super ace jili mechanics
Trump 'wins' another ridiculous participation trophy
NonePALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The think tank behind Project 2025 , the conservative blueprint linked to President-elect Donald Trump , is launching an effort to back Trump’s imperiled selection for secretary of defense in its latest attempt to wield influence in the incoming Republican administration. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Thursday that his group will spend $1 million to pressure senators unwilling to back Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to lead the Pentagon has come into question due to his views on women serving in combat and reports about his personal behavior. A number of Republican senators have declined to commit to backing Hegseth or have asked for more information about his drinking and treatment of women. “It’ll be messaging right now with their constituents about how out of step they are with the Trump agenda,” Roberts said in an interview, who argued that criticism of Hegseth was being driven by “the establishment.” Roberts’ announcement that he will support Hegseth is the latest sign that Project 2025, which Trump disavowed amid Democratic criticism during his campaign, is newly ascendant as Trump returns to the White House. The president-elect has picked several of its authors and contributors to key positions. Roberts spoke to The Associated Press during an event at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, after he said he saw Trump at another event Wednesday also attended by other incoming members of the president-elect’s Cabinet. Roberts did not say whether he met privately or would meet privately with Trump. Project 2025 includes proposals to reclassify thousands of federal workers so they could be fired and eliminate or curtail several government agencies. Facing Democratic criticism over the blueprint, Trump sought to distance himself from it and denied knowing who was behind it, even as the proposal was drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration. The event at Mar-a-Lago was to launch an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, called Azoria U.S. Meritocracy that is looking to target companies with diversity, equity and inclusion practices by excluding them from the fund. Its CEO, James Fishback, is close to Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Roberts introduced himself on Thursday as someone from Project 2025, and the small crowd laughed. He noted he is good friends with Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, another group that laid the groundwork beforehand for a second Trump administration. Rollins has been nominated to serve as Trump’s agriculture secretary. Roberts said groups like the Heritage Foundation and America First Policy Institute were “close collaborators on the Trump agenda.” He called the second Trump term the “beginning of the golden era of America’s next chapter.” “I think we’re in the middle of a re-founding of this country,” he said. “Pete Hegseth is a decorated veteran and a patriot who will always put America first. Pete is focused on what I’m focused on which is getting wokeness out of the military and making our Department of Defense lethal again. And Pete Hegseth won’t back down. He won’t back down from the media, or from the bureaucracy and he won’t back down from China, Iran or Russia. He’s going to make America strong again and our enemies fear us again.” U.S. Sen.-elect Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, on Dec. 5, 2024Keith Gill, widely known by his X social-media handle ‘Roaring Kitty,’ returned to the platform after a three-month hiatus, sending meme stocks into a tizzy. Through his Reddit posts and YouTube videos, Gill was responsible for the massive 2021 GameStop short squeeze that sent the stock from single-digit levels to over $120. He went silent on social media in June 2021 before returning in May this year. Since then, Gill has been posting cryptic pictures on and off on X. Later, using his ‘DFV’ handle, he posted a screenshot of his trading account showing a huge GameStop position on the r/Superstonk Reddit thread and updated it a few times. On Thursday, he shared a Time Magazine cover picture atop a personal computer’s video screen, which is paused at 1:09 of the 04:20 total duration. The post assumes importance as GameStop is scheduled to report its fiscal year 2024 third-quarter results after the market closes on Dec. 10. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report a loss of $0.03 compared to break-even results a year ago. Revenue is expected to decline from $1.08 billion to $887.68 million. GameStop stock, which was hugging the unchanged line until the post, went parabolic on above-average volume. Since then, it has lost some of its gains. The stock settled Thursday's session up 5.83% at $28.60, after moving in a $26.15-$30.87 range. Fellow meme stocks also capitalized on the frenzy. Shares of theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. ($AMC) ended the session up 5.73% at $5.19, also on above-average volume. Earlier in the day, it rose as high as $5.56. Chewy, Inc. ($CHWY), another meme candidate, did not partake in the rally as the shares of the pet food and supplies retailer slumped over 6.5% following the company’s quarterly results reported Wednesday. Following the post, retail sentiment toward GameStop flipped from ‘bearish’ to ‘bullish’ accompanied by an improvement in message volume to ‘high.’ But sentiment has since then tempered to 'neutral.' On AMC, the retail mood turned ‘extremely bullish' (88/100), with message volume spiking to ‘extremely high’ levels. Some in the retail crowd set their sights on $10 for AMC and $40 for GameStop. A few, however, cautioned regarding a “pump-and-dump.” Email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com for updates and corrections.<
A Missouri judge says a law banning surgery, medications for transgender minors is constitutionalPLAINS, 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.
Mike McCarthy eases concerns after adding Dallas Cowboys quarterback to injury report
I Will Find You: Netflix Orders Next Harlan Coben Show With Gotham ProducerJimmy Carter, who rose from humble peanut farmer to president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies aged 100
Fast Casual Concepts, Inc. Announces Acquisition of CK DistributionST. PAUL, Minn. — The emotion was written all over Ville Heinola’s face Monday as he prepared to play his first NHL game in more than 22 long — at times excruciatingly painful — months. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * ST. PAUL, Minn. — The emotion was written all over Ville Heinola’s face Monday as he prepared to play his first NHL game in more than 22 long — at times excruciatingly painful — months. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? ST. PAUL, Minn. — The emotion was written all over Ville Heinola’s face Monday as he prepared to play his first NHL game in more than 22 long — at times excruciatingly painful — months. “Every time you watch the team play you just want to get out there and it kills you inside when you can’t,” Heinola told the following the Winnipeg Jets morning skate at Xcel Energy Center. “I’m just happy it’s over now and I don’t have to worry about that.” The watching and waiting and worrying finally ended as Heinola was in the Jets lineup for the first time since Jan. 19, 2023, as they took on the Minnesota Wild. “It’s been a long journey for me, for sure,” said the 23-year-old smooth-skating, puck-moving defenceman, who was selected 20th overall in the 2019 NHL draft. “It’s been a struggle to get back and feel good. But now it feels great and I’m super excited to be back.” Heinola’s medical history is rather heartbreaking, given that he’s seen two golden opportunities vanish due to circumstances beyond his control. The first occurred during training camp in 2023, when an impressive preseason meant he had earned a spot not only on the 23-man roster, but in the opening-night lineup as well. However, a broken ankle suffered in the final preseason tune-up set the course for a series of unfortunate events that would severely test the young Finn physically and mentally. By the time he’d made a full recovery a few months later, the Jets were flying high with no room for him on a crowded, healthy blue line so Heinola spent the second half of the season with the Manitoba Moose, waiting for an opportunity that would never come. Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS files Jets defenceman Ville Heinola hit the ice with the big club in regular season action Monday for the first time in almost two years. Fast forward to 2024 training camp and, once again, the door was wide open. The Jets hadn’t re-signed free agents Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt, and Heinola was going to get a chance to play regular minutes. Before he could even get in an exhibition game, however, his surgically-repaired ankle developed an infection. The only remedy was to go back under the knife, which would cost Heinola two more months of action. “It’s been a long ride for him,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel. “But it is what it is. That’s why we said to him that he’s waited long enough. We wanted to get him a couple of quick games down with the Moose. Now it’s a case of he’s here, so go and show us what you can do. He’s pretty excited and I know he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time.” Heinola resumed skating a few weeks ago and agreed to a brief conditioning stint in the AHL, which culminated Saturday with him setting up the game-winning goal in the third period. “I think it helps a lot. Obviously, it’s been a while since I played with those guys. So just getting my legs and everything back the way it was,” said Heinola. “I feel like I had more power in my legs on Saturday. I think it takes a little bit to get back into game shape. But I’ve been working hard in the gym every single day, so I’m not really worried about my conditioning.” MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Heinola skates with the Moose in a school-day game on Thursday. For a change, Heinola’s timing couldn’t be better. His return comes after , sidelining him indefinitely. “Every time you see a guy go down it’s not a great feeling. For me, especially, I know how it is to not play and be out for a while,” said Heinola. “But I just hope he has a quick recovery and will be back soon.” Although Samberg and Heinola are very different players, the Jets were glad to have an injection of talent and youthful energy in their lineup. “The perseverance is incredible,” said defenceman Neal Pionk. “You see what he went through last year, you feel awful for him. There’s not a whole lot you can do. This year, you get all excited for him and you kind of look at things through his eyes and then he gets the bad news again in training camp and you just feel for him. I’m excited for him. You look at it as a bit of a morale boost.” Heinola took Samberg’s spot on the roster, but not immediately in the defence pairings. Haydn Fleury moved up to skate beside Pionk, while Heinola started Monday’s game with Colin Miller. “We’ve been talking a lot. Obviously, we haven’t played together yet. But he’s a great guy,” said Heinola. “He talks a lot, so it should make my job pretty easy to play with him. He’s obviously a great player. So I think we’re going to play pretty well together. Heinola could certainly find himself moving up the lineup, especially if he can show the form that has made him one of the best young defenceman in the AHL. “I just want to move him in slowly here, get him in the mix, get him feeling comfortable,” said Arniel. “Obviously, the pace is going to be even higher than it was on the weekend for him. He’s a mobile, real-good pass-first defenceman and we just want to get him comfortable, to get out there and feeling good and then we’ll see where it goes from there.” Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg (54) climbs over the boards and onto the bench after being injured in Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators. There’s no timeline for Samberg’s return. His toughness was on display as he blocked the Steven Stamkos slap shot, then managed to pick himself up, continue the shift and even try to get in the way of another blast before limping back to the bench. “That’s how tough he is,” Pionk said of his blue-line partner. “Not only that, but he skated off the ice on his own power. With a broken bone in his foot. That’s no joke. It says a lot about him. He’s willing to do the little things for the team. He always has. That’s one of his specialties, shot-blocking, he’s a warrior.” Dylan Coghlan is the only other healthy defenceman on the roster right now. The right-shot journeyman was a healthy scratch for a 22nd consecutive game on Monday. Logan Stanley has been sidelined since Nov. 9 with a mid-body injury, but took another step in his recovery as he joined the Jets for morning skate, albeit in a yellow non-contact jersey. He’s not expected to be ready for at least another week. “We’re going to have to step up by committee,” said Pionk. mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the before joining the in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. . Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Trump 2.0 has a Cabinet and executive branch of different ideas and eclectic personalities
Rays will play 19 of their first 22 games at home as MLB switches series to avoid summer rainGovernment plans to introduce ceremonies for people wanting to become UK citizens had the potential to “damage community and race relations in Northern Ireland”, a Stormont official warned in 2003. The official said the proposal to have “low-key” citizenship ceremonies at Hillsborough, Co Down, was a “tacit admission” of this and instead suggested allowing a “block exemption” from compulsory attendance in the region. Tony Blair’s Labour government introduced the ceremonies for those seeking UK citizenship, with the first ceremonies taking place in 2004, involving participants singing the national anthem and swearing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to the law being introduced, the Home Office sent a consultation document to devolved regions in July 2003, setting out its plans for naturalisation applicants to take a citizenship oath and pledge at the citizenship ceremony. Devolved power sharing institutions in Northern Ireland were suspended at the time. Newly declassified files show Ken Fraser, a civil servant at the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), sent an internal email to official Linda Devlin setting out his “worries” about the plan. In the email, he said the exclusion of Irish from a list of languages that applicants would be required to have some knowledge of was “puzzling” and seemed “difficult to justify”. He added: “The consultation document states that the Government believes it would be right to agree that elements such as national symbols and the national anthem should feature in the ceremony.....and many of those becoming citizens would expect to see the same here. “It seems unlikely, however, that the same could be said of Northern Ireland. “UK national symbols and national anthem – which are proposed as an integral part of the ceremony – are associated primarily, if not exclusively with the Unionist community, as is much of the language proposed for the ceremony. “The proposed use of the Union flag and national anthem would appear to be at odds with the sustained attempt – by Government and others – to remove emblems from the political arena within NI.” Mr Fraser said the proposed ceremonies were a “new, and public, institution”. He added: “It is difficult to see how the ceremony itself (which is intended to be compulsory) and the use of symbols and emblems as proposed in the consultation document will promote mutual respect. “I understand, however....that the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has agreed that such ceremonies will only occur in Hillsborough and have agreed that Registrars from England will perform the task. “This de facto acknowledgement that circumstances are different in Northern Ireland – and not just in respect of local government structures – is to be welcomed. “NIO’s wish to keep citizenship ceremonies in NI low-key is understandable, given the segregated nature of NI society, but the arrangements that they propose for NI seem to be entirely at odds with the proposals which are explicitly aimed at making the citizenship ceremony a ‘community occasion’.” Mr Fraser said a proposed pledge in the ceremony to give loyalty to the UK “would not be acceptable to a significant proportion of the current ‘citizens’ of Northern Ireland”. He continued: “It seems unfair and potentially discriminatory to set the bar higher for people who have not been born here (ie to demand something of them that you are not going to demand of those already holding ‘citizenship’. “The proposals in the consultation document have the potential to damage community and race relations in NI. “It is difficult to see the NIO’s/Home Office’s agreement that ceremonies will only occur in Hillsborough and that Registrars from England will perform the task as amounting to anything other than a tacit acknowledgement of this.” Mr Fraser said the consultation indicated people could be exempt from the ceremony in “exceptional circumstances”. He added: “It might be better all round if there was acknowledgement that exceptional circumstances prevail in Northern Ireland and to allow a block exemption from compulsory attendance.” In response, Ms Devlin said the main thrust of the consultation document was to encourage ideas and suggestions how the ceremonies could be tailored to suit local circumstances and said she would pass on his remarks to the NIO and Home Office.
The ceasefire announced Tuesday is a major step toward ending nearly 14 months of fighting sparked by the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it will attack if Hezbollah breaks the ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. An international panel led by the United States will monitor compliance. The ceasefire began at 4 a.m. Wednesday, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of airstrikes in Beirut since the start of the conflict that in recent weeks turned into all-out war. At least 42 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities. The ceasefire does not address the devastating war in Gaza , where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to strike Hezbollah if it believed the militants had violated the agreement, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted was part of the deal but which Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have rejected. Israel's security Cabinet approved the U.S.-France-brokered ceasefire agreement after Netanyahu presented it, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza but the talks repeatedly sputtered to a halt . President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East without saying how. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” The ceasefire deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Netanyahu’s office said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but “reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire and described it as a crucial step toward stability and the return of displaced people. Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday it had not seen the agreement in its final form. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state," he said, referring to Israel's demand for freedom of action. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as ceasefire efforts gained momentum in recent days, Israel continued to strike what it called Hezbollah targets across Lebanon while the militants fired rockets, missiles and drones across the border. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in central Beirut — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously were not targeted. Residents fled. Traffic was gridlocked, with mattresses tied to some cars. Dozens of people, some wearing pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed overhead. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said peacekeepers will not evacuate. Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah is required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have exchanged barrages ever since. Israel escalated its bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. Chehayeb and Mroue reported from Beirut and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Lujain Jo and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
Surveillance tech advances by Biden could aid in Trump’s promised crackdown on immigrationF1 expands grid, adds Cadillac brand and new American team for '26