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Barclays PLC Buys 26,315 Shares of First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMBH)Maharashtra election results set stage for Dharavi redevelopmentGeode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. ( NASDAQ:HSII – Free Report ) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 495,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,771 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Heidrick & Struggles International were worth $19,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Heidrick & Struggles International by 7.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Heidrick & Struggles International by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,170 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Heidrick & Struggles International by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 9,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Heidrick & Struggles International by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Heidrick & Struggles International during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.13% of the company’s stock. Heidrick & Struggles International Price Performance HSII opened at $44.27 on Friday. Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.52 and a fifty-two week high of $49.02. The company has a market cap of $903.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.78. Heidrick & Struggles International Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Heidrick & Struggles International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.43%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HSII shares. Barrington Research lifted their price target on Heidrick & Struggles International from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up from $40.00) on shares of Heidrick & Struggles International in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heidrick & Struggles International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. View Our Latest Report on HSII About Heidrick & Struggles International ( Free Report ) Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides executive search, consulting, and on-demand talent services to businesses and business leaders worldwide. It enables its clients to build leadership teams by facilitating the recruitment, management, and development of senior executives. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HSII? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. ( NASDAQ:HSII – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Heidrick & Struggles International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Heidrick & Struggles International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Orioles owner David Rubenstein sees the intersection of political trials and public perception as a dicey one. Rubenstein, a Baltimore native and lawyer who advised the late President Jimmy Carter, appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday to promote his new book, “The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency.” The conversation quickly turned to the incoming presidency and second term of President-elect Donald Trump . While discussing a bitter election in which both major parties feared the other returning to power in 2025, the interviewer asked Rubenstein what lessons could be learned from the clash between politics and the law — especially the multiple legal challenges Trump faced. “I think there is a feeling among many people that it wasn’t a good idea to indict the president of the United States,” Rubenstein said. “I think the trial in New York where Trump was convicted, I think really helped him in his election effort. And I think there are many people who are Trump supporters who believe that the indictments that came out of the special prosecutor Jack Smith were really political as well.” Meanwhile, people in the Justice Department feel the indictments were fair and correct, according to Rubenstein, whose Nantucket estate has been used by the Biden family for Thanksgiving. But Trump supporters believed they were completely political, leading to a feeling that both sides were talking past each other, he said. “I hope going forward that the Justice Department is not seen as political because one of the strengths of this country has been the rule of law, and I hope that the Justice Department that’s coming in now will continue that tradition,” Rubenstein said. Trump has said he wants to fight against the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and nominated Pam Bondi as attorney general after former Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration . Bondi is a former Florida attorney general and represented Trump during his first impeachment trial. She also supported his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore,” Trump said on Truth Social last month. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.” Rubenstein also pointed out Trump’s opportunity with a second term. As an author who has examined presidential histories, the Orioles owner noted that Trump’s inauguration next month will mark a rare moment for the country. “Clearly, we’re going into some uncharted waters because we have a president coming back who had been president before. That hadn’t happened since Grover Cleveland was reelected in 1892, and Trump has got more power than I think many people would have thought by the virtue of his victory size,” Rubenstein said. “And I do think he’s going to act like he’s got a mandate, and Washington is bracing for what’s going to happen.” Maryland is also bracing for a second Trump term. Comptroller Brooke Lierman and state Senate President Bill Ferguson, both Democrats, cautioned earlier this month that Trump’s incoming administration could exacerbate the state’s financial pressures, as it stares at a nearly $3 billion deficit. They are especially concerned about Trump’s promises to reduce the federal workforce, an industry upon which Maryland relies. But some Republicans say the state is too reliant on the federal government. House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, of Allegany County, said the government “is not designed to be an industry.” “Government is designed to provide services that are needed and necessary in the most efficient way possible for the benefit of its citizens,” he said. “Folks of both parties have lost sight of that in Washington, D.C., and we’ve certainly lost sight of it in Annapolis, Maryland.” Although many Democrats in Maryland and across the country have shared concern and apprehension about a second Trump administration — especially his campaign rhetoric on retribution — Rubenstein struck a more optimistic tone. He mentioned how Abraham Lincoln faced fierce criticism and rose above it, and Rubenstein said he thinks presidents have to rise above criticism. “And, hopefully, when you don’t have to worry about politics anymore in a second term, for example, you can rise above all the concerns you’ve had,” he said. “When you’re president of the United States, if you carry resentments too long, it can affect other people adversely. So I think in the case of President Trump, for example, clearly he has some resentments, but I think overall, I think he’s going to rise above that in the second term.” ©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

“A secure border saves lives, not just of our citizens, but of migrants themselves,” incoming border chief Tom Homan told Breitbart News. That message must be broadcast widely because President-elect Donald Trump’s deputies must keep the trust of the American people as they enforce the nation’s popular migration laws, Homan said. “We will be very transparent,” Homan said, adding, “We’ll be sending a lot of information out every week on exactly what we’re doing, do a lot of videos, a lot of interviews. We need to control the narrative so we keep the trust of American people.” Homan has a tough enemy. Pro-migration advocates have their own poll-tested narratives, and boatloads of cash, many advocacy groups , skewed polls , and media support to push their messages via many channels. “I think it’s really important to pin this [deportation fight] on Donald Trump” because he does not want to be blamed for the drama of deportations, said a leading advocate for more migration. These pro-migration groups cite the economic gains from their Extraction Migration economic strategy — but they ignore the domestic economic losses , civic damage , and national risks , and the vast civic damage done to the migrants’ home countries, such as Haiti and Nicaragua . They raise alarms about separated families, crying mothers, border chaos, and military-style enforcement — but they ignore Americans’ civil right to secure borders , the many migration-caused crimes in the United States , as well as the migrants’ deaths , the child labor , and the migrants’ left-behind families . “There’s never been a bigger separator of families than [Joe Biden’s border chief, Alejandro] Mayorkas,” said Jay Palmer, an expert in labor trafficking expert and former advisor to President Donald Trump. “What he did was he ripped [foreign] families apart, left the kids there and brought the men to the United States to work as cheap labor”: Homan’s Message “The American people need to hear the tragedy” of mass migration, Homan said. Biden’s migration has killed thousands of migrants, Homan said, adding: I was down in Texas last year, and I was with a sheriff. I was with him for four hours. We found two dead bodies. He told me he’s lucky to find 10 percent of the bodies because ... the animals have taken them. They won’t find a lot of them who drowned in the river. ... I stood on the back of a [smuggler’s] tractor trailer and 19 dead aliens that were baked to death, including a five year old little boy ... So if people wore my shoes for 34 years and seen the tragedies, the senseless deaths, that I’ve seen, they understand me that a secure border saves lives. Many more migrants die on their way to the U.S. border, Homan said, adding, “The Darien Gap [in Panama] has thousands [of deaths] a year.” Many more migrants are raped and sexually assaulted by the Democrats’ easy-migration policies, he said: “I talked to girls as young as nine that were raped multiple times by members of the cartels [that manage the migrant flow]. ... Everything innocent, pure was ripped from her soul, she’ll never be the same, her life will never be the same. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed by drugs smuggled amid the chaos of mass migration, he said. Aspiring nurse Laken Riley is just one of many Americans killed by the migrants who have been imported, housed, and transported by Democrat party officials and their allied nonprofit groups: The enforcement-save-lives message has to be presented in several ways, Homan said. “Sometimes you’ve got to slow roll it, but other times, I think, the shock of it will move people.” “We’re going to send out our message through various media outlets to let American people know about the children we save, about the victims of trafficking. ... We want to tell that story.” “We can’t count on newspapers,” Homan added. North of the border, the repatriation process for migrants will be conducted carefully and humanely, he added. “We have committed to this being a humane process,” he said: This won’t be neighborhood sweeps. This is a targeted enforcement operation. We know exactly who we’re going to arrest before we leave office. ... Every arrest we make has been approved by a supervisor. We know exactly who we’re looking for. We have a pretty good idea where we’re going to find them. They got to get approval to do it. So it’s going to be well, well-planned, humane operation. Officials will start by focusing on the hundreds of thousands of migrants who are criminals and the roughly 1.3 million migrants who have used all their legal appeals, he said: If a judge says, “No, you don’t qualify [for asylum]. You must go home,” then we must execute those orders, remove those people. If we don’t ... [then] just abolish the immigration court because [judges] orders obviously don’t mean anything anymore. Migrants know the law and often take many steps to evade enforcement, he said. So “if you come to this country illegally and you get an order of removal [from a judge], but you hide out, [and if] you decide to have a child that becomes a U.S. citizen, that’s on you,” he said. “Having a child in the United States does not give you amnesty.” One migrant displayed his use of his infant as a shield against repatriation: “He can’t hold this country hostage,” Homan said when Breitbart cited the video and added, “The bottom line is: He’s the one who broke the law, he put himself in that position, he put his child in that position ... knowing he was in the country illegally, knowing that he had an order for deportation.” Homan’s message is applauded by immigration reformers. By first repatriating criminals and migrants who have been ordered home, it will be a “long, long time before you start getting to the people who might evoke sympathy,” said Ira Mehlman, the spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, adding: We didn’t get into this overnight. We’re not going to get out of it tomorrow. It is going to be a process, a long process, and you just go after it in some kind of rational way that sends a signal that we are not going to tolerate this anymore. Once in power, Trump’s deputies will be able to lift the lid on the many semi-secret scandals and disasters created by Biden’s migration deputies. The exposure of the abuse and harm done to migrants, to U.S. blue-collar families , and to U.S. college graduates by the investor-led progressives may temporarily deflate many progressives’ claims of moral superiority: Anti-Enforcement Narratives Trump’s enforcement campaign — and Homan’s good-cop narrative — will face a lavishly funded, sophisticated, and emotional PR campaign of emotional attack ads and counter-narratives. Much of the elite pushback will be conducted by eager reporters and social media managers. Many prefer to see themselves as progressive champions for vulnerable migrants and innocent children against powerful “racists” and mean “xenophobes.” But their pushback is being guided by the West Coast investors at Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us , which has been closely allied with Mayorkas since at least 2020. The FWD.us group was formed in 2013 by Mark Zuckerberg and other wealthy West Coast consumer-economy investors . The investors gain roughly $20 in stock value for every extra $1 earned in profit when the government extracts welfare-aided consumers , apartment-sharing renters, and low-wage workers from poor countries. Those consumer-economy investors fund many progressive groups in Washington, DC, and around the nation. This Astroturf Empire distracts politicians, officials, judges, and the media from recognizing the huge economic impact caused by the investors’ policy of extracting more consumers, renters, and workers from poor countries. The network has funded many astroturf campaigns , urged Democrats not to talk about the economic impact of migration, and manipulated and steered coverage by the TV networks and the print media . The result is that many progressives and media people stay silent about migration’s civic and economic damage. For example, migration inflates the cost of housing, deflates both salaries and wages, reduces automation and productivity , and gives C-Suite executives more power over professionals . These investor groups developed many of their major poll-tested narrative themes during the first Trump administration. Those themes frame the repatriation issue as the hate-driven, chaotic, and wasteful infliction of pain on children and families — but not the rational, popular, decent, and legitimate defense of a nation’s citizens from a mass inflow of poor foreign workers and their dependents. Rolling Stone parroted the corporate narrative on November 19: In the corner of the center, one young Haitian girl was flipping through a children’s book and playing with a small, blonde doll. She wasn’t bothering anyone or hurting anyone in any way. Yet, she is, to the President Trumps of the world, a quintessential example of someone who should be easily demagogued for electoral gain, rounded up, and purged from our country. These talking points portray the enforcement of immigration laws as fueled by irrational and chaotic personal bigotry. “ Cruelty is the point ,” says Douglas Rivlin, the spokesman for America’s Voice, which is backed by the FWD.us investor group, said . “The Trump team [will] implement anti-immigrant policies,” not enforcement of immigration laws, Lee Gelernt, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told ABC News. Democrats wrap their pro-migration policies in family values rhetoric and imagery of military-style enforcement. Under Trump, “taxpayer dollars could be used to fund deportation flights that would tear apart ... families , but also our communities,” said Eva Bitran, director of immigrants’ rights at the ACLU in Southern California. “They’re talking about rounding up people who are law-abiding, undocumented immigrants in this country, many of whom are working, paying taxes [to state and local governments],” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told MSNBC . Pro-migration advocates are also expanding the definition of families to include distant relatives, citizen families with migrant relatives , and unrelated migrants living in the same apartment or house. “Mass deportation is family separation by another name,” NBC journalist Jacob Soboroff said on November 19, adding: “It’s not separating [parents from] children at the border ... [it is separating illegal-migrant] parents from the [US-born] children and the children from their schools in the interior.” His comment came at a November 19 screening of a Hollywood-produced documentary about border security, which was supported and promoted by FWD.us. The documentary explained how advocates used the “kids in cages” and “family separation” themes to create a media uproar that pressured Trump to end “zero tolerance” border enforcement in June 2018. The D.C. audience consisted largely of pro-migration activists, most of whom were older women eager to embrace the FWD.us narrative about cruel treatment of migrant families. One woman shouted: They got away with this one time. We’re not going to let him [Trump] do it again. We’re not going to let him make our federal government the Third Reich of the US. We’re not going to let them make our National Guard the Gestapo [Nazi secret police] of the U.S. We are not going to let that happen. They want to send out National Guards ... We’ll bring their fathers, their mothers, their teachers, and they’ll have to look them in the eye before they take these [migrants] people out of their home. “Thank you for speaking out — it is what everybody feels,” responded Jen Psaki, an MSNBC host at the event. “Your spirit, I hope, is what many, many people have.” But Psaki also admitted that the public is backing Trump : “If you look at polling, which is imperfect, there is a large percentage of the American public who is concerned about border security, concerned about security in their communities.” The FWD.us narrative also includes threats against Americans’ economy and pocketbooks. The repatriation of migrants will cause inflation and economic harm to Americans, insist Democrat-aligned economists. Axios.com posted a laundry list of employers’ objections under the headline “The industries that could be hardest hit by Trump’s immigration crackdown.” But these threats of economic turmoil ignore the gains for low-wage Americans — higher wages, cheaper housing, more high-tech investment, and more cooperative employers . The themes of military-style enforcement, cruelty, economic turmoil, and crying children, are wrapped together by the primary theme of “ chaos .” “Mass exclusion ... feeds chaos at the border,” economist Michael Clemens claimed. “It will cause chaos , and that will be bad for local law enforcement to have that type of chaos , where people are afraid to go to their local police officers. ... that’s what causes an archy in societies,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, told CNN on November 18. “There’s a lot of people who are committed to spurring chaos for their own means,” Todd Schulte, the president of Zuckerberg’s FWD.us lobby, told the theater audience. “I think a lot on that question of chaos,” said Shulte as he urged the audience of shabbily dressed progressives to blame Trump, not his deputies such as Homan and Stephen Miller: I think it’s really important to pin this on Donald Trump ... it is actually really important to me that he is the person who feels the pressure when he does things well, and he is the person for when he tried to end DACA, there was this huge blowback from [young illegal migrants] “dreamers” to the Pope to the CEOs. And he said, “Oh no, no, no, Congress should act!” ... He got pinned into a corner ... he was eating shit politically for this. I don’t believe he was doing this because he thought it was the right thing in his heart. And that, to me, is a really important lesson for those of us on the outside But he admitted, “I do think that where we are heading is really hard, and it’s going to be really challenging.”No ex-president had a more prolific and diverse publishing career than Jimmy Carter. His more than two dozen books included nonfiction, poetry, fiction, religious meditations and a children’s story. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, while his 2006 best-seller “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” stirred a fierce debate by likening Israel’s policies in the West Bank to the brutal South African system of racial segregation. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are And just before his 100th birthday, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation honored him with a lifetime achievement award for how he wielded "the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.” In one recent work, “A Full Life,” Carter observed that he “enjoyed writing” and that his books “provided a much-needed source of income.” But some projects were easier than others. “Everything to Gain,” a 1987 collaboration with his wife, Rosalynn, turned into the “worst threat we ever experienced in our marriage,” an intractable standoff for the facilitator of the Camp David accords and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Carter, Rosalynn was a meticulous author who considered “the resulting sentences as though they have come down from Mount Sinai, carved into stone.” Their memories differed on various events and they fell into “constant arguments.” They were ready to abandon the book and return the advance, until their editor persuaded them to simply divide any disputed passages between them. “In the book, each of these paragraphs is identified by a ‘J’ or an ‘R,’ and our marriage survived,” he wrote. Here is a partial list of books by Carter: “Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President” “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East” (With Rosalynn Carter) “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life” “An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections” “Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age” “Always a Reckoning, and Other Poems” (With daughter Amy Carter) “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer” “Living Faith” “The Virtues of Aging” “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” “Christmas in Plains: Memories” “The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War” “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis” “Faith & Freedom: The Christian Challenge for the World” “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” “A Remarkable Mother” “Beyond the White House” “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work” “White House Diary” “NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter” “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power” “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety”

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No. 25 Illinois' TD with four seconds left upends RutgersIn Surveilled ( now streaming on Max ), celeb journalist Ronan Farrow investigates how governments use powerful spyware to hack phones and keep tabs on people. The cynical among us won’t be surprised to hear this. But that cynicism is further fortified by Farrow’s discovery that it’s not just fascist despots enacting this breach of privacy and civil liberties – democratic governments are using the software to monitor their own citizens, among them political dissidents and journalists. Farrow grew interested in the topic after his high-profile exposes of Harvey Weinstein and Leslie Moonves’ resulted in him being surveilled by private investigators who used his phone to track him. Farrow has since published multiple pieces in The New Yorker about this troubling technology, with his 2022 story headlined “How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens” forming the basis of this eye-opening hour-long documentary. SURVEILLED : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? The Gist: The NSO Group is a cyberintelligence organization based in Israel, and infamous for its software dubbed Pegasus, which allows users remote access to smartphones. The company’s only customers are governments, and both parties claim Pegasus is used solely to combat organized crime and terrorism. The software is credited for being a key component in the arrest of infamous Mexican cartel lord El Chapo – but it also has been linked with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi government agents. Pegasus exploits code loopholes in various apps, most famously WhatsApp, which scrambled to patch its security vulnerabilities to combat the spyware, and subsequently sued NSO. The most distressing thing about Pegasus? It can worm its way into phones and not only access its data – photos, web history, etc. – but record audio and video without the user even being aware of it. The documentary follows Farrow throughout 2021 and 2022 as he travels from continent to continent investigating this shady activity. Scrutiny on NSO in the wake of its very public controversies found the company adopting a new philosophy of “transparency,” which meant Farrow was allowed to visit its lavish Tel Aviv headquarters to interview various employees – under the watchful eye of its PR rep, of course. The company opened the doors to the press, “up to a point,” Farrow narrates. He walked away with a variety of assertions that NSO’s vetting process for assuring its government clients use Pegasus responsibly is tight. Take our word for it is the takeaway. Trust us. Of course, Farrow distrusts such assurances and digs deeper. He finds a former NSO employee willing to dish on the company’s questionable ethics as long as his identity remains anonymous. He travels to Toronto, where activists at a group known as Citizen Lab have developed a means of testing phones for traces of Pegasus activity. Farrow then follows that thread to Spain, specifically Barcelona, where Citizen Lab investigator Elies Campo learned that the democratic government has been using Pegasus to spy on activists, journalists and politicians supporting a separatist movement in Catalan. From there, Farrow returns to the U.S. to ask politicians what they’re doing to combat such surveillance tactics, and if they’re using them in any capacity. The answer is complicated of course, but it’s also a big fat yes, although entirely within the civil liberties of the citizenry. Farrow’s takeaway? Take our word for it. Trust us. What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Kill Chain , The Swamp , After Truth ... all docs, like Surveilled , that we wish didn’t have to exist. Performance Worth Watching: Campo is an underappreciated hero of the movement to combat Pegasus, at great personal sacrifice – we learn that the Spanish government hacked his family members’ phones to keep tabs on him. Memorable Dialogue: Farrow asks Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes if the U.S. government uses Pegasus. The politician says yes, but only so the FBI can be fully informed about how it works so they can better combat it: “The notion that, for the first time in our history, we’re gonna say we’re gonna let all the bad guys have technology that we’re not going to use – that’s a novel concept. And when you really think it through, a little bit of a scary concept.” Sex and Skin: None. Our Take: “A little bit of a scary concept.” Understatement of the year. Another disconcerting truth Farrow underscores in Surveilled ? “You can’t put the tech genie back in the bottle,” a U.S. government official says. In other words, once Pegasus is out there flying around, it can’t be eradicated. Now, if you’re wondering what kind of grim, hopeless conclusion Farrow reaches by the end of the doc, well, here it is: “Our only path toward privacy might be living without our phones.” Loll that notion around in your brain, parse it critically with all the even-handed logic and reason you can muster, consider the context of life in America (and other countries wrangling with political instability, of course) and the conclusion you’ll reach is pithy and obvious: We’re doomed. Sorry to be a bummer. Just reflecting the tone and message of this documentary. But hey, at least we’re better informed about things, right? It’s always better to know things than not know things, I keep telling myself, not sure if I’m lying to myself at least a little bit, and realizing that this is always the silver lining one paints atop bad news. We do get some glimpses into the diligence of serious investigative journalism as we watch Farrow poke and prod and dig and ask difficult questions. It’s not his responsibility to spin things positive or make us feel better. He doesn’t offer a viable solution to the problem of state-sponsored citizen surveillance; let’s face it, asking billions of people to smash their phones with a peen hammer is like asking a crocodile to please let go of your leg, because ow, that hurts. We’re too dependent on the tech, and many of us are all too willing to look the other way, or compromise our civil liberties for the sake of convenience, or be complicit in that look all you want because I never do anything wrong sense. These notions bubble up during the course of Surveilled , alongside a quieter subtextual assertion that we shouldn’t expect allegedly democratic governments to do the right thing for the sake of the greater good, the U.S. included. Consider the words Rep. Himes uses here: “the bad guys.” What a relative term. The U.S. government is certainly considered to be “the bad guys” in other parts of the world, and maybe even within its own borders. Also not particularly reassuring: The Pegasus ordeal puts massive tech conglomerates like Apple and Microsoft on the frontlines of the battle against NSO, since their products are being exploited for nefarious means; on one hand, Big Tech has lots of money and sharklike lawyers at their disposable, but on the other, we trust them as much as the government to do the right thing. All kinds of troublesome information spills out of Surveilled , a documentary that offers reportage so vital, it’s no fun to watch whatsoever. Our Call: For better or worse, we’re more informed about very bad things after watching Surveilled . STREAM IT, then go pour yourself 17 stiff drinks. John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Forthright and fearless, the Nobel Prize winner took pot-shots at former prime minister Tony Blair and ex-US president George W Bush among others. His death came after repeated bouts of illness in which images of the increasingly frail former president failed to erase memories of his fierce spirit. Democrat James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr swept to power in 1977 with his Trust Me campaign helping to beat Republican president Gerald Ford. Serving as 39th US president from 1977 to 1981, he sought to make government “competent and compassionate” but was ousted by the unstoppable Hollywood appeal of a certain Ronald Reagan. A skilled sportsman, Mr Carter left his home of Plains, Georgia, to join the US Navy, returning later to run his family’s peanut business. A stint in the Georgia senate lit the touchpaper on his political career and he rose to the top of the Democratic movement. But he will also be remembered for a bizarre encounter with a deeply disgruntled opponent. The president was enjoying a relaxing fishing trip near his home town in 1979 when his craft was attacked by a furious swamp rabbit which reportedly swam up to the boat hissing wildly. The press had a field day, with one paper bearing the headline President Attacked By Rabbit. Away from encounters with belligerent bunnies, Mr Carter’s willingness to address politically uncomfortable topics did not diminish with age. He recently said that he would be willing to travel to North Korea for peace talks on behalf of US President Donald Trump. He also famously mounted a ferocious and personal attack on Tony Blair over the Iraq war, weeks before the prime minister left office in June 2007. Mr Carter, who had already denounced George W Bush’s presidency as “the worst in history”, used an interview on BBC radio to condemn Mr Blair for his tight relations with Mr Bush, particularly concerning the Iraq War. Asked how he would characterise Mr Blair’s relationship with Mr Bush, Mr Carter replied: “Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient. “I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world.” Mr Carter was also voluble over the Rhodesia crisis, which was about to end during his presidency. His support for Robert Mugabe at the time generated widespread criticism. He was said to have ignored the warnings of many prominent Zimbabweans, black and white, about what sort of leader Mugabe would be. This was seen by Mr Carter’s critics as “deserving a prominent place among the outrages of the Carter years”. Mr Carter has since said he and his administration had spent more effort and worry on Rhodesia than on the Middle East. He admitted he had supported two revolutionaries in Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, and with hindsight said later that Mugabe had been “a good leader gone bad”, having at first been “a very enlightened president”. One US commentator wrote: “History will not look kindly on those in the West who insisted on bringing the avowed Marxist Mugabe into the government. “In particular, the Jimmy Carter foreign policy... bears some responsibility for the fate of a small African country with scant connection to American national interests.” In recent years Mr Carter developed a reputation as an international peace negotiator. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his commitment to finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts, his work with human rights and democracy initiatives, and his promotion of economic and social programmes. Mr Carter was dispatched to North Korea in August 2008 to secure the release of US citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labour after being found guilty of illegally entering North Korea. He successfully secured the release of Mr Gomes. In 2010 he returned to the White House to greet President Barack Obama and discuss international affairs amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Proving politics runs in the family, in 2013 his grandson Jason, a state senator, announced his bid to become governor in Georgia, where his famous grandfather governed before becoming president. He eventually lost to incumbent Republican Nathan Deal. Fears that Mr Carter’s health was deteriorating were sparked in 2015 when he cut short an election observation visit in Guyana because he was “not feeling well”. It would have been Mr Carter’s 39th trip to personally observe an international election. Three months later, on August 12, he revealed he had cancer which had been diagnosed after he underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver. Mr Obama was among the well-wishers hoping for Mr Carter’s full recovery after it was confirmed the cancer had spread widely. Melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and Mr Carter underwent immunotherapy and radiation therapy, before announcing in March the following year that he no longer needed any treatment. In 2017, Mr Carter was taken to hospital as a precaution, after he became dehydrated at a home-building project in Canada. He was admitted to hospital on multiple occasions in 2019 having had a series of falls, suffering a brain bleed and a broken pelvis, as well as a stint to be treated for a urinary tract infection. Mr Carter spent much of the coronavirus pandemic largely at his home in Georgia, and did not attend Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021, but extended his “best wishes”. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the closest adviser to Mr Carter during his term as US president, died in November 2023. She had been living with dementia and suffering many months of declining health. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Mr Carter said in a statement following her death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cipher Mining Inc. ( NASDAQ:CIFR – Free Report ) by 37.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,509,853 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,511,455 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cipher Mining were worth $21,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Cipher Mining by 321.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 4,557 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cipher Mining in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Xponance Inc. acquired a new position in Cipher Mining during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. W Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cipher Mining during the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cipher Mining in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. 12.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Insider Activity In other news, COO Patrick Arthur Kelly sold 89,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.37, for a total value of $392,172.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 717,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,135,173.47. The trade was a 11.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . Also, major shareholder Top Holdco B.V. Bitfury sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.60, for a total transaction of $1,980,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 98,747,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $651,734,080.80. This trade represents a 0.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,446,623 shares of company stock valued at $9,000,561. Company insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock. Cipher Mining Trading Down 7.6 % Cipher Mining ( NASDAQ:CIFR – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $24.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.84 million. Cipher Mining had a negative return on equity of 8.29% and a negative net margin of 33.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.07) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Cipher Mining Inc. will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have recently commented on CIFR. Macquarie boosted their price target on Cipher Mining from $6.00 to $7.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cipher Mining from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $8.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Cipher Mining from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Cipher Mining in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Cipher Mining from $6.00 to $8.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.03. View Our Latest Stock Report on Cipher Mining Cipher Mining Company Profile ( Free Report ) Cipher Mining Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and operation of industrial scale bitcoin mining data centers in the United States. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Cipher Mining Inc operates as a subsidiary of Bitfury Holding B.V. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CIFR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Cipher Mining Inc. ( NASDAQ:CIFR – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Cipher Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cipher Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Dartmouth sorority, two members of fraternity face charges after student who attended party drowned HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A sorority at Dartmouth College and two members of a fraternity faces charges related to the death of a student who drowned after attending an off-campus party. The Hanover, New Hampshire police department, where Dartmouth is located, said Friday that Alpha Phi was charged with one count of facilitating an underage alcohol house. Two members of the Beta Alpha Omega face a charge of providing alcohol to a person under 21. Won Jang, 20, of Middletown, Delaware, had attended an off-campus party in July hosted by Alpha Phi sorority. Police said the alcohol was provided by Beta Alpha Omega. Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents in Barcelona BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Tens of thousands of Spaniards are marching in downtown Barcelona to protest the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment in the popular tourist destination. Protesters cut off traffic on main avenues in the city center, holding up homemade signs in Spanish reading “Fewer apartments for investing and more homes for living." The lack of affordable housing has become one of the leading concerns for the southern European Union country, mirroring the housing crunch across many parts of the world, including the United States. The average rent for Spain has doubled in the last decade. In cities like Barcelona, rental prices have also been driven up by short-term renters including tourists. Jason Kelce's wife announces she is pregnant with the couple's fourth child Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce's wife is announcing she's pregnant with the couple's fourth child. Kylie Kelce posted a photo on Instagram on Friday of the couple's three young daughters reacting to the news. The oldest daughter, Wyatt, appears to be cupping her head in shock. The middle daughter, Ellioette, is smiling. The youngest, Bennett, is in tears. A caption attached to the photo reads: “I feel like we captured a very accurate representation of how each of the girls feel about getting another sister. At least Ellie, mom and dad are on the same page!” Israeli-Moldovan rabbi living in UAE is missing. Israeli officials fear he may have been kidnapped DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Israeli-Moldovan rabbi living in the United Arab Emirates has gone missing, with Israeli authorities raising the suspicion he may have been kidnapped as tensions remain high with Iran. The Israeli prime minister’s office said that Zvi Kogan has been missing since noon Thursday. It said that against the backdrop of information that this was a terrorist incident, an extensive investigation has been opened in the country. Emirati officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. State-run media in the UAE, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, did not immediately report the incident. Alyssa Nakken, first full-time female coach in MLB history, leaving Giants to join Guardians CLEVELAND (AP) — Alyssa Nakken, the first woman to coach in an MLB game, is leaving the San Francisco Giants to join the Cleveland Guardians. Nakken made history in 2022 when she took over as first-base coach following an ejection. A former college softball star at Sacramento State, Nakken joined the Giants in 2014 and was promoted to a spot on manager Gabe Kapler’s staff in 2020, becoming the majors’ first full-time female coach. Nakken has been hired as an assistant director within player development for the Guardians, who won the AL Central last season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt. Nakken, 34, will work with former Giants coaches Craig Albernaz and Kai Correa. Officer kills pet dog mistaken for a coyote in Massachusetts town. The owner says it was unnecessary An animal control officer shot and killed a pet dog in a Massachusetts town after mistaking it for a coyote in an incident local police are describing as a sad mix-up. Police in Northbridge, Massachusetts, say the shooting happened on Tuesday after police received a call of a report of a coyote in a residential backyard. Police say the animal control officer went into the woods to look for the coyote and found what they thought was the animal in a threatening position and shot it. The incident happened as communities around Massachusetts and the country have dealt with an uptick in interactions between coyotes and people. Kendrick Lamar surprises with new album 'GNX' LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kendrick Lamar gave music listeners an early holiday present with a new album. The Grammy winner released his sixth studio album “GNX” on Friday. The 12-track project is the rapper’s first release since 2022’s “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.” Lamar’s new album comes just months after his rap battle with Drake. The rap megastar will headline February's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans. The 37-year-old has experienced massive success since his debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012. Since then, he’s accumulated 17 Grammy wins and became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize. NBA memo to players urges increased vigilance regarding home security following break-ins MIAMI (AP) — The NBA is urging its players to take additional precautions to secure their homes following reports of recent high-profile burglaries of dwellings owned by Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis and Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In a memo sent to team officials, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, the NBA revealed that the FBI has connected some burglaries to “transnational South American Theft Groups” that are “reportedly well-organized, sophisticated rings that incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices.” Ancient meets modern as a new subway in Greece showcases archaeological treasures THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, is opening a new subway system, blending ancient archaeological treasures with modern transit technology like driverless trains and platform screen doors. The project, which began in 2003, uncovered over 300,000 artifacts, including a Roman-era thoroughfare and Byzantine relics, many of which are now displayed in its 13 stations. Despite delays caused by preserving these findings, the inaugural line has been completed, with a second line set to open next year. Conor McGregor must pay $250K to woman who says he raped her, civil jury rules LONDON (AP) — A civil jury in Ireland has awarded more than $250,000 to a woman who says she was raped by mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor in a Dublin hotel penthouse after a night of heavy partying. The jury on Friday awarded Nikita Hand in her lawsuit that claimed McGregor “brutally raped and battered” her in 2018. The lawsuit says the assault left her heavily bruised and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. McGregor testified that he never forced her to do anything and that Hand fabricated her allegations after the two had consensual sex. McGregor says he will appeal the verdict.

BAKU – In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change. It's a far-from-perfect arrangement, with many parties still deeply unsatisfied but some hopeful that the deal will be a step in the right direction. Recommended Videos World Resources Institute president and CEO Ani Dasgupta called it “an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” but added that the poorest and most vulnerable nations are “rightfully disappointed that wealthier countries didn’t put more money on the table when billions of people’s lives are at stake.” The summit was supposed to end on Friday evening but negotiations spiraled on through early Sunday. With countries on opposite ends of a massive chasm, tensions ran high as delegations tried to close the gap in expectations. Here's how they got there: What was the finance deal agreed at climate talks? Rich countries have agreed to pool together at least $300 billion a year by 2035. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, and that experts said was needed. But delegations more optimistic about the agreement said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future. The text included a call for all parties to work together using “all public and private sources” to get closer to the $1.3 trillion per year goal by 2035. That means also pushing for international mega-banks, funded by taxpayer dollars, to help foot the bill. And it means, hopefully, that companies and private investors will follow suit on channeling cash toward climate action. The agreement is also a critical step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the U.N. talks in Paris in 2015. The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and carbon emissions keep rising. What will the money be spent on? The deal decided in Baku replaces a previous agreement from 15 years ago that charged rich nations $100 billion a year to help the developing world with climate finance. The new number has similar aims: it will go toward the developing world's long laundry list of to-dos to prepare for a warming world and keep it from getting hotter. That includes paying for the transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels. Countries need funds to build up the infrastructure needed to deploy technologies like wind and solar power on a large scale. Communities hard-hit by extreme weather also want money to adapt and prepare for events like floods, typhoons and fires. Funds could go toward improving farming practices to make them more resilient to weather extremes, to building houses differently with storms in mind, to helping people move from the hardest-hit areas and to help leaders improve emergency plans and aid in the wake of disasters. The Philippines, for example, has been hammered by six major storms in less than a month , bringing to millions of people howling wind, massive storm surges and catastrophic damage to residences, infrastructure and farmland. “Family farmers need to be financed," said Esther Penunia of the Asian Farmers Association. She described how many have already had to deal with millions of dollars of storm damage, some of which includes trees that won't again bear fruit for months or years, or animals that die, wiping out a main source of income. “If you think of a rice farmer who depends on his or her one hectare farm, rice land, ducks, chickens, vegetables, and it was inundated, there was nothing to harvest,” she said. Why was it so hard to get a deal? Election results around the world that herald a change in climate leadership, a few key players with motive to stall the talks and a disorganized host country all led to a final crunch that left few happy with a flawed compromise. The ending of COP29 is "reflective of the harder geopolitical terrain the world finds itself in,” said Li Shuo of the Asia Society. He cited Trump's recent victory in the US — with his promises to pull the country out of the Paris Agreement — as one reason why the relationship between China and the EU will be more consequential for global climate politics moving forward. Developing nations also faced some difficulties agreeing in the final hours, with one Latin American delegation member saying that their group didn't feel properly consulted when small island states had last-minute meetings to try to break through to a deal. Negotiators from across the developing world took different tacks on the deal until they finally agreed to compromise. Meanwhile, activists ramped up the pressure: many urged negotiators to stay strong and asserted that no deal would be better than a bad deal. But ultimately the desire for a deal won out. Some also pointed to the host country as a reason for the struggle. Mohamed Adow, director of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, said Friday that “this COP presidency is one of the worst in recent memory,” calling it “one of the most poorly led and chaotic COP meetings ever.” The presidency said in a statement, “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator. We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.” Shuo retains hope that the opportunities offered by a green economy “make inaction self-defeating” for countries around the world, regardless of their stance on the decision. But it remains to be seen whether the UN talks can deliver more ambition next year. In the meantime, “this COP process needs to recover from Baku,” Shuo said. ___ Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein and Sibi Arasu contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .Alabama took time to get cranked up, then tallied 54 points in the middle two quarters in handing No. 15 Michigan State its first loss, 82-67 on Friday in the West Palm Beach Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Aaliyah Nye finished with 18 points, Zaay Green had 17 and Essence Cody posted 16 points and eight rebounds for unranked Alabama (11-1), which scored only nine points in the first quarter yet led 9-8. Julia Ayrault had 18 points for Michigan State (11-1), which trailed by 22 points going to the fourth quarter. Theryn Hallock posted 14 points off the bench and Grace VanSlooten had 10 points, but the Spartans were hurt by 25 turnovers. No. 1 UCLA 70, Creighton 41 Kiki Rice scored a game-high 20 points and Angela Dugalic posted a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double as the Bruins remained unbeaten with a blowout of the Bluejays in Los Angeles. Led by Rice's 10 first-quarter points, UCLA (12-0) jumped out to a 26-4 lead entering the second quarter. The Bruins, who shot 40.9 percent from the floor, never trailed while dominating in rebounds (59-26) and points in the paint (34-14). The Bluejays, who had an eight-game winning streak snapped, shot just 23.3 percent from the floor (14 for 60). Morgan Maly scored 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting, hitting all eight of her free-throw attempts. Kennedy Townsend added 10 points. No. 11 Ohio State 84, Stanford 59 Cotie McMahon scored 16 points as six Buckeyes had double-figure totals in the Bay Area Women's Classic in San Francisco. Madison Greene's 15 points along with 14 apiece from Ajae Petty and Chance Gray were also boosts for Ohio State (12-0), which made half of its 70 field-goal attempts. Taylor Thierry had 12 points and reserve Ava Watson added 11. Nunu Agara scored 17 points for Stanford (8-4), which was hampered by 19 turnovers and 39-percent shooting from the field. The Cardinal made just two of 16 attempts from 3-point range. No. 16 Kentucky 84, Belmont 78 Georgia Amoore hit seven 3-point shots on the way to scoring 23 points, but the host Wildcats had trouble putting away the Bruins before prevailing in Lexington, Ky. Kentucky (10-1) trailed 39-33 at halftime before going ahead in the third quarter. Amelia Hassett's 16 game points, which included four 3-point baskets, and Dazia Lawrence's 15 points were boosts for the Wildcats, who are 7-1 at home. Teonni Key and Clara Strack added 12 points apiece. Jailyn Banks scored 23 points for Belmont (5-6), which finished with a 34-32 rebounding advantage but shot only 44.6 percent from the field. No. 18 Tennessee 92, Richmond 67 Talaysia Cooper racked up 17 of her 24 points in the second half as the Volunteers topped the Spiders in the West Palm Beach Classic contest in Fort Lauderdale. The Volunteers (10-0) led 47-39 at halftime before pouring it on. They shot 51.4 percent (37 of 72) for the game, with Cooper going 10-for-18. Ruby Whitehorn provided 15 points off the bench on 7-for-11 shooting, and Samara Spencer had 11 points. Rachel Ullstrom led Richmond (9-3) with 19 points, while Maggie Doogan had 14. The Spiders got only three points from bench players compared to Tennessee's 35. No. 20 Michigan 96, Akron 55 Greta Kampschroeder poured in 23 points as the Wolverines won their first true road game of the season in Akron, Ohio. Kampschroeder accounted for five of Michigan's 12 baskets from 3-point range. Jordan Hobbs had 13 points, reserve Yulia Grabovskaia notched 12 points and Olivia Olson added 11 for the Wolverines (10-2), who made 20 of 24 free throws. Michigan is 2-2 in neutral-site games. Akron (5-6), which committed 29 turnovers, was led by Shelbee Brown's 14 points. No. 22 Iowa 92, Northern Iowa 86 Lucy Olsen's 21 points helped the host Hawkeyes in a tight nonconference victory in Iowa City. Northern Iowa (5-6) was within 83-81 with less than three minutes to play but went more than two minutes without scoring. Addison O'Grady added 18 points as the Hawkeyes (10-2) remained perfect at home through five games. Hannah Stuelke and reserve Taylor McCabe both had 15 points. Iowa shot 50 percent from the field and 20-for-22 on free throws. Maya McDermott scored 30 points on 12-for-26 shooting for Northern Iowa. Teammate Kayba Laube, who made five 3s, posted 20 points. --Field Level MediaFrom revisiting the political scandal that sparked a cultural reckoning in Canberra to a rich-lister’s unravelling, there were no shortage of court battles being waged — or defended — by the top end of town in 2024. We revisit some of the cases that dominated headlines and left us shocked, perplexed, and — at times — even entertained. Brittany Higgins defended a defamation action launched by Senator Linda Reynolds. Credit: Composite image/Holly Thompson Villain or victim? Reynolds v Higgins It was a story of an alleged rape in the halls of Parliament House and a covert political cover-up, and like all “fairytales”, it needed a villain. That was how WA Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett began the five-week-long trial in her defamation suit against former staffer Brittany Higgins and her husband David Sharaz, the most high-profile case to go before WA’s civil courts in 2024. The former defence minister sued Higgins over social media posts accusing her of mishandling the former staffer’s alleged rape by Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019 — a claim that was later aired by the media and created a storm that led to Reynolds’ political demise. Loading Higgins fiercely defended the action on the basis her posts were true, but opted against taking the stand at the eleventh hour amid concerns for her health. The trial, which the pair mortgaged and sold their homes to pursue, pored over the events of 2019 in excruciating detail, dragged in high-profile figures — from former prime minister Scott Morrison to broadcaster Peta Credlin — and threw private texts into the public arena we imagine the parties would have preferred to remain private.

From revisiting the political scandal that sparked a cultural reckoning in Canberra to a rich-lister’s unravelling, there were no shortage of court battles being waged — or defended — by the top end of town in 2024. We revisit some of the cases that dominated headlines and left us shocked, perplexed, and — at times — even entertained. Brittany Higgins defended a defamation action launched by Senator Linda Reynolds. Credit: Composite image/Holly Thompson Villain or victim? Reynolds v Higgins It was a story of an alleged rape in the halls of Parliament House and a covert political cover-up, and like all “fairytales”, it needed a villain. That was how WA Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett began the five-week-long trial in her defamation suit against former staffer Brittany Higgins and her husband David Sharaz, the most high-profile case to go before WA’s civil courts in 2024. The former defence minister sued Higgins over social media posts accusing her of mishandling the former staffer’s alleged rape by Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019 — a claim that was later aired by the media and created a storm that led to Reynolds’ political demise. Loading Higgins fiercely defended the action on the basis her posts were true, but opted against taking the stand at the eleventh hour amid concerns for her health. The trial, which the pair mortgaged and sold their homes to pursue, pored over the events of 2019 in excruciating detail, dragged in high-profile figures — from former prime minister Scott Morrison to broadcaster Peta Credlin — and threw private texts into the public arena we imagine the parties would have preferred to remain private.Longest-lived US president was always happy to speak his mindZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia’s incumbent President Zoran Milanovic has a sweeping lead in Sunday’s election and could win the five-year presidency in the first round, according to an exit poll released immediately after the voting. The poll by the Ipsos polling agency and released by the state HRT television showed Milanovic winning over 50% of the votes, while his main challenger Dragan Primorac, a candidate of the conservative HDZ ruling party trailed far behind with 19%. Milanovic thanked voters in a post on social networks. The first official results are yet to be published. Pre-election polls predicted that the two would face off in the second round on Jan. 12, as none of all 8 presidential election contenders were projected to get more than 50% of the vote. Left-leaning Milanovic is an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. He is often compared to Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents. The most popular politician in Croatia, 58-year-old Milanović has served as prime minister in the past. Populist in style, he has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and continuous sparring between the two has lately marked Croatia’s political scene. Plenković, the prime minister, has sought to portray the vote as one about Croatia’s future in the EU and NATO. He has labeled Milanović “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia’s international standing. “The difference between him and Milanović is quite simple: Milanović is leading us East, Primorac is leading us West,” he said. Though the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, an elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander. Milanović has criticized the NATO and European Union support for Ukraine and has often insisted that Croatia should not take sides. He has said Croatia should stay away from global disputes, though it is a member of both NATO and the EU. Milanović has also blocked Croatia’s participation in a NATO-led training mission for Ukraine, declaring that “no Croatian soldier will take part in somebody else’s war.” His main rival in the election, Primorac, has stated that “Croatia’s place is in the West, not the East.” His presidency bid, however, has been marred by a high-level corruption case that landed Croatia’s health minister in jail last month and featured prominently in pre-election debates. During the election campaign, Primorac has sought to portray himself as a unifier and Milanović as divisive. “Today is an extremely important day,” Primorac said after casting his ballot. "Croatia is going forward into the future. Croatia needs unity, Croatia needs its global positioning, and above all Croatia needs peaceful life.” Trailing a distant third in the pre-election polls is Marija Selak Raspudić, a conservative independent candidate. She has focused her election campaign on the economic troubles of ordinary citizens, corruption and issues such as population decline in the country of some 3.8 million. Sunday’s presidential election is Croatia’s third vote this year, following a parliamentary election in April and the European Parliament balloting in June.Grade: Senior School: Davenport North Notes: Bourrage, the reigning Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, ranked second in the MAC scoring (19.8 ppg) and first in rebounds (9.3) and assists (5.6) last season. ... Has 1,042 points and 533 rebounds for her career. ... Signed with LSU earlier this month. Grade: Senior School: Davenport North Notes: Enters the season with 1,229 points and 603 rebounds. ... Missed the last eight games last season because of a knee injury. Shot 63.8% last season. ... Averaged 18.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 4.6 steals per game as a junior. ... Signed with Iowa earlier this month. Grade: Junior School: Bettendorf Notes: McCorkle, who played at Davenport North as a freshman, ranked fifth in the MAC in scoring last season at 15.9 points per game. ... The 5-foot-8 guard also accounted for 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3.5 steals per game. ... Has D-I college offers from Ball State and Buffalo. Year: Senior School: Pleasant Valley Notes: 5-6 guard was second in assists per game last season (5.0) behind only North’s Divine Bourrage. ... Scored 12.5 points per game and added 3.6 steals per contest. Career totals: 793 points, 263 assists, 255 steals. ... Signed with D-III Wartburg. Grade: Senior School: Central DeWitt Notes: Led the MAC in scoring (21 ppg) and ranked fourth in 4A last season. ... Also averaged 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game as a junior. ... Has 1,008 career points. ... Signed with D-II Lewis University of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Sent weekly directly to your inbox! 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