fortune gems legit HONDA and Nissan are in talks to deepen ties, two people said on Wednesday (Dec 18), including a possible merger, the clearest sign yet of how Japan’s once seemingly unbeatable auto industry is being reshaped by challenges from Tesla and Chinese rivals. A combined Honda and Nissan would create a US$54 billion company with annual output of 7.4 million vehicles, making it the world’s third-largest auto group by vehicle sales after Toyota and Volkswagen. The two firms already forged a strategic partnership in March to cooperate in electric vehicle development, but Nissan’s deepening financial and strategic trouble in recent months has added more urgency for closer cooperation with larger rival Honda. Nissan announced a US$2.6 billion cost savings plan last month that includes cutting 9,000 jobs and 20 per cent of its global production capacity, as slumping sales in China and the US led to an 85 per cent plunge in second-quarter profit. “This deal appears to be more about bailing out Nissan, but Honda itself is not resting on its laurels,” said Sanshiro Fukao, executive fellow at Itochu Research Institute. “Honda’s cash flow is set to deteriorate next year and its EVs (electric vehicles) haven’t been going so well.” Shares of Nissan closed nearly 24 per cent higher in Tokyo trade on Wednesday, while shares of Honda, whose market value of US$43 billion is more than four times bigger than that of Nissan, declined 3 per cent. Shares of Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is the top shareholder with a 24 per cent stake, gained nearly 20 per cent. The automakers have been grappling with challenges from EV makers, particularly in China, where BYD and others have surged ahead. The talks between Honda and Nissan, first reported by the Nikkei newspaper, could allow the companies to cooperate more on technology and help them create a more formidable domestic rival to Toyota. The discussions are focused on finding ways to bolster collaboration and include the possibility of setting up a holding company, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information has not been made public. The companies are also discussing the possibility of a full merger, according to one of the people, as well as looking at ways to cooperate with Mitsubishi. Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi said that no deal had been announced by any of the companies, though Nissan and Mitsubishi noted the three automakers had said previously they were considering opportunities for future collaboration. French automaker Renault, a major Nissan shareholder, said it had no information and declined to comment. Renault shares jumped 6.5 per cent. The three Japanese automakers are expected to hold a joint news conference in Tokyo on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter. Taiwan’s Foxconn, which manufactures Apple’s iPhones and has been seeking to expand its nascent EV contract manufacturing business, approached Nissan about a bid but it was rejected by the Japanese firm, two separate sources familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg News reported earlier on Wednesday that Foxconn had approached Nissan to take a controlling stake. Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while a Nissan spokesperson declined to comment on Foxconn. Over the past year, an EV price war launched by Tesla and BYD has intensified pressure on any automakers losing money on the next-generation vehicles. That has put pushed companies like Honda and Nissan to seek ways to cut costs and speed vehicle development, and mergers are a major step in that direction. “In the mid- to long-term, this is good for the Japanese car industry as it creates a second axis against Toyota,” said Seiji Sugiura, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. “Constructive rivalry with Toyota is a positive for the rather stagnating Japanese car industry when it must compete with Chinese automakers, Tesla and others.” Any merger would face significant US scrutiny and President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to take a hard line on imported vehicles, including threatening 25 per cent tariffs on vehicles shipped from Canada and Mexico. He could seek concessions from Honda and Nissan to approve any deal, auto industry officials pointed out. Honda and Nissan both produce cars in Mexico for export to the United States. Honda and Nissan would also have to work out how to integrate their different corporate cultures if they proceed with a merger, analysts said. “Honda has a unique, technology-centric culture with strengths in powertrains, so there should be some internal resistance to the merger with Nissan, a competitor with a different culture that is now faltering,” said Tang Jin, a senior researcher at Mizuho Bank. REUTERS

NASA's 2 stuck astronauts face more time in space with return delayed until at least late March

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's two stuck astronauts just got their space mission extended again. That means they won't be back on Earth until spring — 10 months after rocketing into orbit on Boeing's Starliner capsule. NASA announced the latest delay in Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' homecoming Tuesday. The two test pilots planned to be away just a week or so when they blasted off June 5 on Boeing's first astronaut flight to the International Space Station. Their mission grew from eight days to eight months after NASA decided to send the company's problem-plagued Starliner capsule back empty in September. FILE - This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File) Now the pair won't return until the end of March or even April because of a delay in launching their replacements, according to NASA. A fresh crew needs to launch before Wilmore and Williams can return and the next mission was bumped more than a month, according to the space agency. NASA's next crew of four was supposed to launch in February, followed by Wilmore and Williams' return home by the end of that month alongside two other astronauts. But SpaceX needs more time to prepare the new capsule for liftoff. That launch is now scheduled for no earlier than late March. NASA said it considered using a different SpaceX capsule to fly up the replacement crew in order to keep the flights on schedule. However, it decided the best option was to wait for the new capsule to transport the next crew. NASA prefers to have overlapping crews at the space station for a smoother transition, according to officials. Most space station missions last six months, with a few reaching a full year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, left, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, gives a thumbs up as they leave the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Complex 40 for a mission to the International Space Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., (AP Photo/John Raoux) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov leave the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, talks to his family members as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov looks on after leaving the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts are beginning a mission to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) In this image from video provided by NASA, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, and astronaut Nick Hague travel inside a SpaceX capsule en route to the International Space Station after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (NASA via AP) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) The Falcon 9's first stage booster returns to Landing Zone 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Get local news delivered to your inbox!

SAM HOUSTON ST. (3-3) Huefner 1-6 2-2 5, Sakho 1-3 1-3 3, Boykin 4-13 3-4 11, Finister 4-7 1-2 10, Wilkerson 9-23 3-3 22, Hammons 0-1 0-0 0, Scroggins 4-5 0-0 8, Burns 1-3 0-0 2, Ford 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-64 10-14 63.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's two stuck astronauts just got their space mission extended again. That means they won't be back on Earth until spring — 10 months after rocketing into orbit on Boeing's Starliner capsule. NASA announced the latest delay in Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' homecoming Tuesday. The two test pilots planned to be away just a week or so when they blasted off June 5 on Boeing's first astronaut flight to the International Space Station. Their mission grew from eight days to eight months after NASA decided to send the company's problem-plagued Starliner capsule back empty in September. FILE - This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File) Now the pair won't return until the end of March or even April because of a delay in launching their replacements, according to NASA. A fresh crew needs to launch before Wilmore and Williams can return and the next mission was bumped more than a month, according to the space agency. NASA's next crew of four was supposed to launch in February, followed by Wilmore and Williams' return home by the end of that month alongside two other astronauts. But SpaceX needs more time to prepare the new capsule for liftoff. That launch is now scheduled for no earlier than late March. NASA said it considered using a different SpaceX capsule to fly up the replacement crew in order to keep the flights on schedule. However, it decided the best option was to wait for the new capsule to transport the next crew. NASA prefers to have overlapping crews at the space station for a smoother transition, according to officials. Most space station missions last six months, with a few reaching a full year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, left, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, gives a thumbs up as they leave the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Complex 40 for a mission to the International Space Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., (AP Photo/John Raoux) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov leave the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, talks to his family members as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov looks on after leaving the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts are beginning a mission to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) In this image from video provided by NASA, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, and astronaut Nick Hague travel inside a SpaceX capsule en route to the International Space Station after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (NASA via AP) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) The Falcon 9's first stage booster returns to Landing Zone 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!Business case for wind propulsion improves as decarbonisation rules kick in

Smart Aquaculture - Water Quality Online Monitoring System

Punjab Bandh Today: Railways Cancels 150 Trains, Including Shatabdi, Vande BharatCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's two stuck astronauts just got their space mission extended again. That means they won't be back on Earth until spring — 10 months after rocketing into orbit on Boeing's Starliner capsule. NASA announced the latest delay in Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' homecoming Tuesday. The two test pilots planned to be away just a week or so when they blasted off June 5 on Boeing's first astronaut flight to the International Space Station. Their mission grew from eight days to eight months after NASA decided to send the company's problem-plagued Starliner capsule back empty in September. FILE - This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (NASA via AP, File) Now the pair won't return until the end of March or even April because of a delay in launching their replacements, according to NASA. A fresh crew needs to launch before Wilmore and Williams can return and the next mission was bumped more than a month, according to the space agency. People are also reading... NASA's next crew of four was supposed to launch in February, followed by Wilmore and Williams' return home by the end of that month alongside two other astronauts. But SpaceX needs more time to prepare the new capsule for liftoff. That launch is now scheduled for no earlier than late March. NASA said it considered using a different SpaceX capsule to fly up the replacement crew in order to keep the flights on schedule. However, it decided the best option was to wait for the new capsule to transport the next crew. NASA prefers to have overlapping crews at the space station for a smoother transition, according to officials. Most space station missions last six months, with a few reaching a full year. SpaceX launches rescue mission for NASA astronauts stuck at space station A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, left, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, gives a thumbs up as they leave the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Complex 40 for a mission to the International Space Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., (AP Photo/John Raoux) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov leave the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, talks to his family members as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov looks on after leaving the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts are beginning a mission to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) In this image from video provided by NASA, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, and astronaut Nick Hague travel inside a SpaceX capsule en route to the International Space Station after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (NASA via AP) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) The Falcon 9's first stage booster returns to Landing Zone 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!The U.S. is set to grant a more-than $9.6 billion loan to Ford and a partner for the construction of new electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing plants, with the country’s top energy agency this week saying that it has finalized the offer. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it has finalized a $9.63 billion loan for Ford and South Korean company SK On, set to help the companies establish three brand-new battery production facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee, as reported by Reuters . The BlueOval SK joint venture is the largest loan ever to come from the agency’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, coming from the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump taking office in January. The companies plan to begin construction on the first Kentucky factory in 2025, with the Tennessee facility expected to follow later in the year. This funding is expected to eventually support the production of 120 GWh of EV batteries per year, and as the U.S. seeks to bolster its domestic supply chain for batteries and reduce its reliance on China. In an interview with the head of the DOE loan program, Jigar Shah, the agency official highlighted the importance of the loan enabling U.S. jobs, and promoting local production of EV batteries. “This program is essential to getting people to choose the United States of America,” Shah said. “When you look at the competition that we have from China, it is very clear to me that they have used low-cost debt for a very long time to promote a lot of manufacturing capacity that has hollowed out many communities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states around the country.” READ MORE ON DEPT. OF ENERGY: Rivian gains conditional $6.6B loan commitment for Georgia factory The DOE initially offered a conditional commitment of $9.2 billion for the Ford JV loan, and some have criticized the process taking almost 18 months since the plan was approved in June 2023. Blue Oval SK has responded to criticisms of the lengthy process by saying that the department went through rigorous due diligence to finalize the loan, including thorough reviews of the financial, technical, legal, market, credit, and regulatory implications. Ford also has a battery supply deal in place with fellow Korean battery supplier LG Energy Solution (LGES) for the European and North American markets, and part of the agreement includes bringing battery production for the Mustang Mach-E to the U.S. In its third-quarter earnings call, Ford reported a $1.2 billion loss on EVs , saying that it expects to reach a full-year loss of roughly $5 billion as it aims to achieve profitability with the sector. What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com , find me on X at @zacharyvisconti , or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com . Ford & GM might be required to stop imports from China Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, roughly 22 months after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections and house the homeless as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. Biden spoke later Sunday evening about Carter, calling it a “sad day” but one that “brings back an incredible amount of good memories.” “I’ve been hanging out with Jimmy Carter for over 50 years,” Biden said in his remarks. He recalled the former president being a comfort to him and his wife Jill when their son Beau died in 2015 of cancer. The president remarked how cancer was a common bond between their families, with Carter himself having cancer later in his life. “Jimmy knew the ravages of the disease too well,” said Biden, who was ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Sanz is a former Associated Press reporter.Aston Villa’s disallowed goal would have counted in England – Unai Emery

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A veteran soldier and national defense expert believes that if the Pentagon is refusing to reveal the source of a recent flurry of drone activity , it’s likely because they are involved. “Usually when they don’t say anything it’s because the information will embarrass them in some way,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Colonel who is an expert on defense and security for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington DC. “It’s entirely possible that they tested UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] out and created public hysteria, and are now embarrassed to say, ‘it was us’.” At a Monday press briefing, a spokesman for the Department of Defense said that there was no evidence the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety risk, but refused to explain the rash of drone sightings in the Tri-state area and beyond. Cancian added the military could also be testing new technology. “One conceivable thing is that they [the Department of Defense] are using some mechanism that they don’t want to publicize,” he added. Cancian, who has held positions with both the Department of Defense as well as the Office of Management and Budget overseeing budget strategy and military procurement, told The Post Tuesday drones fall into three risk categories, with most ‘benign’ or ‘semi-benign’, and a small percentage classified as ‘malign’. “[Malign] would be the equivalent of aerial vandalism,” he said. “They could be people snooping around or hobbyists trying to disrupt communications. It’s conceivable that some small number of them are foreign intelligence drones.” But most foreign powers have satellite systems in place, Cancian said, and don’t need to rely on drones. These include manned aircraft on legitimate flight patterns. He described semi-benign drones as those belonging to “the hobbyist who is curious to see what is on the other side of the fence and is not trying to be malicious but still doing something they shouldn’t be doing.” Last week, The Post revealed one of the sites where many of the mystery drone sightings have been reported is a military installation in New Jersey that has been helping develop robotic drones that can counter weapons of mass destruction. The US Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, located at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, awarded a Maryland company a $50 million contract in 2018 to develop robotic drones, which can generate three-dimensional maps of urban areas and engage in surveillance to counter WMDs. However, a spokesman for the Picatinny Arsenal said the military installation has nothing to do with the recent drone activity over the state — which has resulted in over 5,000 reports made to the FBI since the beginning of the month and has many local residents on edge. A New Jersey mayor added to the drone panic Tuesday when he said that the drone sightings might be linked to missing radioactive material. Belleville Mayor Michael Melham proposed the drones flying in a grid-like pattern over his Essex County township may be “looking for something.” “What might they be looking for? Maybe that’s radioactive material,” Melham told Fox TV’s “Good Day New York .” Federal officials said the material poses no serious threat. “The truth will come out in the new administration if only to embarrass the Biden administration,” added Cancian. “One conceivable thing is that they [the Department of Defense] are using some mechanism that they don’t want to publicize. But this is going to be an increasing problem, of drones flying over airfields.” President-elect Donald Trump on Monday accused President Biden and the Pentagon of hiding information about mysterious drones. “The government knows what is happening,” Trump said after Biden representatives pleaded ignorance despite thousands of Garden State and New York City residents seeing — and in some instances video recording — the unidentified aircraft. “Look, our military knows where they took off from — if it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went, and for some reason they don’t want to comment,” the once and future president said during a wide-ranging, 70-minute press conference in Palm Beach, Fla. “And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”BIAO Partners with Wintermute: $BIAO - The Biggest Meme in the East Goes Global!

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced that Worldscale Association Ltd (Worldscale), a leading provider of tanker freight rate references, has chosen ICE’s European Carbon Allowance (EUA) futures settlement price as the benchmark carbon price for calculating tanker freight rates in 2025. ICE’s EUA futures and options market is the most liquid carbon market in the world. Worldscale’s tanker freight flat rates represent the cost of a standard ship making a round-trip voyage. The rates are comprised of expenses including bunker prices, port costs and exchange rates. Under the European Union’s Emission Trading System (EU ETS), for which ICE’s EUA futures market represents the benchmark price, the maritime sector now has to account for the carbon emissions of ships calling in and handling cargoes at EU ports. “Worldscale needed a transparent price of carbon to be factored into freight rates and ICE European carbon, as the most liquid carbon market, is the natural choice,” said Ian McCarthy, Managing Director of Worldscale. “Maritime transport is central to the global economy. ICE, as the leading energy derivatives market, has worked closely with the industry to provide a solution for how the underlying physical freight market, as well as related wet freight derivatives used to hedge freight risk, can comply with the new rules expanding the EU ETS to maritime,” said Jeff Barbuto, Global Head of Oil Markets at ICE. Worldscale will use the average of the daily settlement price for the period October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, of ICE’s EUA futures December 2024 contract to calculate the carbon cost used in its 2025 tanker freight flat rates. ICE offers customers a liquid wet freight futures and options market to manage the price risk associated with shipping oil. Wet freight is closely linked to crude and refined product markets, both of which ICE is a leader in offering derivatives in and are available to trade as part of ICE’s complex of over 800 oil related products including ICE Brent, the price barometer for 75% of the world’s internationally traded crude oil. ICE’s wet freight futures and options hit a series of open interest records in November 2024 with record open interest of 181,152 contracts on November 22, 2024. ICE’s EUA carbon benchmark is part of ICE’s extensive environmental markets which are the largest and most liquid in the world for customers to pay for their emissions obligations and manage the associated price risk. Open interest across ICE’s environmental markets is up 28% year-over year while ICE’s wider energy complex is up 20%. Source: Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

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