P values and randomized studies are important, but it’s about how they inform clinicians on the average patient and how to apply it as individualized therapy. This is specific research he is now looking to try to correct. Logothetis cooking in his Houston apartment during his fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center His biggest impact in the field, he noted, was his work in germ cell tumor therapies. He worked with traditional approaches, such as cisplatin-based chemotherapy, which can now cure patients. One such trial evaluated CISCA (cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin) vs MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) for patients with advanced metastatic urothelial tumors. 1 The trial assessed 110 patients, and the combined complete response and partial response rate was 65% in the CISCA arm vs 46% in the MVAC arm ( P < .05). Other groundbreaking trials that he’s contributed to focus on the evolutionary response and plasma genome sequencing in prostate cancer 2 ; high-volume, dose-dense chemotherapy in patients with nonseminomatous germ cell tumors 3 ; and an update to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines on prostate cancer treatment, of which findings were published in ONCOLOGY ® , a sister brand to OncLive . 4 He is humbled to say that he has worked in any way to help evolve the genitourinary field. One of his biggest “aha” moments came when he was working with colleagues and realized cancer was a binary event. Meaning being cancer free was not synonymous with good health and having cancer was not always the dominate problem. He translated this to prostate cancer and found that if all patients were treated with the same paradigm, the survival rates would not reflect what was in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results databases. “His impact on the field of genitourinary oncology has been amazing. It resonates throughout the US and the world [he] is well known in the field,” Nizar M. Tannir, MD, FACP, professor and Ransome Horne, Jr. Professorship for Cancer Research in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said ofLogothetis. “He continues to give his time and expertise to anybody who seeks it.” Opportunities looked different for Logothetis in his early life than for most. Both of his parents grew up on the Greek island Karpathos. With World War II looming, his father went to the US and joined the US Navy, whereas his mother stayed on the island and withstood the German occupation. Logothetis, second from left, with his siblings in 1973 While his father was in the Navy, Logothetis was born in Mannheim, Germany, and he eventually moved to France and northern Italy. He noted that there was a strong cultural obligation, so he returned to Greece each summer with his parents to visit the island and his relatives. His time in Greece during the dictatorship years was one with a culture of commitment, and he had to do something meaningful with his life. He could have chosen engineering or teaching, if not for his uncle who was a cardiologist. Logothetis said his uncle was admired in the community for his selfless work and for helping those who were less fortunate. It was then that Logothetis knew he wanted to go into medicine. “I was intrigued by the puzzle of biology. I always tried to understand illnesses, and it was an easy topic for me because it had such an appeal. Trying to understand biology was never a chore,” Logothetis said. “It wasn’t like going to school and having somebody make sure you do your math, which was always difficult for me, but it was exciting to read. [These interests] converged, and that’s what happened over time—[it] was somehow instinctive.” Logothetis, right, sailing in the Aegean Sea with a colleague This led him to attend medical school at the University of Athens School of Medicine. One of the greatest lessons he learned there was intellectual efficiency—in other words, understanding what you will need to succeed. He worked as a trainee there and helped to treat pediatric patients with leukemias. During his time in Athens, he saw this patient population go from having a disease that was incurable to curable, which he describes as “Easter.” This is where he pinpoints the start of his interest in working with more challenging diseases. He eventually transferred to Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he learned how to manage social and medical issues. Here, he developed his skills in biology, which led him to apply for a fellowship at MD Anderson, where he still works today. At MD Anderson, he began to gain experience in various parts of the genitourinary field. As a “drifter,” he would go to the diseases that others were not drawn to and try to figure out treatments or cures. Although Logothetis is an accomplished clinician, he continues to set professional and research-focused goals for himself. He also wants to create more opportunities for those who don’t want to come to an academic institution that falls under a Center of Excellence. Logothetis found that the resistance to going to these centers isn’t based on money but rather an aversion to large academic centers. There needs to be a bridge in the gap to include these populations in research. He noted that he frequently travels back to Greece to try to improve the quality of care and create more international alliances and skills in these communities. “Part of my dedication to helping them out [in Greece] is so all our intellectual resources [are combined. The patients and clinicians have] satisfaction in participating in the international effort to improve the outcomes of patients with these diseases,” Logothetis said. “It’s a huge satisfaction looking back [and seeing] that you contributed in a little way to this.” Logothetis lives a quiet life in Houston with his wife, Elizabeth, a former radiologist, and their 2 children, Richard and Irene. He and his wife met at MD Anderson when she began her training. He joked that he thinks he and his wife raised their children the same way, but they turned out complete opposites. Logothetis with his son, Richard Richard is more of an introvert and loves music. His aspiration is to one day “be Mozart,” but he is seeking to be a composer. Logothetis tries to listen to classical music so he can be educated for his son, but he admits it is quite demanding. Irene, however, is an extrovert and is constantly surrounded by people. She attended the University of Colorado and completed a degree in biology. “I’m lucky they were both healthy. They’re both good and properly motivated, searching for the meaning beneath, [and] struggling with designing opportunities,” Logothetis said. In his free time, Logothetis can be found on either his boat in Texas or the one he has in Greece to sail around the Aegean Sea. He notes that the names for his boats are not creative and are called Meltemi (of which he’s had 4), which is a northeasterly wind that blows in the afternoon in the Aegean Sea. For Logothetis, some quiet time with a good book is the highlight of his day. He spoke fondly about a recent read by Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom , which was a compilation of wisdom crafted by Tolstoy between 1903 and 1911. Logothetis took inspiration away from this book as Tolstoy spoke about various philosophers, thinkers, and writers but crafted his own conclusion on what they meant. Although you won’t find Logothetis binge-watching any shows, he does enjoy British murder mysteries, and even named his dog Vera after one of the lead detectives and simultaneously the show’s name. He appreciates these shows because they aren’t “all about the glitz and glamor often seen in Hollywood, and real actors portray these different characters.” Finally, Logothetis finds motivation every day by reminding himself that he has the gift of good health and a stimulating environment to work in. “It’s a fresh morning when your brain is freed and you’re ready to do something creative and novel,” he said.

King and PM honour former US president Jimmy Carter after his death aged 100

Jimmy Carter: a challenged presidency, a life of moral courage

Manmohan Singh, The Technocrat Who Transformed India's EconomyThe Sacramento Kings continue to lose, and that means that the vultures for De’Aaron Fox may be multiplying. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported on “The Hoop Collective” podcast this week that the Houston Rockets are a team to watch regarding a potential trade for the Kings star Fox. MacMahon also notes that there have been talks about the Miami Heat getting involved (Fox was college teammates with Heat star Bam Adebayo) as well as the Los Angeles Lakers doing so (Fox is a Klutch Sports client). Additionally, MacMahon mentions the San Antonio Spurs as another team to watch for Fox, which had already been reported prior . The 27-year-old Fox is a rare homegrown Kings All-Star and is also their longest-tenured player. But the trade buzz has steadily increased in recent weeks, especially with Sacramento now sitting at a disappointing 13-18 (No. 12 in the West). Fox’s agent, Rich Paul, also reportedly met with Kings management recently to discuss the direction of the team. Averaging 26.2 points and 6.1 assists per game this season, Fox is under contract for $34.8 million this year and $37.1 million next year. That means it would be far easier for an asset-rich, non-luxury-tax team like the Spurs or Rockets to make a play for him rather than a high-payroll team such as the Heat or Lakers. In any case though, an interested team would also have to navigate around Fox’s trickier longer-term financial situation . H/T NBA Reddit This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.A judge has once again rejected Musk’s multi-billion-dollar Tesla pay package. Now what?

Jimmy Carter, a former peanut farmer who rose from rural Georgia to the White House and went on to a storied post-presidency that included winning the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga. He was 100. An outsider, free from the baggage of Washington, Carter defeated President Gerald R. Ford in 1976, a victory seen as representing a clean break with the Watergate era. But the 39th president’s solitary term in office was hamstrung by a sluggish economy and crises at home and abroad. His presidency was also an anomaly, sandwiched between a total of two decades of Republican presidents. Carter, who was born on Oct. 1, 1924, was predeceased by his wife, Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19, 2023. The couple was married for more than 77 years. Their son Chip Carter confirmed the former president’s death Sunday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . The Carter Center announced in February 2023 that the former president had decided to receive hospice care and spend his remaining time at home with family, rather than seek further medical treatment “after a series of short hospital stays.” Years before, Carter had been diagnosed with melanoma, which he announced in August 2015 had extended to his brain. He said at the time that he expected to have a short time to live, but after aggressive treatment he was reported free of the melanoma by December of that year. In what was perhaps the high point of his post-presidency years, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 11, 2002, for what the Nobel Foundation called “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.” In his acceptance speech, Carter criticized the very notion of preemptive war as having “catastrophic consequences.” He added: “If we accept the premise that the United Nations is the best avenue for the maintenance of peace, then the carefully considered decisions of the United Nations Security Council must be enforced. All too often, the alternative has proven to be uncontrollable violence and expanding spheres of hostility.” Relationship with Congress Scholars have judged Carter’s dealings with Congress critically. Democrats controlled both the Senate and the House for the entirety of his presidency. But many experts have argued that the former agribusinessman was largely disinterested in working directly with lawmakers. After leaving the White House, Carter tried to reverse the conventional wisdom about his relationship with Congress, arguing that lawmakers mostly supported his initiatives. “Despite the controversial and often unpopular nature of my proposals to the Congress, I had remarkably good success in congressional approval of bills I supported,” he wrote in his 2010 book “White House Diary.” Carter pointed to congressional vote data compiled by CQ, writing that at the time his book was published it showed he ranked third among all presidents, behind Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, when it came to garnering congressional approval for legislation on which he took a position and was voted on by lawmakers. Congress gave Carter his way 76.6% of the time, according to the CQ Almanac data. But Politifact, an independent fact-checking organization, found the former Georgia governor’s batting average with Congress was “unexceptional.” That’s because few of Carter’s initiatives actually became law; CQ’s methodology handed out successful scores for a positive vote in one chamber, even if a bill never became law. The roots of Carter’s struggles with Congress can be traced to his time in the governor’s mansion, according to scholars at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, which specializes in presidential studies. “As when he was governor, Carter had an abiding dislike for the backroom dealing that is so pervasive in Washington,” Robert Strong, a politics professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., wrote for the Miller Center. Strong said lawmakers “found the new president hard to deal with.” Soon after he entered the White House, lawmakers sensed he lacked the support of many Americans — and they pounced. “Congress asserted its power over the president by shooting down (a) consumer-protection bill and (a) labor reform package,” Strong said. “Carter responded by vetoing a public works package in 1978 on the grounds that it was inflationary. A pattern of mutual distrust and contempt had been set.” Energy policy Also complicating his dealings with Congress was his opposition, soon after taking office, to a rivers and harbors bill supported by Democratic leaders that he felt was full of wasteful spending. Perhaps his biggest achievement was on energy policy, which Carter pushed at a time when U.S. oil imports had risen 65% in the four years before he became president. Carter’s advocacy also came when America was heavily reliant on imports from the OPEC cartel. He convinced lawmakers to pass several measures credited with increasing oil and natural gas supplies and generally lowering prices, as well as others that reshaped mileage standards for cars and American companies’ use of fuel. Carter faced an economy besieged by so-called stagflation, a combination of high inflation, high unemployment and plodding growth. His often-troubled presidency was a drag on congressional Democrats — and his own reelection effort — in 1980. Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan walloped Carter, taking 489 of 538 Electoral College votes. Carter won just six states, including Georgia, as well as the District of Columbia. Republicans picked up 34 House seats and 12 in the Senate, enough to take control of that chamber. After the presidency Carter revealed during an August 2015 press conference that the Iranian hostage crisis, in which an attempted military rescue of embassy employees ended in the deaths of eight American servicemembers, was among his biggest regrets. “I wish I had sent one more helicopter to get the hostages, and we would’ve rescued them,” Carter said, “and I would’ve been reelected.” The New York Times reported in March 2023 that allies of Reagan went on a mission to the Middle East seeking to stop the Iranians from releasing 52 American hostages before Election Day in 1980. After leaving the White House, Carter was among the most active former presidents of the modern era. He participated in election monitoring around the globe, and regularly worked with Habitat for Humanity. What’s more, the Carter Center in Atlanta studied issues such as mental health and fought lesser-known problems, including Guinea-worm disease. Before leaving office in 2001, then-President Bill Clinton reportedly told confidants that the Carter Center was the model for the kind of post-presidency pursuits he envisioned. ©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted and that is what 23-year-old Avishek Prasad of Nausori holds dear to his heart as he tries and offers whatever he can to street dwellers and beggars in Nausori Town. Mr Prasad received a lot of positive feedback from a video he posted on the social media platform TikTok which showcased his act of kindness towards a family of four who have been begging on the streets of Nausori for years. The video of him offering groceries to the family has garnered over 12,000 likes and 84,000 views. While speaking to The Fiji Times on Saturday, he said he did not expect the video to go viral as it was the first time to post it as content, but not the first time he’s been offering food and groceries to street dwellers. “Whenever I would go to work, whatever little I had, I would give it to those sitting on the streets of Nausori because it hurts me to see that there are a lot of families that sit here and beg for money and food,” Mr Prasad said. “I don’t know what they’re struggling with, I don’t stay and have a chat, I just think that we all need to be a bit more kind towards each other considering all that’s happened already. “The women in my video I would see her sitting there next to Vinod Patel every day, with her Bible. “I would see her with her two kids and her husband, so I thought maybe I should make their Christmas a bit merrier and get them groceries.” He said street dwellers and beggars have no one else to turn to and look for support, even a packet of beans or a bottle of juice would make their day. “We should just help those in need and be kind to each other,” he added. “Try and help whoever we can.” The family of four shown in the video had been beggars for almost ten years. Mother, Mereseini Biaudamu of Navoka Village in Noco, Rewa, said she used to be taken care of by her mother and her mother’s family before her world fell apart with her mother’s passing away a year ago. “We would come here in the morning and start begging, and sometimes we’re able to get a good meal from people who would just pass by and offer food,” Ms Biaudamu said. “I’m happy and content being like this. “Yes, I beg for money, but I get to feed my two children who are not even mine but I have raised them since they were a baby. “Their mother would just come and go, they’re always with me. “Our home is in Tacirua, but I don’t like living there. “When my mom died, my family started mistreating. This is where I feel safe. “They would tell me, ‘Nobody wants you here’ and I would always reply, ‘Yes, that is your decision, but God is always watching, and he knows’.” Her husband, 72-year-old Tomasi Kevu, has been by her side since her mother’s death. “I took care of her when her mother died, she was a loving woman,” Mr Kevu said. “I was on social welfare, but the money they were giving me was not enough to sustain us, so we turned to begging. “Her mother made me promise to take care of her and that’s why I’m here.”

SAN DIEGO , Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that purchasers or acquirers of Visa Inc. (NYSE: V ) publicly traded securities between November 16, 2023 and September 23, 2024 , inclusive (the "Class Period"), have until January 21, 2025 to seek appointment as lead plaintiff of the Visa class action lawsuit. Captioned Cai v. Visa Inc. , No. 24-cv-08220 (N.D. Cal.), the Visa class action lawsuit charges Visa and certain of Visa's top executives with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If you suffered substantial losses and wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Visa class action lawsuit, please provide your information here: https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases-visa-inc-class-action-lawsuit-v.html You can also contact attorneys J.C. Sanchez or Jennifer N. Caringal of Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at [email protected] . CASE ALLEGATIONS : Visa operates as a payment technology company. The Visa class action lawsuit alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Visa was not in compliance with federal antitrust laws and did not have effective internal programs and policies to assess and control compliance with federal antitrust laws; and (ii) Visa was in violation of federal antitrust law, and therefore likely to be subject to lawsuits and penalties by federal agencies. The Visa class action lawsuit further alleges that on September 24, 2024 , the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Visa in federal court for monopolizing the debit card payment processing market. On this news, the price of Visa stock fell more than 5%, according to the complaint. THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS : The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased or acquired Visa publicly traded securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Visa class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Visa class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Visa class action lawsuit. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff of the Visa class action lawsuit. ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER : Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading law firms representing investors in securities fraud cases. Our Firm has been #1 in the ISS Securities Class Action Services rankings for six out of the last ten years for securing the most monetary relief for investors. We recovered $6.6 billion for investors in securities-related class action cases – over $2.2 billion more than any other law firm in the last four years. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the largest plaintiffs' firms in the world and the Firm's attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery ever – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. Please visit the following page for more information: https://www.rgrdlaw.com/services-litigation-securities- fraud .html Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices. Contact: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP J.C. Sanchez, Jennifer N. Caringal 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101 800-449-4900 [email protected] SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLPA pressure campaign from allies of Donald Trump toward Senate Republican skeptics of some of his Cabinet picks appears to be starting to pay off in a sign of the president-elect's anticipated sway once he enters the Oval Office next month. Some GOP senators, such Joni Ernst of Iowa and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, who had been dubious about how they'd vote on Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host and Trump's pick for Pentagon chief, are sounding more optimistic on getting to "yes," even if they're not quite there yet. And broader furor around other controversial nominees, including former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Kash Patel to lead the FBI has drawn fewer headlines as the picks meet with senators, though all three are still expected to face tight confirmation processes. The shifts have come after Trump allies in Washington and in the news media underscored the importance of the president-elect getting his preferred administration in place and shone a glaring spotlight on potential holdouts, making clear that nothing short of their political survival was at stake. "A month ago, they had running room and courage to oppose Hegseth. They've run out of runway and any courage now is false because the MAGA base is onto them and will make them pay," said one source close to the transition, referencing Trump's "Make America Great Again" mantra. MORE: Pete Hegseth, Trump's embattled Pentagon pick, appears to be gaining GOP support After it appeared that Hegseth's nomination was on life support, the pressure campaign kicked into high gear. Trump himself has been more vocal recently about Hegseth, saying on NBC's "Meet the Press" over the weekend that "we'll be working on his nomination" and "I've had a lot of senators calling me up saying he's fantastic." Trump's transition also released what essentially amounted to a hype video Tuesday, touting some senators' glowing remarks about Hegseth. A conservative group with ties to Elon Musk, the world's richest man who has carved out a powerful role inside Trump's orbit, is also spending $500,000 on a new ad pushing the Senate to confirm Hegseth. The ads push viewers to "call your senator today and urge them to confirm Pete Hegseth" and are airing nationally -- but also targeting digital platforms in Ernst's home state of Iowa. Those moves, compounded by electoral threats from Trump online media allies like Steve Bannon and Dan Bongino, seem to have moved the needle, even as Hegseth continues to bat away allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct from former colleagues and one woman who claims he raped her. After predicting there would be "a very thorough vetting before [Hegseth] moves forward," Ernst said after an "encouraging" meeting Monday, "As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources." Graham, who had cast the claims against Hegseth as serious, also said Monday that he had "a very positive, thorough and candid meeting” with Hegseth and echoed that accusations should be "supported by testimony before Congress -- not anonymous sources." The movement indicates the immense power Trump and his allies hold, and how influential they could be with the party's base. And the political graveyard is packed with the careers of Republican lawmakers who defied Trump, only to lose office in a primary. "We will use every resource at our disposal to make sure that every one of Trump's nominees and Cabinet picks are confirmed. And if that does not happen, the ultimate recourse will be at the ballot box for those elected officials who choose to not vote for them," said a second source close to the transition. "That includes Pete, that includes Bobby, that includes Kash, includes everybody." "We've been very clear. And the president has made calls to various U.S. senators for some of his nominees. The president's been very clear of what he wants. Elon Musk has been very clear," the person added. "When you're the world's richest man, and you have $350 billion, that makes politicians quake." To be sure, Hegseth himself has also been putting in the work to get confirmed. He's continued to deny the allegations against him, held a blitz of meetings with senators, and Ernst said he committed to appointing a senior official who would tackle the issue of sexual assault within the military. But the role of Trump's allies can't be dismissed. The pressure campaign is coming ahead of a new Congress in which Republicans will hold a 53-47 Senate majority, meaning any Cabinet pick cannot afford to lose more than three GOP votes if Democrats vote unanimously in opposition. Members of Congress are historically fervent in their defense of their role as an equal branch of government -- a role manifested in their "advice and consent" function regarding a president's Cabinet picks. Already, Senate opposition sunk the fortunes of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Trump's pick for attorney general who had been accused of sexual misconduct that he denied. MORE: Mitch McConnell falls during Senate Republican lunch Yet Trump has a unique hold on his base, and threats of primaries in cases of disloyalty may be a permanent fixture for lawmakers to prevent opposition to Cabinet picks to mushroom over the next several weeks -- and to enforce support over next four years. "I think that these senators are very susceptible to pressure because they've witnessed what's happened to members who are now former members who opposed the president. So, we're seeing a lot of members change their tune because they're worried and they don't ever be primaried out of office, and they don't want to have the president having some cross words for them," said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide. "Republicans may not appreciate it in the Senate, but it's a fact of life," he added. Already, damage may have been done for Senate GOP critics, some Republicans warned. Even if every Republican senator comes around on all of Trump's picks, the president-elect's supporters have long memories -- and the strain of populism that is one of the country's dominant political drivers has piqued anti-incumbent fervor. "Even her pushback has been noticed in Iowa," Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Christian conservative leader in Iowa, said of Ernst. "You've seen a lot of people push back on her because of it, and there's been some calls from primarily those outside of Iowa going, 'she probably should be primaried.' I haven't seen anything real of that measure in Iowa yet. But it's a primary rich environment today."ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Jojo Uga's 2-yard touchdown run capped a 24-point fourth quarter and Albany beat Hampton 41-34 on Saturday in a season finale. Jack Iuliano recovered a fumble by Malcom May at the Hampton 24, and though it took 10 plays, Uga went in for the touchdown and the game's final lead. 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TeraWulf Announces November 2024 Production and Operations Update

Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes

NoneRocket Lab ( RKLB 6.15% ) stock spent most of Christmas week opening presents from its PR department, which posted on X about how well things went for the company in 2024 -- 16 rocket launches, a growing business providing solar power panels for spacecraft, and an accelerating cadence of rocket launches in the year's final weeks. How fast will Rocket Lab grow in 2025? Of all these announcements, I imagine it's this last one that most excited investors in the rocket stock . And why? It's not just the growth from 10 rocket launches in 2023 to 16 in 2024 that gets me. It's that over the last four weeks, Rocket Lab launched four times. Admittedly, rocket businesses are "lumpy." Bad weather, technical glitches, and wayward boats in the launch zone can scramble schedules, causing a dearth of launches in one month and making launches bunch up in the next. Still, if Rocket Lab launched four rockets in four weeks in November and December, it should, at least in theory , be able to sustain a launch-a-week cadence. And if Rocket Lab can find enough customers, this implies that 2025 could see many more launches than we saw in either 2023 or 2024. Is Rocket Lab stock a buy? How often might Rocket Lab launch in 2025? In theory , at its present pace, it could launch 52 times. At an average launch cost of $8.2 million, this suggests Rocket Lab's launch services division could generate $426 million in annual revenue -- more if some of these launches are of Neutron rockets costing up to $55 million a pop. And that would be incredible growth compared to the launches' $72 million in 2023 revenue. Sure, all this is in theory, but it's still more than enough to get Rocket Lab investors excited today.Victoria Police are investigating an incident in the downtown core on Christmas Eve, involving a stolen vehicle that evaded officers before being recovered. Around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, officers received a call from the owners of a stolen vehicle that it had been spotted being driven downtown, Vic PD confirmed in an email to Victoria News. Officers located the vehicle and moved into position behind it. However, the driver ran a red light, which caused officers to end their pursuit for public safety reasons. Police located the stolen vehicle again, a few moments later, immobile. In an attempt to prevent the individual from fleeing further, officers executed a manoeuvre which resulted in the stolen vehicle losing one of its tires. Despite the damage, the vehicle managed to flee the scene on three wheels. The pursuit resumed as the stolen vehicle sped down some of Victoria's busiest arteries. Many social media users commented on the event and posted videos of the sighting. “Holy there is a guy driving a three-wheeled 4x4 down Douglas sparks flying with two dozen cops chasing them they almost hit us,” said Facebook user Takuma Valcourt. VicPD confirmed that the stolen vehicle was later recovered, and the investigation remains ongoing.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump's transition team on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow the Justice Department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees after a weekslong delay. The step lets Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances before Inauguration Day to access classified information about ongoing government programs, an essential step for a smooth transition of power. It also allows those nominees who are up for Senate confirmation to face the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them. Teams of investigators have been standing by to process clearances for Trump aides and advisers. "This agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day," said Susie Wiles, Trump's designate to be White House chief of staff. People are also reading... The announcement came a week after the Trump transition team signed an agreement with the Biden White House to allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office Jan. 20. The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden White House issued both public and private appeals for Trump's team to sign on. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Security clearances are required to access classified information, including on ongoing operations and threats to the nation, and the Biden White House and outside experts emphasized to Trump's team the importance of having cleared personnel before Inauguration Day so they could be fully briefed and ready to run the government. President-elect Donald Trump arrives before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP) Brandon Bell President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money conviction Republican Senators also insisted on FBI background checks for Trump's nominees before they face confirmation votes, as has been standard practice for decades. Lawmakers were particularly interested in seeing the findings of reviews into Trump's designated nominee for defense secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. "That's why it's so important that we have an FBI background check, a committee review of extensive questions and questionnaires, and a public hearing," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday. John Thune, incoming Senate Republican leader, said the Trump team "understands there's going to have to be a thorough vetting of all these nominees." Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far President-elect Donald Trump Among President-elect Donald Trump's picks are Susie Wiles for chief of staff, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Democratic House member Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Wilfredo Lee, Associated Press Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. George Walker IV, Associated Press Pam Bondi, Attorney General Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Derik Hamilton Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Matt Rourke, Associated Press Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. AP Photo/Alex Brandon Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Matt Kelley, Associated Press Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Labor Secretary Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Andrew Harnik, Associated Press Scott Turner, Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Andrew Harnik, Associated Press Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Andy Cross, The Denver Post via AP Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Evan Vucci Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. AP Photo/Evan Vucci Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. John Bazemore, Associated Press Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Ted Shaffrey, Associated Press Tulsi Gabbard, National Intelligence Director Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Evan Vucci, Associated Press John Ratcliffe, Central Intelligence Agency Director Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Matt Rourke, Associated Press Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Trump has named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission. Carr made past appearances on “Fox News Channel," including when he decried Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' pre-Election Day appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He wrote an op-ed last month defending a satellite company owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk. Jonathan Newton - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS Elise Stefanik, Ambassador to the United Nations Rep. Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press Matt Whitaker, Ambassador to NATO President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy. Andrew Harnik, Associated Press Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Oded Balilty, Associated Press Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Keith Kellogg, Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib Mike Waltz, National Security Adviser Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Ted Shaffrey, Associated Press Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Tom Homan, ‘Border Czar’ Thomas Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. John Bazemore, Associated Press Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Matt Rourke, Associated Press Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to advise White House on government efficiency Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Evan Vucci, Associated Press photos Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Evan Vucci, Associated Press Additional selections to the incoming White House Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. James Blair, deputy chief of staff Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. William McGinley, White House counsel McGinley was White House Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration, and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. In a statement, Trump called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda, while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.” Jay Bhattacharya, National Institutes of Health Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is a physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He promoted the idea of herd immunity during the pandemic, arguing that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research through competitive grants to researchers at institutions throughout the nation. NIH also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at its labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade representative Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team. He announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy. Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017. Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!Defense lawyers for strip club owner Peter Gerace Jr. will now be paid on the public's dime, a federal judge said Thursday. Two months into his trial, the Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club owner has run out of money to pay his lawyers – Mark Foti and Eric Soehnlein – to defend him on bribery, drug- and sex-trafficking charges. The jury considering the case against Peter Gerace has asked the court to read back testimony from the trial related to allegations of witness tampering. "I want to make sure Mr. Foti and Mr. Soehnlein are compensated for the work they're doing," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo said. The development came on what was supposed to be the second day of jury deliberations in the seven-week trial. But a juror called in sick, so deliberations were postponed. The juror indicated to the court she might be able to report Friday for jury duty. The prosecution and defense teams supported the judge postponing deliberations, rather than replacing her with an alternate, which would have meant starting deliberations fresh with a new juror. "If she doesn't come back tomorrow, we'll decide what to do then," Vilardo said. Testimony in the trial started Nov. 7. The prosecution case spanned 21 days of testimony from 43 witnesses, which included 15 former exotic dancers. A federal law provides compensation to defense lawyers representing defendants who are unable to pay for counsel in federal criminal proceedings. Congress funds the program, and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts disburses payments. Vilardo said he would sign an order qualifying Gerace for compensated counsel after prosecutors and his defense attorneys confer and work out some details. After jurors left the courthouse, Vilardo asked Gerace several questions in the courtroom about his finances. The judge also reviewed Gerace's financial affidavit. The affidavit is not publicly available, so Gerace's complete financial picture is not clear. Vilardo asked him how much he currently receives from Pharaoh's. "Just what they give me to spend in jail," Gerace replied. Pharaoh's owner Peter Gerace Jr. will not take the witness stand in his own defense, and his lawyers will call no witnesses on his behalf. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. As for the financial health of Pharaoh's, "It's paying the bills," Gerace said. "It's not like there's $100,000 or $200,000 sitting in an account." Whatever profits the strip club earns "doesn't go to me, but to the company," Gerace said. But Gerace confirmed he owns the business, while his mother owns the building and property on Aero Drive in Cheektowaga. Gerace estimated Pharaoh's has $25,000 to $35,000 in an account. Gerace said he does not have a bank account or own stocks, bonds or real estate. Last year Gerace sold his Clarence home for $1.15 million, real estate records show. Prosecutors point to one dancer's account as an example of how they say strip club owner Peter Gerace Jr. exploited young women through their drug addictions and coerced them into engaging in commercial sex acts for his benefit. Foti has said one of the main reasons Gerace sold the home was to raise money for his defense. But a portion of the home's proceeds went to Pharaoh's to "infuse it with funds," Foti said. The strip club was struggling, at times, to turn a profit, Foti told Vilardo on Thursday. Foti said earlier this year that Gerace was "very frustrated" over his money problems, citing his long wait for a trial date and what Gerace sees as wrongdoing by the prosecution. "At this point, it's become a bigger and bigger challenge for Peter to pay for his defense," Foti said in April. "He's been in jail and unable to work for more than a year now." On Thursday, Foti said Gerace's retainer for his defense attorneys had been exhausted. While Gerace has paid his own defense bills until now on the bribery and drug- and sex-trafficking case, taxpayers have already paid for Foti's work on separate charges of witness tampering and conspiring to silence a federal witness in the Crystal Quinn death. A magistrate judge previously approved those payments under a program designed to help destitute defendants. The opening statements in the trial of Cheektowaga strip club owner Peter Gerace Jr. provided a clear roadmap Wednesday into how prosecutors will try to prove he exploited vulnerable women through their drug addictions – by letting jurors hear from the exotic dancers he once employed. It's also part of how the defense plans to fight the charges. Gerace confirmed to Vilardo he has $5,000 in jewelry. The $35,000 truck registered in his name was a 16th birthday gift to his son, Gerace said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi asked about Gerace's expensive collectibles, including boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali. It all belonged to Pharaoh's, Gerace said. "A lot of my collectibles have been sold already," Gerace told Vilardo. "I don't even know what the hell is left. The most expensive stuff is gone." Vilardo approved Foti and Soehnlein as Gerace's lawyers in September 2023 after Gerace's previous lawyer withdrew because of health concerns. Soehnlein rejoined Gerace's defense team after being allowed by Vilardo to withdraw a few months earlier. Jury selection begins Monday in the bribery, sex- and drug-trafficking trial of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club owner Peter Gerace Jr. – and a good amount of trial testimony expected over the next two months should not surprise him. Vilardo said he has reviewed what the defense attorneys have billed for and found it "very well supported." "It was good work they did," Vilardo said, adding that the two continue to do good work. "And I want to make sure they get paid." Patrick Lakamp can be reached at plakamp@buffnews.com Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Enterprise Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

King and PM honour former US president Jimmy Carter after his death aged 100Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen seemed to sense the question might arise after his club was eliminated from playoff consideration Sunday with a ghastly 45-33 loss to the host New York Giants in East Rutheford, N.J. The Giants were 2-13 and had lost a franchise-record 10 straight games entering the contest and their season-high point total Sunday more than tripled their season average of 14.3 points per game. It was the type of bad loss that leads to head coaches being asked about their job security. "I control what I can control," Steichen said of the employment situation. The Colts (7-9) were outplayed all contest by the team that entered the day with the worst record in the NFL -- and with their playoff hopes on the line. Last season, Steichen's first as Indianapolis coach, the Colts also fell short, losing to the Houston Texans in the final week of the season to miss the playoffs. "It was as disappointing as it gets," Steichen said of the setback against the Giants. "As the leader of a football team, shoot, I always say I've got to be better, we've all got to be better. That's a group effort, everyone's got to chip in and do their part, so stuff like that doesn't happen." Giants quarterback Drew Lock passed for 309 yards and tied his career high of four touchdowns while also running for a score. Meanwhile, the Colts also went with a reserve quarterback in veteran Joe Flacco and he turned the ball over three times on two interceptions and a fumble. He also passed for 330 yards. Flacco started because rookie Anthony Richardson couldn't play due to back and foot injuries. Indianapolis completes the season next weekend at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. "I know it's a tough situation, obviously, when you're out of the playoff hunt, but again, I told (the team) we've got to be professional about it," Steichen said. "That's the biggest thing. We've got to show up and do our job still with one week left." The Colts last made the playoffs in the 2020 season. Their last playoff win was two seasons earlier. --Field Level MediaWASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump's transition team on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow the Justice Department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees after a weekslong delay. The step lets Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances before Inauguration Day to access classified information about ongoing government programs, an essential step for a smooth transition of power. It also allows those nominees who are up for Senate confirmation to face the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them. Teams of investigators have been standing by to process clearances for Trump aides and advisers. "This agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day," said Susie Wiles, Trump's designate to be White House chief of staff. The announcement came a week after the Trump transition team signed an agreement with the Biden White House to allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office Jan. 20. The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden White House issued both public and private appeals for Trump's team to sign on. Security clearances are required to access classified information, including on ongoing operations and threats to the nation, and the Biden White House and outside experts emphasized to Trump's team the importance of having cleared personnel before Inauguration Day so they could be fully briefed and ready to run the government. Republican Senators also insisted on FBI background checks for Trump's nominees before they face confirmation votes, as has been standard practice for decades. Lawmakers were particularly interested in seeing the findings of reviews into Trump's designated nominee for defense secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. "That's why it's so important that we have an FBI background check, a committee review of extensive questions and questionnaires, and a public hearing," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday. John Thune, incoming Senate Republican leader, said the Trump team "understands there's going to have to be a thorough vetting of all these nominees."

On paper, Luigi Mangione had it all: wealth, intellect, athleticism, good looks. But the child of a prominent Maryland family may have spurned it all in a spasm of violence, in a killing that has mesmerized Americans. The 26-year-old was arrested Monday and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, a health insurance chief executive and father of two who was gunned down in Manhattan last week by someone who, evidence suggests, has endured his own debilitating health crises and grew angry with the privatized US medical system. The cold-blooded killing has laid bare the deep frustration many Americans feel toward the country's labyrinthine health care system: while many have condemned the shooting, others have praised Mangione as a hero. It has also prompted considerable interest in how a young engineer with an Ivy League education could have gone off the rails to commit murder. News of his capture at a Pennsylvania McDonald's triggered an explosion of online activity, with Mangione quickly amassing new followers on social media as citizen sleuths and US media tried to understand who he is. As Americans have looked for clues about a political ideology or potential motive, a photo on his X account (formerly Twitter) includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine. Mangione lived in Hawaii in 2022 and, according to his former roommate R.J. Martin, suffered from back pain, and was hoping to strengthen his back. After a surfing lesson, Mangione was "in bed for about a week" because of the pain, Martin told CNN. Earlier this year, Martin said, Mangione confirmed he'd had back surgery and sent him photos of the X-rays. Police said the suspect carried a hand-written manifesto of grievances in which he slammed America's "most expensive health care system in the world." "He was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America and in particular the health care industry," New York police chief detective Joseph Kenny told ABC. According to CNN, a document recovered when Mangione was arrested included the phrase "these parasites had it coming." Meanwhile, memes and jokes proliferated, many riffing on his first name and comparing him to the "Mario Bros." video game character Luigi. Many expressed at least partial sympathy, having had their own harrowing experiences with the US health care system. "Godspeed. Please know that we all hear you," wrote one user on Facebook. Mangione hails from the Baltimore area. His wealthy Italian-American family owns local businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, according to local outlet the Baltimore Banner, and cousin Nino Mangione is a Maryland state delegate. A standout student, Luigi graduated at the top of his high school class in 2016. A former student who knew Mangione at the elite Gilman School told AFP the suspect struck him as "a normal guy, nice kid." "There was nothing about him that was off, at least from my perception," the person said. Mangione attended the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science by 2020, according to a university spokesperson. While at Penn, Mangione co-led a group of 60 undergraduates who collaborated on video game projects, as noted in a now-deleted university webpage. On Instagram Mangione shared snapshots of his travels, and shirtless images of himself flaunting a six-pack. X users have scoured Mangione's posts for potential motives. His header photo includes an X-ray of a spine with bolts attached. Finding a political ideology that fits neatly onto the right-left divide has proved elusive, though he had written a review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto on online site Goodreads, calling it "prescient." Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, carried out multiple bombings in the United States from 1978 to 1995, in a campaign he said was aimed at halting the advance of modern society and technology. Mangione has also linked approvingly to posts criticizing secularism as a harmful consequence of Christianity's decline, and retweeted posts on the impact mobile phones and social media have on mental health. ia/abo-mlm/nro