In a message to the American people, the King expressed “great sadness” at the news of Mr Carter’s death, describing him as “a committed public servant” who “devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights”. He added: “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977. “My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.” Mr Carter, a former peanut farmer, served one term in the White House between 1977 and 1981 and spent his post-presidency years as a global humanitarian, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Carter had “lived his values in the service of others to the very end” through “decades of selfless public service”. Praising a “lifelong dedication to peace” that saw him win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Sir Keir added: “Motivated by his strong faith and values, President Carter redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad.” Tributes to Mr Carter followed the announcement of his death by his family on Sunday, more than a year after he decided to enter hospice care. His son, Chip Carter, said: “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.” Very sorry to hear of President Carter’s passing. I pay tribute to his decades of selfless public service. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. pic.twitter.com/IaKmZcteb1 — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) December 29, 2024 US President Joe Biden, one of the first elected politicians to endorse Mr Carter’s bid for the presidency in 1976, said the world had “lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. He said: “Over six decades, we had the honour of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us.” Vice President Kamala Harris said Mr Carter “reminded our nation and the world that there is strength in decency and compassion”. “His life and legacy continue to inspire me — and will inspire generations to come,” she said. “Our world is a better place because of President Carter.” Other UK politicians also paid tribute to Mr Carter. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he was “an inspiration” who “led a truly remarkable life dedicated to public service with a genuine care for people”. Scottish First Minister John Swinney described the former president as “a good, decent, honest man who strove for peace in all that he did”, while Welsh First Minister said he was “a remarkable man” and “a humanitarian and scholar”. Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said Mr Carter’s “life was a testament to public service”. He added: “I always had the greatest respect for him, his spirit and his dedication. He fundamentally cared and consistently toiled to help those in need.” Gordon Brown, another former prime minister, said it was a “privilege” to have known Mr Carter, who “will be mourned, not just in America, but in every continent where human rights are valued”. Mr Carter is expected to receive a state funeral featuring public observances in Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington DC before being buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. A moderate democrat born in Plains in October 1924, Mr Carter’s political career took him from the Georgia state senate to the state governorship and, finally, the White House, where he took office as 39th president in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. His presidency saw economic disruption amid volatile oil prices, along with social tensions at home and challenges abroad including the Iranian revolution that sparked a 444-day hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. But he also brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, which led to a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979. After his defeat in the 1980 presidential election, he worked more than four decades leading The Carter Centre, which he and his late wife Rosalynn co-founded in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope”. Under his leadership, the Carter Center virtually eliminated Guinea Worm disease, which has gone from affecting 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia in 1986 to just 14 in 2023. Mrs Carter, who died last year aged 96, had played a more active role in her husband’s presidency than previous first ladies, with Mr Carter saying she had been “my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished”. Earlier this year, on his 100th birthday, Mr Carter received a private congratulatory message from the King, expressing admiration for his life of public serviceWASHINGTON (AP) — As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face . He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy . Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency. As budget chief, Vought envisions a sweeping, powerful perch The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” Vought could help Musk and Trump remake government's role and scope The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Homan and Miller reflect Trump's and Project 2025's immigration overl ap Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas . Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” Project 2025 contributors slated for CIA and Federal Communications chiefs John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA , was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts. ___Alabama A&M fires football coach Connell Maynor after 7 seasonsNo landfill changes on Neebing’s agenda
Dec 30 (Reuters) - Qatar were in full celebration mode to kick off 2024 with the successful defence of their Asian Cup title while Saudi Arabia ended the year on a high after being named hosts of the 2034 World Cup. In between, Japan and Iran reasserted their status as regional heavyweights in 2026 World Cup qualifying but it has not been smooth sailing for some of the other top sides with South Korea and Australia failing to impress. At the continental championships in Qatar, the hosts secured consecutive trophies with victory over surprise package Jordan in the final in Doha. Akram Afif's eight goals saw him end the tournament as top scorer and the captain would go on to be named Asian Player of the Year for a second time. Qatar's success boosted belief they could make a second straight appearance at the World Cup having hosted the 2022 tournament but by November those hopes were hanging by a thread as defeats by the United Arab Emirates and Iran cost coach Marquez Lopez his job. Japan were knocked out of the Asian Cup by Iran in the quarter-finals but they quickly shrugged off that disappointment to go nine points clear in their World Cup qualifying group while Australia and Saudi Arabia stumbled below them. The Socceroos and Green Falcons both made coaching changes after faltering starts to their 2026 campaigns but the race for Group C's second automatic qualifying spot remains tight with Bahrain, Indonesia and China also in contention. Iran quickly took command of Group A but South Korea's struggles on and off the pitch continued. With the controversy over Hong Myung-bo's appointment as manager dominating the headlines, South Korea opened their Group B campaign with a 0-0 draw with Palestine in Seoul, a result which sparked heavy criticism from fans and pundits. Hong's side continued to blow hot and cold but they have held onto top spot in the group, with Iraq and Jordan breathing down their neck. There was disappointment for South Korea when they failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time since 1984, while Asia under-23 champions Japan fell at the quarter-final stage in France. The Japanese women's team, the Nadeshiko, were eliminated at the same stage by the United States. Japan's Kiko Seike succeeded Sam Kerr as women's Asian Player of the Year having scored the goals that steered Urawa Red Diamonds to the Women's Asian Club Championship. A long-term knee injury sidelined Kerr for much of the year and while Australia's Matildas continued to draw big crowds in her absence their streak of 16 successive home sellouts ended amid a disappointing run of form. The Asian Football Confederation launched the inaugural edition of the Women's Asian Champions League in a major boost to the game, with 21 clubs vying for a $1.3 million top prize. In the revamped men's edition, the Asian Champions League Elite, the likes of Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo guided star-studded Saudi clubs into the knockout rounds with ease in the West region. Japan's Yokohama F Marinos, runners-up to Al Ain last season, lead the East on goal difference ahead of Gwangju and Vissel Kobe but only six points separate 10 teams in the race for one of eight berths in the next round. In December, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that Saudi Arabia would become the second nation from the Middle East to host the quadrennial tournament in 2034 -- 12 years after neighbours Qatar staged the 2022 edition. The kingdom has invested heavily in sport over the last few years, although critics, including women's rights groups and members of the LGBTQ community, allege it is using its Public Investment Fund to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia, which denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws, has never hosted a tournament of this magnitude and will have to construct eight stadiums to be used for the event. Sign up here. Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Peter Rutherford Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tabNone
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Us Weekly has affiliate partnerships. We receive compensation when you click on a link and make a purchase. Learn more! Fact: Sunscreen is a skincare essential. Along with protecting the skin against harmful rays which can lead to skin cancer, sun blockers reduce signs of aging and minimize the appearance of sunspots. Considering how much time they spend in the public eye, it’s no surprise A-listers are on board with preserving their complexion. Vera Wang , for instance, swears by one SPF in particular that she credits with helping save her skin — and now, that same product is 24% for Black Friday. At 74, Wang is an undisputed icon. Known for her luxurious designs (specifically of the bridal variety) and iconic fragrances, the fashion mogul once revealed she uses a popular moisturizer and SPF to preserve her ageless glow. In January 2022, Wang dished to The Strategist about the products she can’t live without . Along with discussing her skincare staples, Wang opened up about her health journey and what inspired her to use sunscreen. “Most Asian women and my Asian girlfriends don’t worship the sun like I did when I was younger,” she said. Get the RoC Multi Correxion 5-in-1 Anti-Aging Daily Face Moisturizer with Broad Spectrum SPF 30 for $25 (originally $30) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change. Along with spending time in the sun as a tennis player, skier and golfer, Wang revealed that she “hated all the sunscreens available at the time.” As she grew older, she noticed a difference in her and her friends’ skin. So, she decided to get proactive by including a moisturizing SPF. “I’m late to making sunscreen part of my daily ritual, but it’s an essential for me now,” she revealed. “I use RoC’s moisturizer with SPF when I’m in New York because it’s protecting my skin, and I’m not allergic to it.” RoC Multi Correxion 5-in-1 Anti-Aging Daily Face Moisturizer with Broad Spectrum SPF 30 is a top-rated skincare staple on Amazon. The five-in-one moisturizer features RoC’s Hexl-R Complex to combat puffiness, dark circles and wrinkles. It improves radiance in the skin and protects from harmful UVA/UVB rays. Enriched with Hexyl-R Complex technology, this multi-use moisturizer enhances skin tone and evens age spots. It’s formulated with antioxidants to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. For best use, apply the moisturizer at least 15 minutes before sun exposure and reapply at least every two hours afterward. Just like Wang, shoppers have noticed improvements after using the moisturizing SPF. Over 5,000 reviewers gave the skincare staple 5-star ratings. After using this moisturizer for two months, one reviewer was stunned by the results. “Let me tell you right here, you will see results,” the shopper said. She added that she achieved “silky, smooth skin all day,” even after applying makeup primer, foundation and blush. “It feels like an airbrush finish every time, and I love it,” they added. Treat your skin to TLC and sun protection simultaneously, thanks to this Vera Wang-approved moisturizing SPF ! Snag it at a discount now! Get the RoC Multi Correxion 5-in-1 Anti-Aging Daily Face Moisturizer with Broad Spectrum SPF 30 for $25 (originally $30) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change. Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News
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