winph99. com

winph99. com ‘Democracy and freedom’: Jimmy Carter’s human rights efforts in Latin AmericaThe highly anticipated Malta International Business Awards 2024 culminated in a prestigious gala dinner on 29 November at the Radisson BLU, Golden Sands, where Malta's top business leaders gathered to celebrate the outstanding achievements of Malta-based businesses thriving on the international stage. Organised by TradeMalta, the third edition of the MIBA awards attracted an impressive array of entries from Maltese exporters, highlighting the vibrant and diverse nature of Malta-based businesses that trade internationally. The event featured thirteen outstanding finalists competing across four key categories: Best SME Exporter, Best Large Exporter, Best High Potential Exporter, and Best Emerging Markets Exporter. The finalists represented a diverse range of industries, showcasing the robust capabilities of Malta's exporters in sectors such as manufacturing, research and development, training, software and AI technology, maritime, 3D printing, and web design. The evening culminated in the announcement of the winners across the four categories, along with the overall winner, as follows: Distinguished speakers, including the Hon. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Ian Borg, David Matrenza, Chairman of TradeMalta, and Geoffrey Fichte, CEO of HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c., commended the resilience and innovation of Maltese enterprises in the global marketplace. Dr. Colm Reilly, an international business strategy advisor, delivered an inspiring keynote speech on the unique challenges of island economies emphasizing the importance of competitiveness and resilience for smaller economies. Anton Buttigieg, CEO TradeMalta added, "These awards reflect the remarkable spirit and determination of Malta based businesses. Each finalist and winner demonstrate the resilience and creativity required to succeed in today's competitive global markets. These awards provide an opportunity to celebrate Malta's entrepreneurial excellence in international business." HSBC CEO Geoffrey Fichte commented, "At HSBC, we are committed to supporting businesses that put Malta on the global map. Tonight's winners and finalists demonstrate the power of vision, adaptability, and hard work in achieving international success. We are proud to support TradeMalta with this initiative to celebrate the remarkable capabilities of Maltese businesses " The Malta International Business Awards are organised by TradeMalta and endorsed by the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade and The Malta Chamber. The awards are supported by TradeMalta's strategic partner HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. as well as Grant Thornton and Emirates as supporting partners together with Times of Malta as the exclusive Media Partner The awards night was an evening of celebration, recognition and networking which provided an opportunity for businesses to showcase their achievements, highlighting the robust capabilities of Malta's exporters, share best practices with their peers, and inspire other entrepreneurs to embark on similar journeys in pursuing international success.

Trump Is Poised to Dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection BureauCreateAI Announces Results of 2024 Annual Meeting of StockholdersHouse Ethics Committee accuses Gaetz of paying for sex, including with 17-year-old girlPLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

Anthony hits winning layup with 0.2 seconds left, Magic complete 17-point rally to beat Nets 102-101iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF ( NYSEARCA:IBDT – Get Free Report ) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 2,213,441 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 501% from the previous session’s volume of 368,296 shares.The stock last traded at $24.87 and had previously closed at $24.89. iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF Price Performance The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.13. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF by 216.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 102,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,606,000 after buying an additional 69,806 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 308,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,866,000 after acquiring an additional 46,353 shares in the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust raised its position in iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF by 20.4% during the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 170,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,346,000 after acquiring an additional 28,863 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF by 9.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 299,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,646,000 after purchasing an additional 24,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF in the third quarter valued at approximately $602,000. iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF Company Profile The iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF (IBDT) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks a Bloomberg index of USD-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds maturing between Jan 1 and Dec 15, 2028. IBDT was launched on Sep 18, 2018 and is managed by BlackRock. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Fine Gael won 35 seats in the 2020 election, but 18 of those TDs did not seek re-election in Friday’s poll. An exit poll puts the party’s support at 21%, a fraction of a percentage behind the main opposition party Sinn Fein. Mr Harris, the outgoing Taoiseach, was elected with 16,869 first preference votes, well above the quota. He celebrated with his wife Caoimhe, his parents Bart and Mary, his sister Gemma and his political team at the count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow. Ahead of his re-election, Mr Harris told reporters he was “cautiously optimistic” about the election result and said it was “clear that my party will gain seats”. “It’s also clear that Fine Gael will top the poll in at least 10 constituencies, many more than we did the last time, that we will gain seats in constituencies where we haven’t had seats in many years, like Tipperary South and Waterford, and that we will add second seats in other constituencies as well,” he said. “I think the people of Ireland have now spoken. We now have to work out exactly what they have said, and that is going to take a little bit of time.” In one of the five consecutive broadcast media rounds he did from the Greystones count centre, he said there were a lot of areas where there were “straight shoot-outs” between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for final seats. He described the Sinn Fein vote as “pretty significantly down”, the Fianna Fail vote as “marginally down” and the Fine Gael vote as “static” compared with its 2020 vote. He said it was “a very close, a very competitive election” and that “we haven’t seen a Sinn Fein surge or anything like it”. He said: “It was predicted by many that I would become the Taoiseach for a brief period of time, take over from Leo Varadkar, and then have to rebuild my party from the opposition benches as Sinn Fein led a government. “We don’t know what’s going to happen on government formation yet, but that is now looking less likely than it was.” He acknowledged that it was “a very difficult day” for the Green Party and paid tribute to their work in the coalition government, alongside his party and Fianna Fail. “Definitely, politics in Ireland has gotten much more fragmented,” he said. Fine Gael minister Helen McEntee said that her party’s campaign had been “positive”. “The feeling on the doors was very much that people were relatively happy with the government,” she said on RTE Radio. “It will come down to the last seats and it will come down to transfers,” she said of the final result, adding that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were performing better than the exit poll estimated.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in OPAL Fuels Inc. ( NASDAQ:OPAL – Free Report ) by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,345 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,074 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in OPAL Fuels were worth $114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of OPAL Fuels during the second quarter worth about $93,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in OPAL Fuels by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 96,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 39,325 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in OPAL Fuels during the 2nd quarter valued at about $389,000. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in OPAL Fuels in the 3rd quarter worth about $430,000. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of OPAL Fuels by 76.3% in the second quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 388,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 167,940 shares during the period. 12.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Analysts Set New Price Targets OPAL has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on OPAL Fuels from $4.50 to $3.90 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on OPAL Fuels from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered OPAL Fuels from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $8.00 to $5.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OPAL Fuels currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.90. OPAL Fuels Price Performance NASDAQ OPAL opened at $3.89 on Friday. OPAL Fuels Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.04 and a 12 month high of $6.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $671.44 million, a PE ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.97. OPAL Fuels Company Profile ( Free Report ) OPAL Fuels Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and distribution of renewable natural gas for use as a vehicle fuel for heavy and medium-duty trucking fleets. It also designs, develops, constructs, operates, and services fueling stations for trucking fleets that use natural gas to displace diesel as transportation fuel. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding OPAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for OPAL Fuels Inc. ( NASDAQ:OPAL – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for OPAL Fuels Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for OPAL Fuels and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Sirianni wore the hat given to NFC East champions as he sat at the podium and considered all the greatness that his Eagles still could accomplish this season. Personal goals, sure. Saquon Barkley has Eric Dickerson's NFL rushing record in sight. Team goals, absolutely. There are playoff games and a Super Bowl to try and win — and this Philadelphia team sure plays like one that could win it all. “It’s cool, I’m not going to downplay it," Barkley said of the division crown. “At the end of the day, you’re not getting remembered for being a 2024 NFC East division champ.” Barkley rushed for 167 yards to top 2,000 on the season , backup quarterback Kenny Pickett ran and threw for scores before departing with injured ribs, and the Eagles clinched the division title by routing the Dallas Cowboys 41-7 on Sunday. Barkley has 2,005 yards and needs 101 in next week's mostly meaningless regular-season finale to top Dickerson and his 2,105 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. The Eagles (13-3) led 24-7 in the third quarter when Pickett was drilled by defensive end Micah Parsons, ending his first start in place of the concussed Jalen Hurts. Tanner McKee, a career third-stringer, entered the game and the Eagles finished the drive with a field goal. McKee later threw two TD passes, a 20-yarder to A.J. Brown and a 25-yarder to DeVonta Smith, in front of a roaring crowd delighted to watch the Eagles dominate their rivals to wrap up the division title and at least the No. 2 seed in the NFC. “We always want to do special things. I think winning the division is always a special thing, and then our goals are much bigger from here,” Sirianni said. “I think we’ve got special guys.” Hurts was injured in last week's loss at Washington and remains in the NFL's concussion protocol — he didn’t practice all week -- which opened the door for Pickett to start. Pickett, acquired from Pittsburgh in the offseason, played with extra protection under his jersey after he suffered a rib injury when he was pressed into service against the Commanders. Sore ribs or not, Pickett was pumped for this start all week. He was raised a diehard Eagles fan in central New Jersey about 80 miles from Lincoln Financial Field and recalled “great memories” of going to games with his dad and grandfather since he was 5 years old. The 26-year-old Pickett said he had plenty of family at the Linc to cheer him on against Dallas (7-9). More than 60,000 other Eagles rooted him on, too, but Pickett's dream day ended prematurely. He finished 10 of 15 for 143 yards. With the Eagles no longer having a division title to play for, it's likely Hurts will rest another week ahead of the playoffs. Now, Pickett could be sidelined as well — possibly forcing McKee into the starting lineup. Barkley had 31 carries and his last one went for 23 yards to push him over 2,000. He could also sit out rather than risk injury chasing Dickerson's record. Barkley, who left the Giants and signed a three-year deal with the Eagles for $26 million guaranteed, set the NFL mark for most yards rushing in a player's first season with a new team. The friends and family that traveled to see Pickett play had to wait a bit after Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson returned an interception 69 yards for a score on Dallas’ opening drive. Cooper Rush — who threw for 147 yards and had two interceptions — followed on the next drive for Dallas with a 4-yard TD pass to Jalen Tolbert. Pickett connected with Grant Calcaretta for 34 yards and then hit Smith — who had six catches total for 120 yards — for a 22-yard score and a 14-7 lead. The Eagles' defense broke the game open when a recovered fumble led to Jake Elliott’s 31-yard field goal and Gardner-Johnson’s second pick of the day set up Pickett's rushing score on a tush push. Just like Hurts. Pickett took two tough shots on the same drive on the third: Osa Odighizuwa was flagged for roughing the passer on a late hit and Parsons delivered the knockout blow. The Eagles were thrilled to have a capable backup QB who went 14-10 as a starter with the Steelers. His performance prompted Pittsburgh legend and Fox broadcaster Terry Bradshaw to say the Steelers never should have gotten rid of him. “All I wanted to accomplish today was to get the win, for the team, for the city,” Pickett said. The injury-depleted Cowboys had won four of five but were no match for Philadelphia. “We knew it was going to be a different game with the plan this week,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “To be honest with you, we didn’t really get to some of the things we’d hope to get to.” The teams scuffled late in the game, and Eagles defensive back Sydney Brown was ejected after an altercation in a stadium tunnel. Cowboys wide receiver Jalen Brooks and cornerback Troy Pride were also thrown out. Cowboys: S Donovan Wilson suffered a knee injury. ... All-Pro WR CeeDee Lamb was shut down for the final two weeks with a sprained right shoulder. Eagles: DE Bryce Huff briefly left with a shoulder injury sustained in his first game back since he was activated off the injured list. He had wrist surgery. The Cowboys host Washington next week in their final game of the season. The Eagles tune up for the playoffs with a home game against the Giants. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

SAN DIEGO , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CreateAI Holdings Inc., formerly TuSimple Holdings Inc. (OTCMKTS: TSPH) ("CreateAI" or the "Company"), a global artificial intelligence technology company, today announced shareholder voting results for its annual meeting of stockholders held on December 20, 2024 (the "Annual Meeting"). As of October 28, 2024 , the record date for the Annual Meeting, there were a total of 232,618,399 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting, comprised of 208,618,399 shares of Class A Common Stock (each with one vote per share) and 24,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock (each with ten votes per share). At the Annual Meeting, holders of 207,347,538 shares of common stock, representing 423,347,538 votes, entitled to vote at the meeting were represented in person or by proxy and, therefore, a quorum constituted of the majority of the voting power of the shares of common stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting was present. The following is a brief description of each matter voted upon at the 2024 Annual Meeting and the numbers of votes cast for, withheld, or against, the number of abstentions, and the number of broker non-votes with respect to each other, as applicable. 1. Election of six nominees to serve on the Board of Directors (the "Board") for a term which will expire at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, or, if Proposal Two is adopted, to hold office until the annual meeting of stockholders in accordance with the class of director to which each nominee will be assigned. The following six directors were elected by the votes as indicated below. For Withheld Broker Non-Votes Cheng Lu 208,949,915 164,765,019 1 49,632,604 Mo Chen 208,946,146 164,768,788 1 49,632,604 James Lu 209,109,928 164,605,006 1 49,632,604 Zhen Tao 209,158,316 164,556,618 1 49,632,604 Albert Schultz 348,895,019 1 24,819,915 49,632,604 Jianan Hao 209,021,652 164,693,282 1 49,632,604 The totals above include the 240,000,000 votes represented by the Class B shares of Common Stock. 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock (representing 120,000,00 votes) were voted "FOR" and 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common stock (representing 120,000,00 votes) were voted "WITHHELD" for each of the Directors other than Albert Schultz . All shares of Class B Common Stock were voted "FOR" the election of Albert Schultz . Excluding the 240,000,000 votes from the 24,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock from the totals above, the 183,347,538 shares of Class A Common Stock were voted as indicated below. For Withheld Broker Non-Votes Cheng Lu 88,949,915 44,765,019 49,632,604 Mo Chen 88,946,146 44,768,788 49,632,604 James Lu 89,109,928 44,605,006 49,632,604 Zhen Tao 89,158,316 44,556,618 49,632,604 Albert Schultz 108,895,019 24,819,915 49,632,604 Jianan Hao 89,021,652 44,693,282 49,632,604 2. Amendment to the Company's Restated Certificate of Incorporation to classify the Board of Directors into three classes, with directors in each class to serve staggered three-year terms. Pursuant to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Proposal Two must receive the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of the capital stock of the Company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class, since directors representing two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of authorized directors have already approved. The amendment was not approved 2 by the votes as indicated below: For Against 1 Abstain Broker Non-Votes 208,955,668 164,659,652 99,614 49,632,604 Because Proposal Two was not approved, the six directors elected pursuant to Proposal One will serve on the Board for a term which will expire at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders. 3. Ratification of the appointment of UHY LLP as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 . The selection was ratified by the votes as indicated below: For Against 1 Abstain Broker Non-Votes 255,504,371 155,923,768 11,919,399 - Note 1: Includes 120,000,000 votes of the 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock held by White Marble LLC and White Marble International Limited (together, the "White Marble Entities") controlled by Dr. Xiaodi Hou . Note 2: The White Marble Entities have filed an action in the Delaware Court of Chancery seeking a declaratory judgment that the voting agreement between White Marble and Mo Chen is invalid and White Marble, not Mo Chen , controls the vote. White Marble LLC v. Chen , C.A. No. 2024-1208-PAF (Del. Ch.) On December 13, 2024 , the Court entered an order that allows the Company to hold the vote on Proposal Two, and ordered that if Proposal Two is not approved at the Annual Meeting but the Court determines in the Action that Mo Chen , not the White Marble Entities, control how the White Marble Entities' Shares are voted, then the White Marble Entities' shares shall be deemed to have been voted in favor of Proposal Two at the Annual Meeting and that such vote shall stand. The vote totals above include the votes of the shares held by the White Marble Entities as voted by the White Marble Entities. If the shares held by the White Marble entities reflected in the totals above are deemed to have been voted in favor of Proposal Two, the Proposal will have passed. Accordingly, if the Court rules in Mo Chen's favor, Proposal Two will be deemed to have passed and the Company would be permitted to amend its Certificate of Incorporation to implement Proposal Two and each of the directors elected pursuant to Proposal One will serve on the Board until the annual meeting of stockholders in accordance with the class of director to which each nominee is assigned. About CreateAI CreateAI (formerly TuSimple) is a global artificial intelligence company with offices in US, China , and Japan . The company is pioneering the future of digital entertainment content production, seamlessly blending cutting-edge generative AI technology with the creativity of world-class talent. Our mission is to redefine the boundaries of what's possible in digital storytelling by developing immersive, captivating, and visually stunning experiences that resonate with audiences on a global scale. Investor Relations Contact: ICR for CreateAI CreateAI.IR@icrinc.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/createai-announces-results-of-2024-annual-meeting-of-stockholders-302338618.html SOURCE CreateAI Holdings Inc Best trending stories from the week. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. You may occasionally receive promotions exclusive discounted subscription offers from the Roswell Daily Record. Feel free to cancel any time via the unsubscribe link in the newsletter you received. You can also control your newsletter options via your user dashboard by signing in.Cal Maritime to officially merge with Cal Poly

Refik Hodzic Keston K Perry As yet another United Nations Climate Change Conference fails to produce a strong commitment to urgent climate action, the climate crisis is on course to get much worse. While its effects, such as unprecedented flooding, devastating droughts, storm surges, biodiversity loss and more intense hurricanes appear novel in the eyes of many in the Global North, these disasters have caused immeasurable destruction for decades across the Global South, especially the Caribbean. Extreme weather events not only threaten the economic viability of these societies, but also call into question the role of the most powerful international economic institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Intervention by these bodies has consistently worsened the economic situation of climate-stricken communities. This is why the World Bank and the IMF need to be abolished to save the planet and human lives. Caribbean island nations know this reality all too well. On July 1, Hurricane Beryl slammed into Grenada. Two of its island territories, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, were flattened, as Beryl damaged or destroyed nearly 100 percent of homes and devastated infrastructure. At least six people were killed. The neighbouring island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines also suffered widespread destruction due to the hurricane. Across the two countries, as many as 80,000 people were affected, with 20,000 people made homeless and 11 killed. Jamaica was not spared either. The hurricane killed at least four people and affected 160,000. Farming communities suffered devastating losses. It has been now almost five months since the hurricane swept through the Caribbean and these communities are still struggling to recover. This is because these island nations have been taken hostage by disastrous deals with the IMF and the World Bank. Instead of helping a region that is at the epicentre of climate disasters, these two institutions force its nations into borrowing arrangements that prioritise austerity and objectives of global capital, rather than immediate and longer-term relief and recovery. As a result, communities suffer under increased public debt and reduced investment in supporting the social infrastructure necessary to respond to climate disasters and mitigate the effects of climate change. In addition, instead of offering unconditional relief and recovery funding on terms required to truly meet the needs of people, these entities have explicitly supported debt-related financial tools like catastrophe insurance or bonds, debt swaps, and now “disaster clauses” integrated into debt contracts. A disaster or hurricane clause adds to the contractual terms of a debt instrument the ability of a borrower to defer payments of interest and principal in the event of a qualifying natural disaster. The clause sets out the kinds of preconditions for specific events or triggers that would permit the borrower to temporarily defer repayments of interest, principal, or both for a period of one to two years. This mechanism does not reduce or eliminate debt. While it purports to offer “relief”, it brings further misery and onerous costs to climate-devastated governments and communities. Take for example the disaster clause, which has been praised and advocated by Caribbean economist and current climate finance adviser of the Inter-American Development Bank, Avinash Persaud, one of the architects of the “Bridgetown Initiative” for the reform of the international financial system. It can only be triggered when an arbitrary threshold like wind speed or financial cost of destruction during a hurricane has been satisfied or exceeded. In the case of Hurricane Beryl, Grenada was able to trigger this clause, but Jamaica was not able to make use of a similar financial tool. In Grenada’s case, the deferred payments will be added back to the principal in subsequent years. In Jamaica’s case, a catastrophe bond could not be used because the hurricane did not meet the so-called “air pressure” parameter, which means investors’ funds remain safe. A catastrophe bond is a high-yield debt instrument arranged by the World Bank and designed to raise money for insurance corporations in the event of a natural disaster. These investors profit as much as 15 percent returns on these instruments when they fail to pay out. If a payout was triggered, bondholders could have paid as much as $150m. These thresholds do not follow scientific evidence or consider the complicated nature and unpredictability of these disasters. That is because they are determined by financial analysts who pursue higher returns for investors. Without sufficient resources for recovery and relief efforts, Jamaica and Grenada may be forced to request recovery loans from the IMF and the World Bank, therefore increasing debt burdens even further. The long-term effect of these arrangements can be seen in Barbuda, Sint Maarten and Dominica, which were devastated by Category 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. My recent visits to these islands, which have not fully recovered, show that debt-related financial instruments are not just wholly inadequate, but utterly unjust. They cannot ensure the social, economic and environmental recovery of communities. In Dominica, for example, debt has mushroomed after the hurricane disaster as climate financing to help it “recover” came in the form of loans. As a result, the nation of 70,000 people is having to pay $30m per year just to service debt. As one Dominican taxi driver put it to me: “The true hurricane started after the hurricane passed.” The hardship that the IMF and the World Bank heap on climate-devastated communities falls in line with the legacies and realities of colonialism. The logic of their mechanisms can be traced back to the insurance system, capital markets, and financial instruments that fuelled the transatlantic slave trade. During that time, enslaved Africans were viewed as chattel and nonhuman property, ships owned by enslavers were insured by major brokers, and slave-produced commodities received investment from colonial governments and financial corporations. These all aimed to accumulate the wealth that produced metropolitan Europe. The World Bank and the IMF operate today as neocolonial institutions that continue the agenda of Euro-American imperial powers. They do not act to mitigate disasters but perpetuate them through debt bondage imposed on climate-devastated countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere. In this moment of multiple, intersecting crises, they are unsuited for the perils and challenges of the climate crisis. To be sure, the World Bank and the IMF were not intended to serve “The Wretched of the Earth” to borrow Frantz Fanon’s language. They were created to prop up Euro-American supremacy and hegemony and protect the interests of global capital. We therefore cannot expect these bodies to be reformed and operate against the economic and political interests of imperial powers and big capital. We need a global movement that calls for and acts on abolishing these institutions for us to meet the demands of these critical times. We need to do away with the World Bank and the IMF for the sake of human lives and for the sake of the planet. Courtesy: aljazeeraCarolina Panthers tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders was taken to a hospital for a neck injury after landing on his head while making a catch late in the first half of Sunday's 30-27 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. As Sanders was brought down near the sideline after a 10-yard reception, he was flipped upside down and landed directly on the top of his helmet as he went out of bounds on the tackle by cornerback Trent McDuffie. After receiving attention from the team's medical staff, Sanders was strapped to a backboard and taken off the field on a cart with 40 seconds remaining in the half. He was taken to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for observation and later released Sunday afternoon, according to the team. On the CBS broadcast following halftime, Panthers head coach Dave Canales said Sanders had movement in all his extremities, while extreme precaution was taken because of back tightness. CBS reported he was being examined for a concussion before later amending that to a neck injury. The 21-year-old rookie out of Texas had a team-leading three receptions for the Panthers at the half for 49 yards. In 11 games this season, Sanders has 29 receptions for 302 yards and a touchdown. Sanders was a fourth-round selection in the NFL draft in April. --Field Level Media

(PRNewsfoto/Avidity Biosciences, Inc.) SAN DIEGO , Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNA), a biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering a new class of RNA therapeutics called Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCsTM), today announced that on November 20, 2024, the Human Capital Management Committee of Avidity's Board of Directors granted non-qualified stock option awards to purchase an aggregate of 117,000 shares of its common stock and 58,500 restricted stock units ("RSUs") to twelve (12) new non-executive employees under the Avidity Biosciences, Inc. 2022 Employment Inducement Incentive Award Plan (the "2022 Inducement Plan"). The awards were granted as inducements material to the employees entering into employment with Avidity in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The 2022 Inducement Plan is used exclusively for the grant of equity awards to individuals who were not previously employees of Avidity, or following a bona fide period of non-employment, as an inducement material to such individuals' entering into employment with Avidity, pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The options have an exercise price of $43.65 per share, which is equal to the closing price of Avidity's common stock on The Nasdaq Global Market on November 20, 2024, or the vesting commencement date. The shares subject to the stock options will vest over four years, with 25% of the shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date and the balance of the shares vesting in a series of 36 successive equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to each employee's continued employment with Avidity on such vesting dates. The RSUs will vest in four equal installments on the first four anniversaries of the vesting commencement date, subject to each employee's continued employment with Avidity on such vesting dates. The awards are subject to the terms and conditions of the 2022 Inducement Plan and the terms and conditions of a stock option agreement or RSU agreement, as applicable, covering the grant. About Avidity Avidity Biosciences, Inc.'s mission is to profoundly improve people's lives by delivering a new class of RNA therapeutics - Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCsTM). Avidity is revolutionizing the field of RNA with its proprietary AOCs, which are designed to combine the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the precision of oligonucleotide therapies to address targets and diseases previously unreachable with existing RNA therapies. Utilizing its proprietary AOC platform, Avidity demonstrated the first-ever successful targeted delivery of RNA into muscle and is leading the field with clinical development programs for three rare neuromuscular diseases: myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Avidity is also advancing two wholly-owned precision cardiology development candidates addressing rare genetic cardiomyopathies. In addition, Avidity is broadening the reach of AOCs with its advancing and expanding pipeline including programs in cardiology and immunology through key partnerships. Avidity is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information about our AOC platform, clinical development pipeline and people, please visit www.aviditybiosciences.com and engage with us on LinkedIn and X . Investor Contact: Mike MacLean (619) 837-5014 investors@aviditybio.com Media Contact: Navjot Rai (619) 837-5016 media@aviditybio.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/avidity-biosciences-announces-inducement-grants-under-nasdaq-listing-rule-5635c4-302313526.html SOURCE Avidity Biosciences, Inc.

Wall Street stocks finished a lackluster week on a muted note Friday as concerns about rising Treasury bond yields competed with enthusiasm over artificial intelligence equities. Of the major indices, only the Nasdaq mustered a gain in Friday's session. The tech-rich index was also the only of the three leading US benchmarks to conclude the week higher. "Equities are kind of treading water," said LBBW's Karl Haeling. "A negative influence to some extent is the rise in bond yields." The latest US consumer price index data released this week showed prices ticked higher in November and the wholesale data also showed stubborn inflationary pressures. "Yields rose to their highest levels in over two weeks as markets brace for the Federal Reserve's final meeting of the year, reflecting concerns over sticky inflation," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG. There is also growing concern over the inflationary pressures from President-elect Donald Trump's pledges to cut taxes and impose tariffs, as inflation still stands above the Fed's target. "While the markets still anticipate a rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week, the likelihood of a move in January has dropped," said Patrick Munnelly, partner at broker Tickmill Group. The CME FedWatch tool shows the market sees a more than 75 percent chance that the Fed will hold rates steady in January. In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 index ended the day down 0.2 percent after French President Emmanuel Macron named his centrist ally Francois Bayrou as prime minister, ending days of deadlock over finding a replacement for Michel Barnier. Frankfurt also dipped, with Germany's central bank sharply downgrading its growth forecasts on Friday for 2025 and 2026. It predicted a prolonged period of weakness for Europe's biggest economy. London stocks were also lower after official data showed that the UK economy unexpectedly shrank for the second consecutive month in October. The euro recovered after flirting with two-year lows against the dollar following a warning Thursday by ECB president Christine Lagarde that the eurozone economy was "losing momentum", cautioning that "the risk of greater friction in global trade could weigh on euro area growth". In Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai both tumbled as investors were unimpressed with Beijing's pledge to introduce measures aimed at "lifting consumption vigorously" as part of a drive to reignite growth in the world's number two economy. President Xi Jinping and other key leaders said at the annual Central Economic Work Conference they would implement a "moderately loose" monetary policy, increase social financing and reducing interest rates "at the right time". The gathering came after Beijing in September began unveiling a raft of policies to reverse a growth slump that has gripped the economy for almost two years. "We're still not convinced that policy support will prevent the economy from slowing further next year", said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at research group Capital Economics. Among individual equities, chip company Broadcom surged nearly 25 percent after reporting a 51 percent jump in quarterly revenues to $14.1 billion behind massive growth in AI-linked business. New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 43,828.06 (close) New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 6,051.09 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 19,926.72 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,300.33 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,409.57 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 20,405.92 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 39,470.44 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.1 percent at 19,971.24 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2.0 percent at 3,391.88 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0504 from $1.0467 on Thursday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2622 from $1.2673 Dollar/yen: UP at 153.60 yen from 152.63 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.19 pence from 82.59 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $74.49 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $71.29 per barrel burs-jmb/st

Anthony hits winning layup with 0.2 seconds left, Magic complete 17-point rally to beat Nets 102-101The faces behind Japan’s post-war turbulence, restlessness and extreme passion. Japan’s defeat in World War II inspired stories of loss and desperation. The 1970s and 1980s brought new themes. Many works began focusing on moral, intellectual and psychological issues during that time. In recent days, there has been an emphasis on darker themes. These include restlessness, rejecting the status quo and extreme emotions. Strong female characters with a sense of purpose also dominate modern literature. It’s an era where women recognize their rights and needs. Through their works, they boldly call for recognition. T er works . Tread on a snake t ; ; If were Japanese, it would have been written by Amy Yamada. This charismatic author explores intense, raw themes. Her works dive into sex, drugs and the darkness of hardcore heterosexual relationships. She also examines intercultural relationships in Japan’s foreign community. Amy Yamada, born Futaba Yamada, moved frequently as a child due to her father’s job. This constant relocation led to bullying and ostracism. Feeling isolated, she turned her attention to foreigners, especially Japan’s black community. In middle school, she discovered black soul music. Its powerful songs about poverty, racial tension and social injustice deeply moved her. Yamada dropped out of Meiji University’s Literature Department. She began writing books about relationships with black men, as well as hedonistic lifestyles, including drugs and violence. These sorts of sexual taboos would often shock her readers. : Her stories rarely include obvious signs of Japanese culture, making them appealing to a broad, international audience. Ogawa’s protagonists are usually female and one-dimensional. Her themes, however, are universal and deeply resonate with readers. She focuses on isolation, intimacy, death, self-observation, women’s roles in society and spiritual awakening. Female narrators often meet strange, puzzling men by chance. These men come and go, leaving behind regret but also a sense of fulfillment. Internationally, she has been the recipient of the Shirley Jackson Award and the American Book Award. With a prevalence of negativity, nostalgia and pessimism characterizing the majority of Japan’s famous novelists’ works, Banana Yoshimoto is a breeze of fresh air during your afternoon reading break with a cup of warm tea. too. Yoshimoto’s themes center on the grueling experiences people face in their journey toward maturity as well as extramarital affairs, beauty, sexuality, existentialism and death. Nonetheless, : Born in Tokyo’s Setagaya district, she grew up influenced by her father, haiku poet Shigeru Ekuni. Her books often explore the ups and downs of young women’s lives. Despite the struggles depicted, her strong female characters leave readers feeling hopeful, motivated and inspired. Ekuni has a large female fan base, especially in Korea, where her books stayed on the top-fifty bestseller list for four years straight. Her first piece of writing won the Kaien Prize for New Writers in 1990, while she was still at Waseda University. However, it was (Woman on the Shore) that brought her major success. This novel explores the lives of single and married women, focusing on self-criticism and the idea that the grass is always greener. won both the Noma Literary New Face Prize and the Naoki Prize, elevating Kakuta to a literary pedestal. . M You’ll need a strong stomach to get through Kanae Minato’s best-known book (Confessions). Published in 2011 and translated into English in 2014, this novel has taken the world by storm. . At first, the reader believes a mother seeks revenge on her daughter’s 13-year-old killers. However, as the story unfolds, her actions become diabolically unbalanced. The lack of compassion from both the mother and the child murderers casts a dark, disturbing shadow over the entire story. H . Subsequently, it Hitomi Kanehara wrote her first novel at just 21. Her books reflect the troubled youth of Japan today. Particularly, they express negative emotions, sexual experimentation and rebellion. On the whole, themes like tattoos, piercings, body modification and violent behavior dominate her characters’ lifestyles. which may lead you to believe Kanehara is well-educated. However, a rebel from a very early age, she actually dropped out of elementary school. .