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Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Jaylen Waddle out vs. BrownsFaruqi & Faruqi Reminds Wolfspeed Investors Of The Pending Class Action Lawsuit With A Lead Plaintiff Deadline Of January 17, 2025 – WOLF
WASHINGTON - As president-elect Donald Trump rattles his closest neighbours with threats of tariffs, he is also firming up the team of loyalists to put his plans into action. Trump’s team to lead his trade agenda and the American economy include trade lawyers, former advisers and Wall Street executives who have all expressed favourable views of tariffs. “He’s choosing a lot of people who are going to be loyal to him and his ideas,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont. “And that probably will lead to a lot more volatility than even we saw in the first term.” On Tuesday evening, Trump picked Jamieson Greer to be U.S. trade representative. The president-elect said Greer played a key role in the first Trump administration imposing tariffs on China and negotiating the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. If confirmed, Greer will oversee the trade pact’s review in 2026. “Jamieson will focus the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on reining in the country’s massive trade deficit, defending American manufacturing, agriculture, and services, and opening up export markets everywhere,” Trump said in a statement. Greer was the chief of staff to former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer as the trilateral agreement was being crafted to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was torn up last time Trump entered office. Greer’s nomination came the day after Trump said he will impose a 25 per cent import tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico. He has also announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on goods from China. Trump said the tariffs against Canada and Mexico would remain in place until both countries stop people and drugs, in particular fentanyl, from illegally crossing the border into the U.S. A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report suggested Trump’s previous pledge to impose a 10 per cent levy would take a $30-billion bite out of the Canadian economy. More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S. and trade comprises 60 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Some economists have warned across-the-board duties would cause inflation in the U.S., even though Trump campaigned on lowering costs for Americans. Greer was deeply involved in Trump’s original sweeping tariffs on China and subsequent negotiations on the U.S.-China Phase 1 trade agreement, online biographies say. In testimony about China’s trade agenda at a House trade subcommittee last year, Greer said he believes “good fences make good neighbours, and trade enforcement is an important part of establishing those fences.” On Tuesday, Trump also tapped Kevin Hassett to be the director of the White House National Economic Council. The role will be key in fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to fix the U.S. economy. His announcement said Hassett will also “ensure that we have fair trade with countries that have taken advantage of the United States in the past.” Hassett served during the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the president-elect has called him a “true friend.” The latest nominations round out an economic team that includes hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary and Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, who was tapped for commerce secretary. If confirmed by the Senate, Lutnick would oversee a sprawling cabinet agency and Trump’s tariff agenda. He has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s tariff plans. In an CNBC interview in September he said tariffs are “an amazing tool for the president to use — we need to protect the American worker.” Lebo said as Trump prepares to return to office he is removing any person who could prove to be a guardrail or check on his power. “These are people aligned with Trump,” Lebo said. “More and more aligned with his campaign rhetoric.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024. — With files from The Associated PressBEIRUT — Israel's military launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday, unleashing explosions throughout the country and killing at least 31 while Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut as well as in the port city of Tyre. Military officials claimed they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut's southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including meters from a Lebanese police base and the city's largest public park. The barrage came as officials indicated they were nearing agreement on a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet prepared to discuss an offer on the table. Bulldozers remove the rubble of a destroyed building Monday that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations also expressed cautious optimism Monday about possible progress on a ceasefire. “Knock on wood,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said as he opened the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome. “We are perhaps close to a ceasefire in Lebanon," he said. "Let's hope it's true and that there's no backing down at the last-minute.” A ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon was foremost on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Fiuggi, outside Rome, that gathered ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the last G7 encounter of the Biden administration. For the first time, the G7 ministers were joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League. Thick smoke, flames and debris erupt Monday from an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon. Meanwhile, massive explosions lit up Lebanon's skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs Monday. The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets. Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighborhoods and other targets where Israel issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatiyeh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning. Lebanon's Health Ministry said Monday that 26 people were killed in southern Lebanon, four in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel province and one in Choueifat, a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs that was not subjected to evacuation warnings on Monday. The deaths brought the total toll to 3,768 killed in Lebanon throughout 13 months of war between Israel and Hezbollah and nearly two months since Israel launched its ground invasion. Many of those killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah have been civilians, and health officials said some of the recovered bodies were so severely damaged that DNA testing would be required to confirm their identities. Israel claims to have killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Lebanon's Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people. Destroyed buildings stand Monday in the area of a village in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October, meeting heavy resistance in a narrow strip of land along the border. The military previously exchanged attacks across the border with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group that began firing rockets into Israel the day after the war in Gaza began last year. Lebanese politicians have decried the ongoing airstrikes and said they are impeding ceasefire negotiations. The country's deputy parliament speaker accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment to pressure Lebanon to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah. Elias Bousaab, an ally of the militant group, said Monday that the pressure has increased because "we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire." Israeli officials voiced similar optimism Monday about prospects for a ceasefire. Mike Herzog, the country's ambassador to Washington, earlier in the day told Israeli Army Radio that several points had yet to be finalized. Though any deal would require agreement from the government, Herzog said Israel and Hezbollah were "close to a deal." "It can happen within days," he said. Israeli officials have said the sides are close to an agreement that would include withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and a pullback of Hezbollah fighters from the Israeli border. But several sticking points remain. A member of the Israeli security forces inspects an impact site Sunday after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted that there could be last-minute hitches that either delay or destroy an agreement. "Nothing is done until everything is done," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The proposal under discussion to end the fighting calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. The withdrawals would be accompanied by an influx of thousands more Lebanese army troops, who have been largely sidelined in the war, to patrol the border area along with an existing U.N. peacekeeping force. Western diplomats and Israeli officials said Israel demands the right to strike in Lebanon if it believes Hezbollah is violating the terms. The Lebanese government says such an arrangement would authorize violations of the country's sovereignty. On paper, being more sustainable and eco-friendly while shopping sounds great—so why don't more people do it? There is growing consumer consciousness about the environmental impact of where people choose to shop and the sustainability of the products they buy. According to McKinsey, over 60% of individuals surveyed in 2020 said they would be willing to pay more for a product that is packaged in an eco-friendly way. Since 2019, products marketed as being environmentally sustainable have seen a 28% growth in revenue compared to 20% for products with no such marketing, a 2023 McKinsey and NielsenIQ report found. Much of this is thanks to the preferences and attitudes of Gen Z, who, on average, care more than their older counterparts about being informed shoppers. The younger generation also has more social justice and environmental awareness altogether. Shoppers are willing to spend around 9.7% more on a product they know is sourced or manufactured sustainably, with 46% saying they would do so explicitly because they want to reduce their environmental footprint, according to a 2024 PwC report. Sustainable practices consumers look for from companies include production methods, packaging, and water conservation. But despite the growing consciousness around being more environmentally responsible, consumer actions don't always align with their values. In psychology, this is defined as the "say-do gap": the phenomenon wherein people openly express concern and intention around an issue, but fail to take tangible action to make a change. According to the Harvard Business Review in 2019, most consumers (65%) say they want to buy from brands that promote sustainability, but only 1 in 4 follow through. So why don't people actually shop sustainably, despite how much they express a preference for eco-friendly products—and how can we close the gap? The RealReal examined reports from the Harvard Business Review and other sources to explore why some shoppers want to buy sustainably but struggle to follow through. This lack of action isn't due to a lack of caring—in many cases, it's hard to know how to be a sustainable consumer and other factors are often outside of shoppers' control. But the more people shop sustainably, the easier and more accessible that market will be for everyone—making it much easier for folks to buy aligned with their values. There are many obstacles preventing shoppers from upholding eco-friendly habits as much as they may want to—but not all of these barriers are necessarily real, or accurately understood. Shopping sustainably simply isn't convenient or accessible for many. Those who live in apartment buildings are 50% less likely to recycle , according to Ipsos. Reasons for this can vary from lack of space to buildings being excluded altogether because of recycling contamination issues. Many believe that sustainable products are too expensive or of a lower quality. The former is often true, which does create a hurdle for many: The manufacturing processes and materials for sustainable products are pricey. For instance, organic cotton requires an intensive production process free of certain chemicals or pesticides; by definition, true eco-friendly products can't be mass-produced, further upping their price tag. Using recycled materials for packaging, or obtaining an eco certification, can also be expensive. However, although the narrative of eco-friendly products being more expensive is true, there is often more of an effort to use better quality materials that last longer than their noneco-friendly counterparts. This could end up saving consumers money in the long run: By paying more upfront, they can get more wear out of sustainable fashion, for instance. There is also undeniable political rhetoric surrounding eco-friendly products—however, despite many Conservative politicians decrying sustainable products, members of all generations are increasingly choosing to prioritize shopping sustainably regardless of their political affiliation, according to research from NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business . This finding shows a trend toward seeing sustainability as a nonpartisan subject everyone can benefit from, no matter where they lie on the political spectrum. Some might think eco-friendly clothing, in particular, is not fashion-forward; after all, many of the top clothing retailers in the world partake in fast fashion. However, brands are increasingly being recognized as 'cool' and 'trendy' for supporting environmentally ethical practices, particularly as younger generations prioritize sustainability, as noted before. Many increasingly popular online stores are taking advantage of this paradigm shift by offering secondhand shopping options that are not only fashionable, but also more affordable, like ThredUp or Poshmark. Additionally, many legacy large-name brands are hopping on the sustainability movement and are gaining appreciation from loyal customers. Amazon's Climate Pledge Friendly program partners with third-party certification bodies to make it easier for shoppers to identify eco-friendly products as they browse the website. H&M's newly launched H&M Rewear program debuts a resale platform that allows the resale of all clothing brands—not just their own. Similarly, Patagonia's Worn Wear program allows shoppers to trade in and buy used gear and clothing. The federal government is also working to close this gap. The Environmental Protection Agency's Safer Choice program is attempting to make sustainable shopping easier for consumers and companies alike. It includes a directory of certified products, a list of safer chemicals to look out for on labels, a "Safer Choice" label that products can earn to denote they are eco-friendly, and resources for manufacturers looking to adopt more sustainable practices. Most of all, though, the biggest way shoppers can shift toward sustainable shopping is through their behaviors and attitudes amongst their peers and communities. Studies show that humans largely care what others think of their actions; the more shoppers make environmentally conscious shopping the norm, the more others will follow suit. From an economic perspective, the more consumers shop eco-friendly, the more affordable and accessible these products will become, too: Sustainable products are currently more expensive because they are not in high demand. Once demand rises, production rates and prices can lower, making these products more accessible for all. Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. This story originally appeared on The RealReal and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Be the first to know
Darius Tahir | (TNS) KFF Health News President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest. Oz’s holdings, some shared with family, included a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as $600,000, as well as shares of pharmaceutical firms and tech companies with business in the health care sector, such as Amazon. Collectively, Oz’s investments total tens of millions of dollars, according to financial disclosures he filed during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. Trump said Tuesday he would nominate Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency’s scope is huge: CMS oversees coverage for more than 160 million Americans, nearly half the population. Medicare alone accounts for approximately $1 trillion in annual spending, with over 67 million enrollees. UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest health care companies in the nation and arguably the most important business partner of CMS, through which it is the leading provider of commercial health plans available to Medicare beneficiaries. UnitedHealth also offers managed-care plans under Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for low-income people, and sells plans on government-run marketplaces set up via the Affordable Care Act. Oz also had smaller stakes in CVS Health, which now includes the insurer Aetna, and in the insurer Cigna. It’s not clear if Oz, a heart surgeon by training, still holds investments in health care companies, or if he would divest his shares or otherwise seek to mitigate conflicts of interest should he be confirmed by the Senate. Reached by phone on Wednesday, he said he was in a Zoom meeting and declined to comment. An assistant did not reply to an email message with detailed questions. “It’s obvious that over the years he’s cultivated an interest in the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry,” said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group. “That raises a question of whether he can be trusted to act on behalf of the American people.” (The publisher of KFF Health News, David Rousseau, is on the CSPI board .) Oz used his TikTok page on multiple occasions in November to praise Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including their efforts to take on the “illness-industrial complex,” and he slammed “so-called experts like the big medical societies” for dishing out what he called bad nutritional advice. Oz’s positions on health policy have been chameleonic; in 2010, he cut an ad urging Californians to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, telling viewers they had a “historic opportunity.” Oz’s 2022 financial disclosures show that the television star invested a substantial part of his wealth in health care and food firms. Were he confirmed to run CMS, his job would involve interacting with giants of the industry that have contributed to his wealth. Given the breadth of his investments, it would be difficult for Oz to recuse himself from matters affecting his assets, if he still holds them. “He could spend his time in a rocking chair” if that happened, Lurie said. In the past, nominees for government positions with similar potential conflicts of interest have chosen to sell the assets or otherwise divest themselves. For instance, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed to divest their holdings in relevant, publicly traded companies when they joined the Biden administration. Trump, however, declined in his first term to relinquish control of his own companies and other assets while in office, and he isn’t expected to do so in his second term. He has not publicly indicated concern about his subordinates’ financial holdings. CMS’ main job is to administer Medicare. About half of new enrollees now choose Medicare Advantage, in which commercial insurers provide their health coverage, instead of the traditional, government-run program, according to an analysis from KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Proponents of Medicare Advantage say the private plans offer more compelling services than the government and better manage the costs of care. Critics note that Medicare Advantage plans have a long history of costing taxpayers more than the traditional program. UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna are all substantial players in the Medicare Advantage market. It’s not always a good relationship with the government. The Department of Justice filed a 2017 complaint against UnitedHealth alleging the company used false information to inflate charges to the government. The case is ongoing. Oz is an enthusiastic proponent of Medicare Advantage. In 2020, he proposed offering Medicare Advantage to all; during his Senate run, he offered a more general pledge to expand those plans. After Trump announced Oz’s nomination for CMS, Jeffrey Singer, a senior fellow at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said he was “uncertain about Dr. Oz’s familiarity with health care financing and economics.” Singer said Oz’s Medicare Advantage proposal could require large new taxes — perhaps a 20% payroll tax — to implement. Oz has gotten a mixed reception from elsewhere in Washington. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the Democrat who defeated Oz in 2022, signaled he’d potentially support his appointment to CMS. “If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude,” he said on the social platform X. Oz’s investments in companies doing business with the federal government don’t end with big insurers. He and his family also hold hospital stocks, according to his 2022 disclosure, as well as a stake in Amazon worth as much as nearly $2.4 million. (Candidates for federal office are required to disclose a broad range of values for their holdings, not a specific figure.) Amazon operates an internet pharmacy, and the company announced in June that its subscription service is available to Medicare enrollees. It also owns a primary care service , One Medical, that accepts Medicare and “select” Medicare Advantage plans. Oz was also directly invested in several large pharmaceutical companies and, through investments in venture capital funds, indirectly invested in other biotech and vaccine firms. Big Pharma has been a frequent target of criticism and sometimes conspiracy theories from Trump and his allies. Kennedy, whom Trump has said he’ll nominate to be Health and Human Services secretary, is a longtime anti-vaccine activist. During the Biden administration, Congress gave Medicare authority to negotiate with drug companies over their prices. CMS initially selected 10 drugs. Those drugs collectively accounted for $50.5 billion in spending between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023, under Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit. At least four of those 10 medications are manufactured by companies in which Oz held stock, worth as much as about $50,000. Related Articles National Politics | Donald Trump Jr. emerges as a political force of his own as he helps his father launch a second term National Politics | The rising price of paying the national debt is a risk for Trump’s promises on growth and inflation National Politics | What to know about Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick for agriculture secretary National Politics | After Trump’s Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles National Politics | Republicans push back against Democrats’ claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is compromised Oz may gain or lose financially from other Trump administration proposals. For example, as of 2022, Oz held investments worth as much as $6 million in fertility treatment providers. To counter fears that politicians who oppose abortion would ban in vitro fertilization, Trump floated during his campaign making in vitro fertilization treatment free. It’s unclear whether the government would pay for the services. In his TikTok videos from earlier in November, Oz echoed attacks on the food industry by Kennedy and other figures in his “Make America Healthy Again” movement. They blame processed foods and underregulation of the industry for the poor health of many Americans, concerns shared by many Democrats and more mainstream experts. But in 2022, Oz owned stakes worth as much as $80,000 in Domino’s Pizza, Pepsi, and US Foods, as well as more substantial investments in other parts of the food chain, including cattle; Oz reported investments worth as much as $5.5 million in a farm and livestock, as well as a stake in a dairy-free milk startup. He was also indirectly invested in the restaurant chain Epic Burger. One of his largest investments was in the Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain Wawa, which sells fast food and all manner of ultra-processed snacks. Oz and his wife reported a stake in the company, beloved by many Pennsylvanians, worth as much as $30 million. ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SAN DIEGO , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HRTX) ("Heron" or the "Company"), a commercial-stage biotechnology company, announced today the relocation of the Company's headquarters from San Diego, California to Cary, North Carolina , effective January 1, 2025 . A majority of Heron's Management Team and corporate employees work from the Cary office, which is near the Research Triangle Park ("RTP"), one of the most prominent high-tech research and development parks in the United States . The growing biotech community in Cary and its surrounding areas provides ample space for growth and expansion. "We are excited to move our headquarters to Cary, North Carolina , which represents a significant milestone in Heron's journey," said Craig Collard , Chief Executive Officer of Heron. "This move will not only strengthen our ability to support our employees by centralizing our operations and resources, but also positions us in an excellent location from which we can continue making strategic partnerships as we growing our existing portfolio focused on improving the lives of patients in the acute and oncology care settings. This is an exciting chapter for Heron, and we look forward to the continued success and partnerships that lie ahead." The new address for Heron's corporate headquarters is 100 Regency Forest Drive, Suite 300, Cary, NC 27518. About Heron Therapeutics, Inc. Heron Therapeutics, Inc. is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on improving the lives of patients by developing and commercializing therapeutic innovations that improve medical care. Our advanced science, patented technologies, and innovative approach to drug discovery and development have allowed us to create and commercialize a portfolio of products that aim to advance the standard-of-care for acute care and oncology patients. For more information, visit www.herontx.com . Forward-looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Heron cautions readers that forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this news release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the caption "Risk Factors." Forward-looking statements reflect our analysis only on their stated date, and Heron takes no obligation to update or revise these statements except as may be required by law. Investor Relations and Media Contact: Ira Duarte Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Heron Therapeutics, Inc. iduarte@herontx.com 858-251-4400 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/heron-therapeutics-announces-corporate-headquarters-relocation-to-cary-north-carolina-302338528.html SOURCE Heron Therapeutics, Inc.
NonePublished 4:38 pm Wednesday, November 27, 2024 By Data Skrive Thursday’s college basketball schedule includes three games featuring a ranked team on the court. Among those contests is the South Carolina Gamecocks squaring off against the Iowa State Cyclones. Watch women’s college basketball, other live sports and more on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Use our link to sign up for a free trial. Catch tons of live women’s college basketball , plus original programming, with ESPN+ or the Disney Bundle.
GCC-4001 by Artiva Biotherapeutics for Lupus Nephritis: Likelihood of Approval
Season’s greetings to all readers! Let me begin the second part of this article on the speakers of Sri Lanka with a reference to former Speaker Asoka Ranwala. A source who is usually well-informed about matters concerning the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the National People’s Power (NPP) got in touch with me a few days ago. He said that ex-Speaker Ranwala had indeed acquired a doctoral degree from Japan. According to this JVP/NPP “partisan” source, Asoka Ranwala has indeed acquired a PhD from a Japanese institution of higher learning and is therefore entitled to the prefix “Dr”. Apparently Ranwala, a longstanding activist of the JVP, had “escaped” from Sri Lanka when the Ranasinghe Premadasa regime had cracked down hard on the JVP in the 1989-90 period. Ranwala had made his way to Japan and resided there for several years, stated this source. Ranwala had pursued further studies while being in Japan during those years and had obtained a doctoral degree, claimed this source. Due to some procedural difficulties, Ranwala had been unable to get accredited documentation to clearly establish his bona fides in this matter. The JVP hierarchy was convinced that Ranwala had a doctorate and was prepared to give him time to produce documentary proof of his PhD. But when the Opposition was preparing to present a no confidence motion in Parliament, the JVP leaders had felt it was better for Ranwala to resign from his post and then restore his tarnished image by procuring documentary proof of his qualifications. As such Asoka Ranwala is scheduled to go to Japan soon (he may have gone already) and take steps to get proof of his doctoral degree. “Asoka Ranwala will soon prove that he does indeed have a doctorate from Japan,” emphasised the source. I am inclined to treat this claim with more than a pinch of salt, but let us wait and see what happens. As stated in the first part of this article published last week, both Asoka Ranwala and yesteryear speaker Anandatissa de Alwis have one thing in common. Both were first-time entrants to Parliament who served as speakers. Anandatissa de Alwis had entered the National State Assembly as Parliament was called then for the first time in July 1977 as MP for Kotte when he was elected speaker. Being a former journalist himself, Anandatissa de Alwis was the darling of the media but it was during his period as Speaker that the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act was given new teeth. To demonstrate the power of the amended law, two senior editors of Lake House were summoned to the House over a mix up of a photo caption allegedly affecting then Foreign Minister A.C.S. Hameed. It was a trivial mix up of captions between pictures of an event concerning minister Hameed and a woman clad in a bikini. The two editors were grilled exhaustively and hauled over the coals by Government parliamentarians. An exasperated leader of the Opposition Appapillai Amirthalingam called for an end to the comic inquisition. The editors were let off with a fine. The talk among journalists then was that the captions had been deliberately mixed up to enable the staging of this parliamentary drama. Anandatissa de Alwis became a Cabinet minister in 1978. He was succeeded as Speaker by the deputy speaker Beruwela MP, Bakeer Markar in September 1978. It was during Bakeer Markar’s tenure that the no confidence motion against Opposition leader of the time, Appapillai Amirthalingam was moved by government MPs in 1981. Such a development was unheard of in parliamentary history. Government MPs don’t bring votes of no confidence against the leader of the Opposition. Not only did Bakeer allow the motion but also failed to restrain the “criminal” remarks made by MPs against an absent Amirthalingam during the one-sided debate. The lone communist party MP Sarath Muttetuwegama walked out of Parliament after criticising Bakeer Markar for letting Government backbenchers run Parliament instead of asserting order in the House as Speaker. Bakeer Markar also failed to check the vituperatively racist outpourings of Cyril Mathew in Parliament on more than one occasion. In spite of appeasing hawkish elements in Government ranks and disgracing the office of Speaker in the process, Bakeer Markar was unable to continue as Speaker for his full term. After the anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983, sections of the Buddhist clergy exerted pressure on J.R. that a Sinhala Buddhist, E.L. Senanayake of Kandy should replace Bakeer Markar the Muslim Speaker. This was acceded to and the old trooper E.L. served as speaker from September 1983 to December 1988. Bakeer was inducted into the cabinet as a minister without portfolio. The 1989 to 1994 Parliament saw the veteran Muslim leader from Colombo, M. Haniffa Mohamed function as Speaker. M.H. Mohamed’s crisis hour came during the impeachment motion moves against president Ranasinghe Premadasa by the trio comprising Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and G.M. Premachandra. After being initially favourable to the rebels, Mohamed changed track swiftly and switched loyalties in favour of President Premadasa. A fresh breeze blew in the musty corridors of power in 1994 when the 17-year-long UNP rule was terminated in 1994 by a People’s Alliance (PA) Government led by Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. In 1994 it was the turn of Rajarata’s K.B. Ratnayake to be Speaker. The former Anuradhapura MP was an old student of Hartley College, Point Pedro and spoke Tamil well. K.B. was perhaps the first Sinhala speaker to speak all three languages fluently in the House. Most of the Muslim speakers too were trilingual. The new millennium in 2000 witnessed what was then the rare spectacle of both Government and Opposition electing a consensus candidate as Speaker. That singular honour went to Chandrika Kumaratunga’s brother and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s old school chum Anura Bandaranaike. The PA Government had won the elections with a slender majority. Though Anura was then in the UNP and therefore in the Opposition, Chandrika and Ranil agreed to make Anura the Speaker, much against the wishes of party stalwarts on both sides. A crisis arose when Kumaratunga prorogued Parliament after she lost her majority in parliament. Efforts were on to impeach the president and the then Chief Justice Sarath Silva. Sarath Silva tried to restrain the speaker from accepting the impeachment motion. Though initially hesitant, Anura Bandaranaike ruled later that Parliament was supreme. He said the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to issue interim orders restraining the Speaker in respect of the steps he is empowered to take under Standing Order 78 (a). As stated earlier, the ruling was prompted by the issue of a restraining order on Speaker Anura Bandaranaike by then Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva because there were moves for an impeachment motion against him (Silva) in Parliament. By then, no motion was placed on the Order Paper and only signatures were being collected. The restraining order was based on two fundamental rights petitions heard by a Supreme Court bench presided by then Chief Justice Silva himself. However, the motion did not materialise since the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga later dissolved Parliament. Summarising his decision, Speaker Anura Bandaranaike declared that: 1. The Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to issue the interim orders restraining the Speaker of Parliament in respect of the steps he is empowered to take under Standing Order 78(a). 2. The interim orders dated 6 June 2001 are not binding on the Speaker of Parliament. 3. There are no legal obligations to comply with the said orders. Later Anura crossed over to the PA after Parliament was dissolved. December 2001 elections saw the UNP-led UNF win. Ranil Wickremesinghe became premier while Chandrika Kumaratunga remained executive president. Gampaha District MP, Joseph Michael Perera was elected Speaker. During his term of office Joseph Michael Perera made a controversial ruling where he emphasised that the President could not unilaterally prorogue Parliament. The Speaker’s (Joseph Michael Perera) ruling reiterated the position that the executive power of the people is vested in the president and Article 70 of the Constitution confers on the president the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve parliament. However, Article 70 of the Constitution, Perera ruled cannot contravene Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution. Parliament has been elected by the people in whom the sovereign power is vested under Article 3 of the Constitution. Under Article 4, this sovereignty is divided and exercised by the executive president, parliament and the judiciary. In addition, under Article 4, parliament also exercises the judicial power of the people through the courts and tribunals established by the constitution or created and established by law. The Speaker J.M. Perera pointed out in his order that an examination of the scheme of the Constitution shows that Article 70 appears in Chapter XI titled, “The legislative procedure and power.” This makes it clear that this aspect of the president’s power is not an attributive of his executive power set out in article VII, but rather an administrative function vis-a-vis parliament. The exercise of the power to summon, dissolve and prorogue must therefore always be exercised in consultation with parliament and this function must be accepted at all times as being subordinate to the legislative power of the people conferred on parliament by Article 4 (a). Joseph Michael Perera therefore determined that were it not so, it would lead to a situation where one arm of government is able to completely suppress another equal, but separate arm. Interestingly Joseph Michael Perera’s ruling features prominently in the 2018 situation where President Sirisena arbitrarily prorogued Parliament without consulting the Speaker. Political cohabitation came to an end in 2004 and Parliament was dissolved by the then president Kumaratunga. Elections were held and the SLFP led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) came to power. The communist party’s D.E.W. Gunasekera’s name was proposed as Speaker by the UPFA. However, the Opposition nominated UNP’s Badulla District MP, W.J.M. Lokubandara instead of the incumbent Speaker Joseph Michael Perera. Though Perera could have been fielded as a speaker candidate, a change was necessitated due to political exigencies. Joseph Michael Perera was a Catholic. Given the rising tide of anti-Christian feeling among sections of the Buddhist clergy and laity prevailing at that time, a man like Lokubandara with impeccable Sinhala Buddhist credentials was seen as more suitable. The phenomenon of nine Buddhist monk MPs of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) holding the power balance in a hung parliament saw the need for an avowed Sinhala Buddhist nationalist like Lokubandara as opposition candidate for Speaker. It was hoped that Lokubandara could win Jathika Hela Urumaya support or at least ensure their neutrality. The election results indicated that the stratagem had succeeded to a great extent. W.J.M. Lokubandara became Speaker after a bitter and closely contested election. He won with one vote (110-109) in a tussle that went down as a shameful episode in the parliamentary history of this country. In a fracas occurring while Parliament was in session, a Buddhist monk MP was manhandled by a group of MP’s. The chief culprit in this instance was the infamous Mervyn Silva. The 2010 Parliament saw Hambantota District MP Chamal Rajapaksa become Speaker. It was a time when the Rajapaksas of Ruhunu were riding high with Chamal’s younger brothers Mahinda, Basil and Gotabaya being the President, Cabinet Minister and Defence Secretary respectively. It was during Chamal Rajapaksa’s tenure as that Parliament impeached Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. Chamal Rajapaksa completed his full term as Speaker from April 2010 to June 2015. Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated by Maithripala Sirisena in the presidential poll of Jan 2015. Parliamentary polls in August 2015 saw the UNF forming the Government Karu Jayasuriya became speaker in August 2015 as the latest in a long line of illustrious Speakers who served the legislatures, people and country for many decades. Fate seems to have decreed that Karu Jayasuriya should don the mantle of speaker when parliamentary democracy was facing danger. In an unimaginable political twist, President Maithripala Sirisena conspired with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to oust the then Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and seize power. Sirisena arbitrarily replaced Wickremesinghe as Prime minister with Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was Wickremesinghe who had the majority of MPs on his side. The Mahinda-Maithripala duo was engaged in cobbling together a parliamentary majority by enticing MPs through incentives. Karu Jayasuriya in his capacity as Speaker provided courageous leadership to those resisting unconstitutional moves by the Maithripala-Mahinda duo to seize de facto control of Parliament followed by de-jure control. He even risked physical danger to himself in doing so. Karu refused to be cowed down by the “terror tactics” of pro-Mahinda MPs. For the first time in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary history, a group of MPs tried to attack the speaker physically. Jayasuriya was compelled to enter and exit the chamber with Police escort. Not all the waters of Diyawanna Oya are sufficient to wash off the black mark imposed on 16 November 2018. Karu Jayasuriya’s strength and courage to stand firm in this exercise in the face of violent hostility from the Maithripala-Mahinda forces was derived from his belief of being morally and legally correct. Karu Jayasuriya fought that political battle with the noble aim of safeguarding parliamentary democracy. His courageous defiance of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s MP’s in Parliament was a key element of that fight. It was the outrageously anti-democratic power grab – aided and abetted by Maithripala – of Mahinda Rajapaksa that impelled Karu to enter the fray and spearhead opposition to the illegal attempts. Karu Jayasuriya by his courageous defiance of Maithripala and Mahinda demonstrated that he was no pushover as envisaged by his political adversaries. Moreover, his brave conduct in those dark times resulted in posterity acknowledging Karu Jayasuriya as the most heroic Speaker in Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary history. Karu Jayasuriya as speaker also presided over the Constitutional Assembly tasked with the duty of formulating a new Constitution. The Constitutional assembly succeeded in bringing out a very worthwhile interim report that was approved unanimously by all party representatives. However several parties changed their stances thereafter resulting in the Constitutional exercise reaching a dead end. The 2020 elections saw Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna becoming speaker. He was the first SLPP MP to be elected as speaker. The Matara district MP who served two terms as Southern province chief minister had been first elected Hakmana MP on the UNP ticket. He was removed from office as MP by the then president J.R. Jayewardene for opposing the Indo-Lanka accord and violating party discipline. Abeywardena served as speaker when history of a peculiar variety was made in Sri Lanka. The “Aragalaya” protests resulted in the fall of the SLPP Government. The SLPP president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled from Sri Lanka and went abroad. President Rajapaksa was met in Singapore by the Sri Lankan envoy Sashikala Premawardhane. Gotabaya t signed his letter of resignation in the presence of High Commissioner Sashikala Premawardhane. She e-mailed it immediately to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene in Colombo. However, some doubts regarding the authenticity of the e-mailed resignation letter were raised in Colombo. Therefore, High Commissioner Premawardhane despatched the original letter through a High Commission staffer, who personally delivered it to the Speaker in Sri Lanka. The letter was read out to Parliament by the Parliament Secretary-General. Thereafter the Speaker Abeywardena officially announced the resignation of President Rajapaksa at a news conference on 15 July 2022. The name of speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was bandied about as a potential president in those crisis times. In fact some powerful western diplomats tacitly backed the speaker to take over the presidency. Abeywardena refused and Ranil Wickremesinghe became the eighth executive president of Sri Lanka. Presidential and Parliamentary elections in September and November 2024 saw Anura Kumara Dissanayake being elected as President and the National People’s Power (NPP) PP winning 159 seats in Parliament. The NPP Gampaha district MP Ranwala Arachchige Asoka Sapumal Ranwala served as Sri Lanka’s Speaker from 21 November to 13 December 2024 for 22 days. On 17 December 2024, Idampitiyegedara Wanigasuriya Mudiyanselage Jagath Wickramaratne was elected as Speaker. The election was unanimous. Dr. Jagath Wickramarathe who was elected on the NPP ticket from Polonnaruwa district is a medical doctor. This then is the story of the speakers of Sri Lanka from 1931 to 2024.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died at 100 , the Carter Center announced on Sunday. He entered hospice care in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, in February 2023. Carter celebrated his 100th birthday in October. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at age 96. “When she passed, it was really hard for him,” grandson Jason Carter said in spring 2024. “He had this opportunity to say goodbye, and after that, he was just totally at peace with it, and it was an incredible thing — after 77 years of marriage — to watch that type of closure. “He was ultimately really proud that he was with her until the end,” Jason Carter said. Carter was the 39th U.S. president , serving from 1977 to 1981, after defeating Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon’s vice president, who served after Nixon’s resignation. Carter’s vice president was Walter Mondale. They served one term. Prior to and during his presidency, Carter made a number of trips to Pennsylvania. He campaigned in New Cumberland and Harrisburg in 1976. Carter also visited in the aftermath of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian demonstrators invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran , incited by their ayatollah to retaliate for the exiled former shah’s admission into the United States for medical treatment. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for more than a year. Carter tried to negotiate, and when that didn’t work, he ordered a military rescue that failed in April 1980. Eight Americans were killed in the attempt. It was Carter’s bleakest hour. The hostage crisis shadowed and essentially crippled Carter’s re-election campaign. He lost to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter carried six states to Reagan’s 44. Minutes after Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1981, the hostages were freed after 444 days in captivity. During his presidency, Carter engineered the Israel-Egypt peace accord during negotiations at Camp David in 1978. He won the beginnings of an energy conservation policy. He gained ratification of the treaties that yielded U.S. control of the Panama Canal. He opened full diplomatic relations with China. The departments of energy and education were created. After his presidency, Carter was known for his charitable works, including famously volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had three sons, John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip) and Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and a daughter, Amy Lynn, who was a child when the Carters lived in the White House. Information from The Associated Press, the Carter Library and the White House.HSE denies holding on to land during housing crisis
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(Bloomberg) — Jimmy Carter, the former Georgia peanut farmer who as US president brokered a historic and lasting peace accord between Israel and Egypt in a single term marred by soaring inflation, an oil shortage and Iran’s holding of American hostages, has died. He was 100. Carter died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family, the Carter Center said Sunday in a statement. Public observances are planned in Atlanta and Washington, followed by a private interment in Plains. The longest-living former US president ever, Carter had opted in early 2023 to spend his remaining time at his home in Plains receiving hospice care. He was there alongside Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years, when she died in November 2023 at age 96. And he lived long enough to fulfill a final wish — to cast a ballot for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. A Democrat who rose from running his family’s peanut-farming and seed-supply businesses to serving as Georgia governor, Carter won the White House in 1976 over incumbent Gerald Ford by promising to bring honesty to an office tainted two years earlier by the resignation of Richard Nixon in the culmination of the Watergate scandal. Ascetic, humble and deeply religious, Carter was skeptical of the pomp surrounding the presidency and came to Washington with fewer allies and fixed positions than most who hold the job. His allegiance to an inner moral compass, his vow to support societies that “share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights” and his tendency to speak his mind collided at times with political realities during his four years in office, from 1977 to 1981, and served as a preview of what was to come in a service-filled post-presidency that lasted decades. Carter “assembled a new front line on nearly every issue, with no inherited party game plan or ideological playbook to fall back on,” Jonathan Alter wrote in a 2020 biography that painted him as often right in his instincts but flawed in executing government responses. The book was among several in recent years that offered a revised and sunnier view of Carter’s crisis-plagued tenure. Though Carter “left the White House a widely unpopular president,” his achievements “shine brighter over time, few more than his unique determination to put human rights at the forefront of his foreign policy from the start of his presidency,” his chief domestic policy adviser, Stuart Eizenstat, wrote in a 2018 biography of his former boss. The signature achievement of the Carter presidency, the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, led to peaceful co-existence between the Middle East neighbors even as it fell short of resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. That and other foreign policy breakthroughs, including a treaty granting Panama ownership of the US-built Panama Canal, were overshadowed by the plight of American hostages held in Iran during the last 444 days of his presidency. They were finally released the day Carter turned over the Oval Office to Republican Ronald Reagan. On the domestic front, the Carter presidency was dogged by economic woes. Inflation reached 13.3% at the end of 1979 compared with 5.2% when he took office in January 1977. The Federal Reserve’s actions to stem price increases pushed home-mortgage rates to almost 15%, and Carter had to take emergency action to stem a slide in the dollar. There were energy shortages, and oil prices more than doubled. Malaise Speech A speech to the nation in on July 15, 1979, became emblematic of Carter’s presidency. With fuel prices skyrocketing and lines at gas stations lengthening, Carter told Americans that solving the energy mess “can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country.” He said many Americans “now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.” Though Carter never uttered the word, the address became known as the “malaise” speech and contributed to a sense that Carter was powerless to change the nation’s course. “Our memory of the speech comes from those who reworked it, who twisted its words into a blunt instrument that helped them depose a president,” historian Kevin Mattson wrote. Carter’s words, he noted, “received immediate applause and yet wound up ensuring his defeat” to Reagan in the 1980 election. Just weeks after delivering the speech, Carter tapped Paul Volcker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to take over as chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing G. William Miller, who became Treasury secretary. Volcker made it clear to Carter that he would deal head-on with inflation by pursuing tighter monetary policies than Miller. Volcker’s policies — which sent interest rates as high as 20% — came at a high price, the fallout contributing to Reagan’s landslide victory over Carter in the 1980 election. Though some of Volcker’s policies “were politically costly, they were the right thing to do,” Carter commented upon Volcker’s death in 2019. Nobel Prize Carter made some of his biggest imprints on the world in the years after he left the White House. He “reinvented the post-presidency,” observed Julian Zelizer, a professor of history at Princeton University and a Carter biographer. In four-plus decades as an ex-president — the longest such tenure in American history — Carter waged a worldwide campaign against war, disease and the suppression of human rights through the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which he founded with his wife. The center made particular strides against Guinea worm disease, a parasite spread through contaminated water that can render victims non-functional for months. Worldwide cases dropped to just 14 in 2023 from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986, according to the center. Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” His post-presidential causes were not without backlash. Fourteen advisers to the Carter Center resigned in protest of his best-selling 2007 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which compared Israel to the White governments of South Africa that systematically oppressed Black citizens. Carter’s longevity defied the odds. He revealed in 2015 that he had melanoma, a type of cancer, and that it had spread to his brain. He received treatment, recovered and on March 22, 2019, became the longest-living chief executive in US history. In 2021, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. His Christian faith, he said, made him “absolutely and completely at ease with death.” Peanut Farm James Earl Carter Jr. was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, the first of four children born to Earl Carter, a farmer, and the former Lillian Gordy, a nurse. He grew up in the nearby hamlet of Archery, where the family owned a peanut farm and a general store. He traveled two miles each day to Plains to attend an all-White school. Electricity and indoor plumbing didn’t reach the Carter farm until 1935. Carter attended the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from 1943 to his graduation in 1946. He began dating a girl from Plains, Rosalynn Smith, when home on breaks. They married in July 1946 and would have four children — sons Jack, Chip and Jeff, and daughter Amy. While serving in the Navy for seven years, Carter worked on the development of the nuclear submarine program and rose to the rank of lieutenant. When his father died in 1953, Carter resigned his commission to return to his family’s peanut-farming business. In 1962, he was elected to the Georgia Senate and in 1970 was elected governor, having lost his first bid in 1966. His work to end racial discrimination in the state made him a symbol of the “New South.” At the start of his campaign for the presidency, Carter was not widely known outside of Georgia and was viewed by analysts as a long shot for the Democratic nomination. He began traveling the country before many other candidates had started their campaigns, pitching his outsider status to voters who had endured the revelations of Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. Carter emphasized his religious upbringing — he was a Southern Baptist who often described himself as a “born again” Christian — and promised the American people that he would never lie to them. He won the New Hampshire primary, proving his viability in the North, and defeated Alabama Governor George Wallace in Florida to establish himself as the strongest candidate in the South, on the way to clinching the Democratic nomination. With Minnesota Democrat Walter Mondale as his running mate, Carter narrowly beat Ford, with 50.1% of the vote, and was sworn into office in January 1977 as the 39th US president. Starting what has become a tradition for new presidents, he stepped out of his limousine during the inauguration parade and walked down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Billy Brew Carter’s family included colorful characters such as his sister Ruth, a faith healer, and brother Billy, a gas-station operator whose enjoyment of drinking led to the creation of the short-lived Billy Beer brand during his brother’s presidency. The president’s mother also grabbed media attention. A nurse who tended to Black and White families in the segregated South, she joined the Peace Corps at age 68 and always had a ready quip for the press. “When I look at my children,” she once cracked, “I say, ‘Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.’” As president, Carter signed legislation creating the cabinet-level Department of Education. He appointed women, Black people and Hispanic people to federal posts in large numbers. He stunned the defense contracting industry by killing the Air Force’s expensive B-1 bomber project, a step later reversed by Reagan. He signed the law that created the federal Superfund program to clean up hazardous-waste sites. Carter won praise after his presidency for the steps he had taken toward deregulation, particularly of the airline industry, where the removal of government control of fares and routes promoted competition. One of his longest battles with Congress involved his proposal to scrap 18 dam and irrigation projects, most of them in the West and South. His “hit list” pleased many environmentalists while angering Westerners, including some fellow Democrats. Congress restored funding for most of the projects. From his presidency’s earliest days, Carter sought to highlight and utilize energy shortages to raise support for his domestic agenda. The cabinet-level Department of Energy was created in his administration’s first year, and he had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. In a televised address to the nation two weeks into his term, Carter called for a new emphasis on conservation, mirroring the White House’s own push for frugality. At Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, Carter guided Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the 1978 accord that led the next year to the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country. The treaty committed Israel to remove its troops and civilian settlements from the Sinai Peninsula and led to billions of dollars in US aid to Israel and Egypt. The Camp David breakthrough didn’t lead to a broader Mideast peace, however, and Carter through the years didn’t hide his disappointment. In Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, he focused on Israel’s occupation of Arab land as the root cause of continued hostilities. In a 2010 book based on his White House diaries, Carter said the US had “defaulted in carrying out one unchallenged and unique responsibility: mediating a peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors.” Olympics Boycott In response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, Carter imposed a trade embargo and organized the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Rosalynn Carter said she tried and failed to persuade her husband to wait until after the Iowa presidential caucuses of 1980 to impose the embargo, which hurt US farmers. “I am much more political than Jimmy and was more concerned about popularity and winning reelection,” Rosalynn wrote in her 1984 memoir, “but I have to say that he had the courage to tackle the important issues, no matter how controversial — or politically damaging — they might be.” The biggest external crisis of his presidency was precipitated by the Islamic Revolution in Iran that overthrew the shah and installed a theocratic government headed by formerly exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. On Nov. 4, 1979, radical students overran the US Embassy in Tehran and took more than 60 Americans hostage. Fifty-two of them were held for the last 444 days of Carter’s term. In April 1980, Carter gave the go-ahead for a military assault on the embassy to rescue the hostages. Of the eight helicopters from the USS Nimitz that headed to a desert staging area, from which the raid on Tehran was to commence, three had problems. The mission was aborted, and during preparations for retreat, a helicopter flew into a C-130 transport plane and exploded. Eight American servicemen died. Stymied by crisis on the domestic and foreign fronts, Carter lost his bid for reelection in a landslide, with Reagan winning 44 states. The hostages were released on Jan. 20, 1981, the day Reagan was sworn into office. One More Helicopter “Over the years, in various classrooms and public forums, I have often been asked if there was one substantive action or decision I made as president that I would have changed,” Carter wrote in White House Diary. “Somewhat facetiously, I have answered, ‘I would have sent one more helicopter to ensure the success of the hostage rescue effort in April 1980.’ But I truly believe that if I had done so, I would have been reelected.” The Carters returned to Plains after leaving the White House, and Carter taught scripture at the Maranatha Baptist Church as recently as 2020. In his brimming post-presidency, Carter helped arrange peace talks between North and South Korea and a cease-fire in Bosnia. Through the Carter Center, he helped monitor elections around the world to help ensure that they were fair. He traveled to Haiti in 1994 to negotiate the restoration of constitutional government, averting a threatened US-led invasion. Accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, as the US under President George W. Bush was preparing to invade Iraq, Carter made his disapproval clear. “For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventive war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences,” he said. Carter attended the inauguration of Republican Donald Trump in 2017, the sixth and final presidential swearing-in he witnessed after leaving office. Days earlier, he had told congregants at his hometown church that of 22 voters in his family, none had voted for Trump. But he had been the first former president to accept an invitation to the inauguration, determined to show support for the new US leader. Trump “has never been involved in politics before,” Carter explained, according to an account by Voice of America. “He has a lot to learn. He’ll learn — sometimes the hard way, like I did.” —With assistance from Rich Miller. (Updates with statement from Carter Center in second paragraph.)
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A few ministers from the state have become active in Delhi during Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s trip to foreign countries. More than a dozen ministers met Union ministers and the leaders of the party organisation. Some of them met Union Home Minister Amit Shah during their stay in Delhi. They also met Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bhupendra Yadav who was also the election in-charge of the party’s MP unit. Those who met Shah included Transport Minister Uday Pratap Singh and Pratima Bagri. Their photographs with Shah came to light. Among the ministers who met Chouhan were Prahlad Patel, Nagar Singh Chouhan, Vijay Shah and others. Vijay Shah met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Forest and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav. Several ministers from MP went to Delhi to take part in the wedding ceremony of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s daughter. During this period, the ministers from the state met the BJP leaders, but the ministers’ interest seemed to be to meet the powerful leaders instead of the ministers. The Central government’s control over the state is apparent. Several decisions are being taken according to the Centre’s wishes. So, the BJP leaders have begun to maintain their equations with the BJP ministers. Exercises are going on in the state for election of BJP’s state unit president. The BJP lost the by-election in the Vijaypur assembly constituency. The party leaders are also worried about the decline in the candidate’s victory margin in Budhni. According to sources, the ministers discussed the issues related to the state government and the party organisation.
President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peakVesta to Host Investor Day on November 25, 2024
