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In November 1973, a group of evangelicals met at the YMCA on Wabash Avenue and adopted the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern. Echoing the themes of progressive evangelicalism from decades past, the declaration decried income inequality and militarism as well as the persistence of racism and hunger in an affluent society. The declaration also included a forthright embrace of women’s rights and gender equality. Roughly a year later, on Dec. 12, 1974, Jimmy Carter announced his candidacy for president, drawing on many of those same themes, as well as his frequently repeated promise that he would never knowingly lie to the American people. He pledged his commitment to pursue racial reconciliation, health care reform, human rights, a reduction of nuclear weapons and a less imperial foreign policy. Carter’s outsider status, coupled with his evident probity, provided a tonic to an electorate weary of Watergate and Richard Nixon’s endless prevarications. On his way to the White House, Carter effectively rid his party — and the nation — of its most pugnacious segregationist, George Wallace of Alabama , by beating Wallace in the Florida Democratic primary. He also benefited from a resurgence of progressive evangelicalism in the 1970s, the movement that takes seriously Jesus’ words to care for “the least of these.” In earlier decades of American history, progressive evangelicalism had animated various movements of social reform, including the abolition of slavery (among evangelicals in the North), public education, prison reform and advocacy for women’s rights. Many evangelicals were involved in peace movements, and some evangelicals even doubted the morality of capitalism because it elevated avarice over altruism and therefore ran counter to the teachings of Jesus. Charles Grandison Finney, the most famous and influential evangelical of the 19th century, argued that capitalism “recognizes only the love of self” and “the rules by which business is done in the world, are directly opposite to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the spirit he exhibited.” The man of business, by contrast, lives by the maxim: “Look out for number one.” Carter’s election represented the high point in the resurgence of progressive evangelicalism in the 20th century, and the new president sought to govern according to those principles. His first official act as president was to pardon Vietnam-era draft resisters, thereby helping bring that sorry chapter in American life to a close. He renegotiated the Panama Canal treaties, and in so doing signaled an attenuation of American colonialism, especially to the countries of Latin America. He advanced peace in the Middle East far beyond anything accomplished by his predecessors (or his successors). He recalibrated foreign policy away from a reflexive Cold War dualism and toward an emphasis on human rights. On domestic matters, Carter sought to limit the incidence of abortion, and he is still regarded by many as the nation’s greatest environmental president ever. So why would evangelicals, who helped propel Carter to the presidency in 1976, turn against him four years later? Why would they reject one of their own, a born-again evangelical Christian, in favor of a divorced and remarried former actor who, as governor of California, had signed into law the most liberal abortion bill in the nation? Evangelicalism itself was deeply divided in the 1970s. Carter’s understanding of the faith, shaped by progressive evangelicalism, pushed him toward the left of the political spectrum, whereas many white, Northern evangelicals, following the lead of Billy Graham, had gravitated toward the Republican Party. Nixon’s damage to the Republican brand had briefly altered that calculus in the mid-1970s, and Carter harvested a far greater percentage of evangelical votes than any of his Democratic predecessors. Jimmy Carter Library President Jimmy Carter waves from Air Force One in May 1977. Frank Hanes / Chicago Tribune As Jimmy Carter greets nuns in front of Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church, Mayor Richard J. Daley stays in the background (upper right) on Oct. 11 1976. The Democratic presidential candidate attended Mass at the church and later marched in the Columbus Day parade on State Street. Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune Jimmy Carter campaigns at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Chicago in 1976. Gerald West/Chicago Tribune President Jimmy Carter leaves Mayor Michael Bilandic's Bridgeport home on Nov. 3, 1978, in Chicago. (Gerald West/Chicago Tribune) BOB DAUGHERTY / AP President Jimmy Carter waves from the roof of his car along the parade route through Bardstown, Ky., July 31, 1979. Thomas J. O'Halloran Democratic Presidential Nominee Jimmy Carter speaks to crowd at campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 1976. AP Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn in 1970. Mao, AP College student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter's nationally televised energy speech from a service station in Los Angeles in 1979. Thomas J. O'Halloran Democratic Presidential Nominee Jimmy Carter holds an informal press conference aboard "Peanut One" Campaign Airplane on Campaign Trip on Sept. 11, 1976. Ben Gray/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution President Jimmy Carter shakes hands as he arrives at a birthday party for his wife Rosalynn in 2015 in Plains, Georgia. Jewel Samad, AFP-Getty Images President Barack Obama, former President Jimmy Carter, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 2013. Ed Reinke, AP Former President Jimmy Carter uses a hand saw to even an edge as he works on a Habitat for Humanity home in Pikeville, Ky., in 1997. AP President Jimmy Carter, left, bows his head during a prayer service in 1979 at Washington National Cathedral for the American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. AP Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, embrace as President Jimmy Carter looks on during a White House announcement of a Middle East peace agreement in 1978. Alex Wong, Getty Images President Barack Obama, from left, former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter attend the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas in 2013. AP President Jimmy Carter is joined by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the ceremony in 1979 for the Camp David Accords. UPI President Jimmy Carter sits in front of the fireplace in the White House Library to deliver his "fireside chat" to the nation in February 1977. Phil Skinner / AP Former President Jimmy Carter talks about his cancer diagnosis during a news conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta on Aug. 20, 2015. Chicago Tribune In his first visit to Chicago since becoming president, Jimmy Carter speaks at a 1978 fundraiser, flanked by Cook County Board President George Dunne, left, and Mayor Michael Bilandec. AP Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, from left, President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meet for the first time at Camp David, Md., in 1978. Wes Pope/Chicago Tribune Former president Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, left, help administer a praziquantel pill to a child during a visit to Nasarawa, Nigeria on February 15, 2007. A single dose can reverse up to 90% of schistosomiasis' damage within six months. Even so, few Nigerians can afford the cost. AP President Jimmy Carter, wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy walk on Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day in 1977. Carter was sworn in as the nations's 39th president. Globe Photos / TNS A July 1976 picture of Jimmy Carter, right, and Walter Mondale. AP President Jimmy Carter, wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy greet Pope John Paul II at the White House in Washington on Oct. 6, 1979. Eppie Lederer, Chicago Tribune Ann Landers with President Jimmy Carter at the White House in 1977. Hugh Grannum, Detroit Free Press Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter share a private moment durinng a symposium at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Nov. 14, 1984. Carl Hugare / Chicago Tribune President Jimmy Carter acknowledges the cheers of fellow Democrats during a rally at the Niles East High School gymnasium in 1978. UPI President Jimmy Carter sits on the South Lawn of the White House as he and first lady Rosalynn Carter, second from left, and other guests listen during a jazz festival in 1978. Gregory Bull, AP Former President Jimmy Carter visits with schoolchildren in 2002 in Las Guasimas, Cuba. Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune Former President Jimmy Carter addresses the opening session of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. AP Jimmy Carter at age 13, in 1938. Location unknown. John Amis / AP Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., Nov. 3, 2019. (John Amis/AP) AP Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter talks with his brother Billy at the Carter family peanut warehouse in 1976. Dick Drew, AP Jimmy Carter with New York Mayor Ed Koch at a town meeting at Queen's College in 1979. Chicago Tribune Presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter gets a salami and a loaf of rye during a visit to Ashkenaz Restaurant in Chicago in March 1976. John Duricka, AP President Jimmy Carter and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton enjoy a chuckle during a rally for Carter on Oct. 22, 1980, in Texarkana, Texas. Barry Thumma, AP President Jimmy Carter pauses to kiss first lady Rosalynn Carter as he boards a helicopter for the trip from the White House in Washington to Camp David in 1979. AP Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin shake hands after reaching an accord in 1978 at the Camp David summit. Cristobal Herrera, AP Cuban President Fidel Castro points upward as former President Jimmy Carter looks on upon Carter's arrival to Havana in 2002. AP Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter gives an informal news conference in Los Angeles during a 1976 campaign tour. AP President Jimmy Carter smiles as he walks with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Austria before signing the SALT II nuclear treaty in 1979. Barry Thumma, AP President Jimmy Carter carries a watermelon on his shoulder at his Plains, Ga., farm in August 1977 during a vacation. Bernat Armangue, AP Former President Jimmy Carter participates in a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in 2010. AP President Jimmy Carter, left, and Republican Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, shake hands Oct. 28, 1980, in Cleveland, before debating before a nationwide television audience. AP President Jimmy Carter prepares to make a national television address from the White House in 1980 on the failed mission to rescue the Iran hostages. AP Former President Jimmy Carter, U.S. Chief of Protocol Leonore Annenberg, and Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford aboard an Air Force jet carrying them to the funeral of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Marion S. Trikosko U.S. President Jimmy Carter during Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's visit to the White House, Washington, D.C., April 5, 1977. John Bazemore/AP Former President Jimmy Carter reacts as his wife Rosalynn Carter speaks during a reception to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary, July 10, 2021, in Plains, Georgia. Candice C. Cusic, Chicago Tribune Former President Jimmy Carter, after dedicating the Gift of Sight statue, left, at Lions Clubs International Headquarters in Oak Brook in 2009. AP Jimmy Carter, Democratic candidate for president, is joined by his daughter, Amy, at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Texas on Nov. 1, 1976. Charles Kelly, AP Former Georgia state Sen. Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and daughter Amy, after announcing his candidacy for governor in 1970. Marion S. Trikosko U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the White House during a fireside chat on the Panama Canal Treaty in Washington. AP President Jimmy Carter, first lady Rosalynn Carter and daughter Amy enjoy the first of seven inaugural balls in Washington in January 1977. BOB DAUGHERTY / Associated Press Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House after signing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 11, 2002, 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. AP President Jimmy Carter is interviewed in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 24, 1977. Pete Souza, The White House President Barack Obama listens to former President Jimmy Carter during a reception in the Yellow Oval Room in the White House in 2011. Pete Souza, Chicago Tribune Former President Jimmy Carter talks with former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton before the funeral ceremony for former President Gerald R. Ford at Washington National Cathedral in 2007. SUZANNE PLUNKETT / AP Former President and first lady Jimmy and Roselynn Carter wave to the crowd after a tribute to the former president at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Aug. 14, 2000. SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter arrive for the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., January 20, 2017. Marion S. Trikosko U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter dance at a White House Congressional Ball on Dec. 13, 1978. Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, say goodbye to the audience after Carter's speech at the opening session of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Young people representing ethnic communities in Chicago greet President Jimmy Carter at O'Hare International Airport after Mayor Jane Byrne welcomed him to the city in 1979. Bob Daugherty, AP Outgoing President Jimmy Carter, right, and wife Rosalynn look on as Ronald Reagan takes the presidential oath of office in 1981. Elise Amendola / AP Former President Jimmy Carter speaks during a forum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on Nov. 20, 2014. Suzanne Vlamis, AP President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd while walking to the White House with his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, following his inauguration in 1977. PhotoQuest / Getty Images Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter and Mayor Richard J. Daley at the Illinois State Democratic Convention in Chicago on Sept. 9, 1976. AP President Jimmy Carter, center left, and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, center right, wave to the waiting crowd outside the U.S. Embassy after both heads of state finished their first round of talks prior to the Salt II Treaty signing, June 16, 1979, in Vienna, Austria. ERLAND AAS / Associated Press Nobel Peace Prize winner, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and his wife Rosalyn, greets a torchlight procession from the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Oslo, prior to the Norwegian Nobel Committee's Banquet, Dec.10, 2002. AP President Jimmy Carter meets with his economic advisers in the White House on April 27, 1977. AP President Jimmy Carter concedes defeat in the presidential election in Washington, D.C., in 1980. Standing with Carter is his wife, Rosalynn, and daughter, Amy. AP President-elect Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, wipe tears from their eyes after returning to their hometown in Plains, Ga., on Nov. 3, 1976. President Jimmy Carter waves from Air Force One in May 1977. Conservatives, however, were eager to regain their footing after the disastrous Nixon presidency, and several savvy political operatives conspired to do so. Paul Weyrich, the architect of the religious right, had long recognized the political potential of evangelical voters. If he could mobilize them, he reasoned, he could reshape the political landscape. By Weyrich’s own account, he tried various issues over the years to lure conservative evangelicals into the political arena — abortion, pornography, school prayer, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment — but nothing worked. By the mid-1970s, however, he finally found the issue that would energize them: the attempt by the Internal Revenue Service to deny tax exemption to institutions that engaged in racial discrimination. This caught the attention of officials at Bob Jones University and Jerry Falwell , who had opened his own segregation academy in 1967. They disingenuously decried government interference into religious matters, neglecting to mention that tax exemption is a form of public subsidy, and then cannily shifted their rhetoric away from the defense of racial segregation toward opposition to abortion, hitherto a “Catholic issue.” What followed was the mass mobilization of white evangelicals into a movement known as the religious right. Their support for Reagan in 1980 initiated a decadeslong alliance with the far-right precincts of the Republican Party that culminated in overwhelming support for Donald Trump. Although progressive evangelicals remain active in American life, the heyday of progressive evangelicalism, marked by the Chicago declaration and Carter’s presidency, came tragically to a close in 1980. Throughout his remarkable post-presidency, however, Carter enlarged the sphere of his progressive activism — pursuing peace, ensuring democratic elections, eradicating tropical diseases — beyond the White House to the entire world. Randall Balmer is the John Phillips professor in religion at Dartmouth College and is the author of “ Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter ” and “ Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right .”Sean 'Diddy' Combs' third bid to be released on bail won't be decided until next weekpaano laruin ang fortune gems 。

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Carmelo Pacheco's 18 points helped Mount St. Mary's defeat Howard 79-75 on Saturday. Pacheco shot 6 for 8 from beyond the arc for the Mountaineers (5-2). Dallas Hobbs shot 5 of 16 from the field, including 1 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 7 from the line to add 17 points. Terrell Ard Jr. had 16 points and shot 4 of 6 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. Anwar Gill finished with 18 points for the Bison (3-5). Blake Harper added 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals for Howard. Joshua Strong also had 12 points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .NoneElectric vehicle industry at crossroads, not a dead end

OASIS, Coldplay and Dua Lipa will help drive a predicted £7billion into the UK economy next year. The British acts’ huge tours are contributing to what people in the industry are dubbing the biggest year ever for live music. Advertisement 21 Britain is set for a huge year of gigs and music tours in 2025 from stars including Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Oasis The massive appetite for tickets means concerts in the UK will help trounce the £6.1billion brought to our economy in 2023. And it is even ready to top the boost given to Britain by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour this summer, which is now the highest-grossing tour of all time. Leading talent manager Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE, whose company Chosen Music has worked with many international artists, said: “People are embracing the live music experience more than ever before. “With the rise of social media, many younger people are spending more time online and less time together in person. Advertisement READ MORE ON MUSIC FAT CHANCE Huge Brit DJ reveals he'll NEVER release another album & has lost love for music SLADE ON THE SLIDE Rows & tragedy saw Slade go from UK's biggest band to playing tiny gigs “As a result, the demand for shared, memorable, communal experiences, such as live concerts, has never been higher. “The UK’s 2025 live music calendar is already packed with huge names such as Dua Lipa , Oasis, Katy Perry, Sabrina Carpenter, Coldplay, Gracie Abrams, Teddy Swims and Billie Eilish , all contributing to the anticipation for what will surely be a landmark year for live music. “Moreover, record companies are recognising the power of live shows to boost music sales by offering bundled concert tickets with album purchases, catering to passionate fans eager for exclusive experiences. “With so much competition in the market, artists are being forced to be more creative with their offerings and their performances, ensuring their live shows are an unforgettable experience.” Advertisement Most read in Music BLANKED SPACE Taylor Swift 'ghosted' £1,000 tartan gift from Scots council be the one Dua Lipa looks loved up with Callum Turner in first snap since engagement CHLOE SO GLOWY Chloe Bennet shows some leg in split yellow skirt at LA premiere of new show Love lessons Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher opens up about family after brief split from wife Lana Del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo , 50 Cent , Sam Fender and Iron Maiden have already helped drive huge revenues with their shows for 2025. R&B stars including Nelly , Sean Paul, Ashanti and Eve will also be helping to boost takings with nostalgia-driven shows. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin stops show in Sydney to save young boy in heartwarming A music industry source said: “Billions have already been generated in ticket sales, but there will be even more added from hotels, travel, food and drink. “It is becoming an increasingly lucrative market and 2025 will be the biggest year ever for live music. Advertisement “The industry is braced for a bumper year.” Billy Joel 21 Billy Joel is coming to Edinburgh and Liverpool Credit: Getty THE Piano Man will play his only Europe shows of 2025 in Edinburgh on June 7 and in Liverpool on June 21 – his first appearances in both cities for 46 years. Iron Maiden 21 Iron Maiden’s Run For Your Lives world tour includes shows in Birmingham, Manchester, London and Glasgow Credit: Getty Advertisement MARKING 50 years as a group, Iron Maiden’s Run For Your Lives world tour includes shows in Birmingham, Manchester, London and Glasgow in June. Billie Eilish 21 Billie Eilish will bring her Hit Me Hard And Soft tour to Glasgow and Dublin Credit: Getty TOURING the nation in July for the Hit Me Hard And Soft tour, beginning at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. Her final night is at Dublin’s 3Arena on July 27. Advertisement Katy Perry 21 Katy Perry is back in Britain in October Credit: Getty SEVEN years after her last arena tour, she is back here in October for the Lifetimes Tour, hitting Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and London. Imagine Dragons 21 Imagine Dragons will bring their LOOM World Tour to London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for two nights in July Credit: Getty ONE of the most popular pop-rock bands around, they will bring their LOOM World Tour to London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for two nights in July, with support from Declan McKenna. Advertisement Scissor Sisters 21 The Scissor Sisters will reunite for a UK tour in May Credit: Getty CELEBRATING the 21st anniversary of their self-titled debut album, the American Take Your Mama group will reunite for a UK tour in May. Dua Lipa June 20 – 27 21 Dua Lipa is doing a stadium tour Credit: Getty Advertisement SHE sold out her Future Nostalgia arena tour last year and this time is upgrading to stadiums. Dua has two nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and will play a further two dates at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium, plus another at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. It follows her Glasto headline performance this summer. Coldplay Aug 22–Sep 8 Advertisement 21 Coldplay are the first band ever to sell out ten nights at Wembley Stadium in a single year Credit: Getty THEY are the first band ever to sell out ten nights at Wembley Stadium in a single year – and they follow six sold-out shows there in 2022 on the same tour. Coldplay will kick off the final swansong of their Music Of The Spheres world tour with two nights at Hull’s Craven Park, before their residency in London. The tour has grossed more than £1billion. Advertisement Olivia Rodrigo Jun 24–Jul 1 21 On top of many other shows, Olivia Rodrigo will headline her own day at BST Hyde Park in London Credit: Getty SHE only completed the Guts World Tour in October, but Olivia will now keep the party going into 2025. As well as two rescheduled shows in Manchester, she will top the bill at Dublin’s Marlay Park and is heavily rumoured to be a headliner at Glastonbury. Advertisement The singing sensation, who has had hits including Deja Vu, Vampire and Drivers License, will also headline her own day at BST Hyde Park in London. Robbie Williams May 31–Jun 14, Aug 23 21 Robbie Williams will play two nights at London’s Emirates Stadium and concerts in Manchester, Bath and Dublin in 2025 Credit: Getty ROBBIE will be embarking on a huge tour, 30 years after his departure from Take That. Advertisement Fresh from his biopic Better Man hitting cinemas, he will headline Newcastle’s inaugural Come Together Festival on June 4. Then there will be two nights at London’s Emirates Stadium and concerts in Manchester, Bath and Dublin. Sabrina Carpenter March 3 -14, Jul 5 21 Popstar Sabrina Carpenter is at the height of her fame Credit: Getty Advertisement AFTER an incredible 21 weeks at number one this year, Sabrina is ready to take the UK by storm with her Short 'N' Sweet tour. She sold out all eight arena shows in Dublin, Birmingham, London Glasgow Manchester as well as a 65,000 ticket headline concert at BST Hyde Park in July. The Espresso singer's tour which began in the states in September has received rave reviews. Lana Del Rey Jun 23-Jul 4 Advertisement 21 Lana Del Rey will play her first stadium tour here in the UK Credit: Getty THE brooding American will play her first stadium tour here in the UK. She will start in Cardiff, before shows in Glasgow, Liverpool and London, most of which has sold out. Fans will also get to hear new music from the six-time chart-topper as she will release her record, The Right Person Will Stay, in May before hitting the road. Advertisement Oasis Jul 4-Aug 17, Sep 27-28 21 The Oasis reunion announcement made headlines around the world IT is the reunion that no one thought would ever happen. Noel and Liam Gallagher have put aside their 16-year rift to kick off Oasis’s comeback at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on July 4. Advertisement They then play shows in Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, and return to London in September for two more shows following a stint in the US. Bruce Springsteen May 14-20 and Jun 4, 7 21 Hundreds of thousands of fans are ready to turn out for three Bruce Springsteen shows Credit: Getty HE has been in music for more than 50 years and The Boss will continue to bring in the crowds. Advertisement Hundreds of thousands of fans are ready to turn out for three shows at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena and a further two nights at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium. Bruce will be accompanied by his E Street Band for the shows. Usher 21 Usher will play ten nights at London’s O2 Arena Credit: Getty THE American R&B superstar will play ten nights at London’s O2 Arena between March and May as part of his Past Present Future tour. Advertisement Busted v McFly 21 Busted will go head-to-head against McFly - pictured Busted's James Bourne Credit: Getty THE two Noughties pop-rock groups will go head-to-head on a 32-show tour across the UK and Ireland, kicking off in September. Kylie Minogue 21 Kylie Minogue fans will be looking forward to May Credit: Getty SIX years after her last tour, the Aussie pop princess will return to the stage for her Tension Tour, in the UK from May to early June. Advertisement ELO 21 ELO will bow out permanently in July Credit: Getty - Contributor JEFF LYNNE’s Electric Light Orchestra will bow out of music for ever in July, with gigs in Birmingham and Manchester and their final show at BST Hyde Park on July 13. Read more on the Scottish Sun GHOST TOWN Former Scots shopping hotspot 'decaying' as multimillion pound revamp ‘failing’ VAX HORROR Striken Scots 'gaslit' by health bosses after complications from Covid vaccine Olly Murs 21 Olly Murs will tour the length and breadth of the country from April to May Credit: Getty X FACTOR’s cheeky chappy will tour the length and breadth of the country from April to May before a packed schedule of summer shows from June to August. Advertisement Sam Fender 21 Sam Fender headlines London Stadium on June 6 Credit: Getty HIS album People Watching will be out in February, which gives fans plenty of time to learn it before he headlines London Stadium on June 6, and three nights at Newcastle’s St James’ Park later in the month.

American McNealy takes first PGA title with closing birdieFormer President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100. Foreign and business leaders celebrated Carter's humanitarian work. President-elect Donald Trump said the world owed Carter "a debt of gratitude." Former President died on Sunday at the age of 100. World leaders responded with an outpouring of support, celebrating . The Georgia peanut farmer turned politician served as president from 1977 to 1981. But he is perhaps most known for his humanitarian work after leaving the White House. Carter championed human rights and pushed for peace in various corners of the world. In 1982, he founded to focus on such issues. In 2002, Carter received a for his efforts to promote peace and human rights. Carter also played an active role with Habitat for Humanity until the end of his life. "My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love," Carter's son, Chip, said in a via The Carter Center on Sunday. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would order a state funeral in Washington for Carter. "Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian," Biden said in a . "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," Biden added. "He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe." Biden said that the love Carter shared with his late wife, , was "the definition of partnership" and that their leadership was "the definition of patriotism." President-elect Donald Trump wrote on that Carter's presidency "came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude." "While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for," Trump said in a . Trump had earlier criticized Carter's decision to hand over control of the Panama Canal to Panama, saying in a Truth Social Post on December 21 that his predecessor had " ." The president-elect recently accused Panama of charging US vessels "exorbitant prices" and threatened to retake control of the canal. Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama said in a on Sunday that Carter had "the longest and most impactful post-presidency in American history." "Elected in the shadow of Watergate, Jimmy Carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth," the Obamas said. "And he did — advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. He believed some things were more important than reelection — things like integrity, respect, and compassion," the statement added. President Carter taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from this remarkable man. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) Former President George W. Bush said in his that Carter was a "man of deeply held convictions" who "set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations." "President Carter dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn't end with the presidency," Bush said. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Carter had " ." "I will always be proud to have presented the Medal of Freedom to him and Rosalynn in 1999, and to have worked with him in the years after he left the White House," Bill Clinton said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X that Carter led an "extraordinary life" that touched countless people's lives through his vision and generosity. As we remember President Carter's extraordinary life, we also honor the countless lives he touched through his vision and generosity. My thoughts are with the Carter family and all those mourning this incredible man. May his memory be a blessing and an enduring reminder of what... — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) Sen. Bernie Sanders on X that Carter would be remembered as a "decent, honest and down-to-earth man" for both his time as president and his later humanitarian work. "He will be sorely missed," Sanders wrote. US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared a tribute to the former president on X, writing that Carter's "leadership, intellect, and moral example ennobled our country, during and ever since his presidency." President and Mrs. Carter were also extraordinarily gracious and kind to Chasten and me, receiving us warmly at their home and making us feel like friends even as we sat amazed by their presence and grace. — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) Carter's passing also saw tributes pouring in from foreign leaders such as Ukrainian President , British Prime Minister , and Canadian Prime Minister . "He was a leader who served during a time when Ukraine was not yet independent, yet his heart stood firmly with us in our ongoing fight for freedom," Zelenskyy said of Carter in his X post. "We deeply appreciate his steadfast commitment to Christian faith and democratic values, as well as his unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's unprovoked aggression," he added. 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. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) "Jimmy Carter's legacy is one of compassion, kindness, empathy, and hard work. He served others both at home and around the world his entire life — and he loved doing it," Trudeau wrote on X. "He was always thoughtful and generous with his advice to me." Also on X, shared a photo of the former president wearing a tool belt in front of a construction site with the message: "Today, we honor President Carter's lifetime of service and his commitment to leaving the world better than he found it. May he rest in peace." Today, we honor President Carter’s lifetime of service and his commitment to leaving the world better than he found it. May he rest in peace. — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) said in her that Carter was her hero. The philanthropist said she knew Carter best as a "global health advocate" who took on "diseases that impact the world's poorest people, like Guinea worm disease." "When President Carter left office, there were more than 3.5 million cases of this painful, debilitating disease around the world each year. This year, thanks in no small part to the work of the Carter Center, that number was down to single digits," French Gates wrote. "One of my favorite teachings says: 'To know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, this is to have succeeded.' We honor President Carter by remembering that because of him, life is healthier, better, and safer not just for one life, but for millions," she continued. Read the original article on

Russian warplanes reportedly joined Syrian air forces to bomb rebel positions in the northwestern city of Aleppo in the biggest challenge in years to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in the battle-torn Middle East nation. The reported attacks on November 30 came a day after Islamists and their Turkish-backed allies breached Syria's Aleppo in a surprise offensive against forces of the Russia- and Iran-backed Assad government. The Syrian military confirmed that rebels had entered Aleppo, but there was no confirmation of the air attacks or the participation of Russian warplanes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 29 that Russia regarded the rebels’ actions as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. "We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said. Reuters quoted two Syrian military sources as saying that Russian and Syrian warplanes had targeted rebel sites in an Aleppo suburb on November 30. The sources said the Kremlin has promised Syria extra military aid, expected to arrive within two to three days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the fighters, led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement, took control of "half of the city of Aleppo," forcing government forces to pull back. The rebels’ offensive began on November 27, prompting the Syrian military to close all main roads in and out of the city. The Aleppo violence breaks a pause in the Syrian civil war, which has been mainly quiet over the past four years. The conflict involved the Assad government backed by Moscow and Tehran against Syrian-Kurdish rebels supported by the United States, while Turkey aided separate rebel groups. The U.S. military still has a number of troops deployed in Kurdish-held areas of Syria. Terror organizations, including Islamic State, also were involved in fighting. Russia, Turkey, and Iran signed an agreement in 2019 to freeze the conflict at then current positions. The Syrian Observatory said at least 16 civilians were killed on November 30 when an air strike, likely carried out by Russian warplanes, hit Aleppo. It said the attack "targeted civilian vehicles" at an intersection, leaving an additional 20 people wounded. This incident brings the total number of fatalities in the city over the past four days to 327. The British-based observatory compiles its information from battlefield sources and has been influential throughout the Syrian civil war. Syria’s army command acknowledged that rebels had entered Aleppo. Rebels had previously controlled the city before being driven out by Russia-backed forces eight years ago. "The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack," the Syrian Army said. The fighting comes amid fears of a wider war in the Middle East. Israeli forces in Gaza are battling extremists from Hamas – deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU – and a cease-fire hangs in the balance in Lebanon, where Israel has struck the leadership of Hezbollah, also designated a terrorist group by Washington. The EU blacklists Hezbollah’s military arm but not its political wing. Israeli attacks have also taken place against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has held multiple phone conversations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban since winning the November 5 presidential election, according to sources who spoke to RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service. Hungarian government sources said Trump has sought Orban’s opinion on ending the Ukraine war, which has continued to drag on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. On the campaign trail, Trump criticized the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. He has also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Orban, who has maintained friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, has been critical of EU aid for Ukraine and has obstructed the bloc’s sanctions regime against Moscow. Preparations are reportedly under way for Orban to take a second crack at a peace mission in December to bookend Hungary’s rotating EU presidency after his first attempt in July when Budapest’s tenure started. In a move criticized by several EU leaders, Orban traveled to Moscow to meet Putin in July after a trip to Kyiv with a mystery cease-fire proposal for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He then traveled to China and finally the United States to meet Trump, who was then on the presidential campaign trail. Details of a potential peace mission in December are not clear, but sources suggested to RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service that it may involve delivering Trump’s messages to Zelenskiy, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. More than 100 people were detained in a massive pro-EU rally in Tbilisi on November 29 as Georgian police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters. The Interior Ministry said in a statement on November 30 that 107 demonstrators were detained for alleged “hooliganism” and failing to follow police orders. The ministry said protesters had “verbally and physically” assaulted police officers and had thrown various objects at security forces. Various videos from the rally showed police officers beating protesters. Protesters have hit the streets since November 28 after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said his government was suspending EU accession talks and would reject budgetary grants from Brussels "until the end of 2028." Reacting to the crackdown, Kobakhidze suggested on November 30 that there were "isolated" incidents of police brutality but "systemic violence" against security forces by protesters. "On one side, there was violence, on the other side there were incidents," he said in a press conference. On the first night of protests, some 43 demonstrators were detained "as a result of illegal and violent actions,” according to the Interior Ministry. Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since parliamentary elections in October -- in which the ruling Georgian Dream party secured 54 percent of the vote -- with the opposition and Western governments arguing that the poll was marred by violations and Russian influence. Kobakhidze on November 30 said the a "difficult" few months lay ahead of Georgia but added that he expects relations with the West to "reset." President Salome Zurabishvili, an ardent critic of Georgian Dream, condemned the "brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media", likening the crackdown on November 29 to "Russian-style repression." The next day, she urged the Georgian diaspora to “wake up” and help protesters by speaking to the media and appealing to the authorities where they live. “[You] can no longer be silent and pretend nothing is happening in the homeland,” she wrote on Facebook. On November 28, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the election result election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied as "baseless accusations" by Kosovo that it was behind an explosion which damaged the Iber-Lepenc water canal supplying Kosovo’s two main coal power plants. "Such unfounded claims are designed to tarnish Serbia's reputation, as well as to undermine efforts to ensure the region's peace and stability," Vucic said. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti had called the November 29 blast a “criminal and terrorist attack” by northern neighbor and bitter rival Serbia. He said the attack aimed to “damage perhaps the most important infrastructure” in the country. The attack did not cause any casualties. Authorities say some regions may have no electricity on November 30 while the capital, Pristina, may be short on drinking water while the damage is fixed. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service, click here . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says being admitted into NATO could end what he described as the “hot phase of the war” waged by Russia. In an interview with Sky News aired on November 29, Zelenskiy suggested that he would be willing to consider a cease-fire if Ukraine’s unoccupied territories fell under NATO’s protection, as long as the invitation to join the alliance recognized Ukraine’s international borders. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has been occupying 20 percent of Ukrainian territory since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. "If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," Zelenskiy said , adding that the occupied eastern parts of the country could then be taken back “in a diplomatic way.” This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. Trump has also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Earlier this week, Trump named Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who has long served as a top adviser to Trump on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg has advocated telling the Ukrainians that if they don't come to the negotiating table, U.S. support would dry up, while telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that if he doesn't come to the table, the United States would give the Ukrainians "everything they need to kill you in the field." For the past several months, Russia has been battering Ukrainian cities with increasingly heavy drone, missile, and glide-bomb strikes, causing casualties and damaging energy infrastructure as the cold season settles in. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure could make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Ukraine has launched several counterattacks since the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the top foreign supporter of Ukraine in its battle against Russia's full-scale invasion, and Kyiv's European allies authorized the use of long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. The leader of Hezbollah has claimed that its cease-fire deal with Israel is a "divine victory" for the Lebanese political party and militant group. In his first address since the cease-fire took effect on November 27, Naim Qassem said on November 29 that the Iran-backed group had "won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah" and weakening the Lebanese "resistance." Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon and has representatives in parliament, is designated in its entirety by the U.S. as a terrorist organization but the EU has blacklisted only its military wing. The cease-fire ended nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel ramped up the pressure by launching a ground offensive in southern Lebanon in October and carrying out massive aerial bombardments of Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and elsewhere. The truce ends the presence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israel, too, must withdraw its ground forces from Lebanon within 60 days of the deal going into force. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 26 warned Hezbollah that Israel would take action if it suspected that Hezbollah had violated the agreement. On November 29, hours before Qassem made his speech, Israel said it had struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after detecting militant activity. The United States and France are overseeing the implementation of the truce, which includes provisions for thousands of Lebanese soldiers moving into southern Lebanon to work with UN peacekeepers and keep Hezbollah away from the Israeli border. Hezbollah had been launching rockets at northern Israel since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. It said it would stop its attacks only after Israel ended its war in Gaza. Over the past 14 months, Israel killed nearly the entirety of Hezbollah's leadership, including Qassem's predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah , and decimated the group's military arsenal. Israel has vowed to ensure Iran cannot continue to fund and arm the group, and has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against facilitating Iranian aid for Hezbollah. Imprisoned former Moscow municipal deputy Aleksei Gorinov, known for his outspoken criticism of Russia's war against Ukraine, has been handed a new three-year prison sentence for "justifying terrorism." After a three-day trial, a Russian military court on November 29 handed down the sentence to the 63-year-old, who is in poor health. In his closing statement , Gorinov, one of the most prominent jailed dissidents left in the country after a major prisoner swap with the West earlier this year, accused Russia of committing a "bloody slaughter" in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Gorinov revealed ongoing struggles with illness, saying there was "no treatment available," for his ailment, which his lawyer said was bronchitis. Gorinov was first sentenced in July 2022 to seven years in prison for spreading "fake news" about the Russian military because of his public opposition to Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. In October 2023, the authorities opened a new case against him, accusing him of "justifying terrorism" based on alleged conversations with fellow inmates about Ukraine's Azov Regiment. During the hearing, Gorinov firmly denied any ties to terrorism. "I am far from any ideology of terrorism," he said. "I am a committed internationalist and an opponent of war and violence, as I have consistently stated publicly throughout my life." Gorinov's initial conviction stemmed from an anti-war speech he delivered at a city council meeting in Moscow's Krasnoselsky district. He was the first person sentenced under Russia's new law criminalizing "fake news" about the military, introduced after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this year, Gorinov was transferred from a detention center in Moscow to a prison in the Vladimir region. He complained of harsh conditions, including solitary confinement in a cold cell without a mattress, blanket, or access to hot water. Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of the Novaya gazeta newspaper and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross for an urgent inspection of the conditions Gorinov was being held in. Following this, local officials and prosecutors inspected the facility, resulting in Gorinov's relocation to a slightly improved cell with a window that opens and closes, a functioning toilet, and reportedly no mice. Gorinov has been repeatedly subjected to punitive measures, including spending extended periods in solitary confinement. In spring 2023, he spent 48 consecutive days in a punishment cell, a treatment often reported by other political prisoners in Russia. Iran and three European powers agreed to continue their dialogue "in the near future" after a meeting in Geneva as intelligence officials warned Tehran's nuclear proliferation poses a "critical threat" in the coming months. Negotiators from Iran and the so-called E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) met in Switzerland to discuss a range of issues, including Iran's expanding nuclear program, its military support for Russia, and conflicts in the Middle East. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X on November 29 that the talks in the Swiss city focused on the latest bilateral, regional, and international developments, "especially the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions." "We are firmly committed to pursuing the interests of our people, and our preference is the path of dialogue and engagement," Gharibabadi said. Ahead of the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said it would be a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse, among other issues. Separately, the spy chiefs of Britain and France raised the alarm about Iran’s growing relationship with Russia and its accelerating nuclear program. The meeting in Geneva came a week after the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran. It also tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb. The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers. In response to the resolution, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its key nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz, the IAEA announced on November 29. The agency noted, however, that Iran would be enriching uranium to 5 percent purity -- even though it is enriching uranium with less advanced machines at 60 percent. Richard Moore, head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, said on November 29 that if Russia were to meet its Ukraine war objectives, “China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened, and Iran would become still more dangerous.” He added that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were “a continued threat” -- a sentiment shared by Nicolas Lerner, head of France's foreign intelligence service. "Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats, if not to say the most critical threat, in the coming months -- the possible atomic proliferation in Iran," Lerner said in Geneva. A Bulgarian accused of spying for Russia in Britain discussed in text messages the possibility of kidnapping or murdering investigative journalist Christo Grozev , British prosecutors said during the trial of members of an alleged spy ring. Prosecutor Alison Morgan said a group of Bulgarians, accused of spying for Russia, followed Grozev, with one member, Orlin Rusev, exchanging messages with the alleged head of the network, Austrian citizen Jan Marsalek, in which they discussed kidnapping or killing Grozev. Grozev has worked for the investigative outlet Bellingcat. He led an investigation by the media network on the 2018 poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England. Rusev and another Bulgarian national, Biser Dzhambazov, have pleaded guilty to espionage charges, while three others -- Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, and Tihomir Ivanchev -- are currently on trial at London's Central Criminal Court for being part of the spy ring. The three defendants have denied the charge of conspiracy to spy between August 2020 and February 2023. Prosecutors told the court Rusev lead the Bulgarians and directed them after receiving instructions from Marsalek. Marsalek -- who is said to have connections to Russian intelligence dating back to at least 2014 -- is now believed to be in Russia. Ukraine said it struck an oil depot and an air-defense radar inside Russia early on November 29 amid an escalation of attacks by both Moscow and Kyiv ahead U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House. Ukraine's military General Staff said a strike on the Atlas oil depot in Russia's Rostov region sparked a fire at the facility, which was previously hit by a similar attack earlier this year. "Atlas is part of the Russian military-industrial complex, which provides the supply of petroleum products for the army of the Russian Federation," it said in a statement on social media. It added that a radar station housing a Russian Buk-M3 antiaircraft missile system was destroyed in a separate attack in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhya region. Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, acknowledged the blaze at an "industrial complex" in the area where the refinery is located, saying more than 100 responders were battling to extinguish the fire. For the past several months, Russia has been battering Ukrainian cities with increasingly heavy drone, missile, and glide-bomb strikes, causing casualties and damaging energy infrastructure as the cold season settles in. Ukraine has launched several counterattacks since the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the top foreign supporter of Ukraine in its battle against Russia's full-scale invasion, and Kyiv's European allies authorized the use of long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump was critical of Biden for pouring billions of dollars into Ukraine to help it fight. Trump also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. That possibility appears to have prompted both Moscow and Kyiv to try and solidify geographical positions before Trump takes office in January. Later on November 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed Mykhaylo Drapatiy as the new commander of Ukraine's ground forces and named Oleh Apostol as a deputy commander in chief of the country's armed forces. Writing on Telegram, Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian Army needed "internal changes to achieve our state's goals in full." Meanwhile, Russia's stepped-up attacks have targeted energy infrastructure, leading to the introduction of emergency power outages in the regions including Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk. Kyiv had also reportedly been forced to disconnect several nuclear power units from the network during attacks. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants. Russia's offensive comes as temperatures across Ukraine dropped to around zero degrees Celsius. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure could make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Romania's Central Election Bureau has begun a court-ordered recount of all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election as accusations swirled that surprise winner Calin Georgescu illegally used TikTok to boost his campaign. The Constitutional Court ordered the recount on November 28 after officials from the Supreme Council of National Defense demanded the authorities take "urgent" steps, saying Georgescu was granted "preferential treatment" by the social media platform. TikTok has denied any wrongdoing. Georgescu, a pro-Russian far-right independent candidate, scored a surprise victory in the first round of the election on November 24, garnering nearly 23 percent of the vote. He is set to face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favored leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Sources have told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that the Constitutional Court, which was originally set to validate the results of the first round of the election on November 29, will do so on December 2 after the recount is finished. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. The Supreme Defense Council said it had found evidence suggesting that "cyberattacks" had been used to influence the outcome of the election. Georgescu alleged that state institutions were attempting to deny the will of the people. Protesters have rallied in Bucharest for several days against Georgescu, with many accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of interfering in Romania's internal affairs. Romania's president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. Georgian police have used water cannons to disperse thousands of demonstrators gathered near the parliament in Tbilisi to protest the government's decision to suspend talks to join the European Union. Reports say police also used tear gas to break up the rallies in the late hours of November 29. President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, condemned the "brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media", likening the crackdown to "Russian-style repression." "These actions will not be forgiven! Those responsible for the use of force should be held responsible," she wrote on Twitter. Protesters have hit the streets for the second day running after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said his government was suspending EU accession talks and would reject budgetary grants from Brussels "until the end of 2028." More than 100 Georgian diplomats have slammed the government's halting of EU membership talks after security forces violently dispersed protesters and journalists at a rally in Tbilisi over the move. More than 30 people were hospitalized early on November 29 after police used tear gas, water cannons, and beat some of the thousands gathered to vent their anger over Kobakhidze's announcement. The Interior Ministry said 43 people were arrested "as a result of the illegal and violent actions" during the first night of protests on November 28, while parliament raised its security level to the maximum -- code red . Security forces violently dispersed protesters and journalists at the November 28 rally in Tbilisi. In response, more than 100 serving Georgian diplomats signed an open letter criticizing the policy change, saying it violated the constitution, which commits to the pursuit of EU membership. "The stalling of the accession negotiation process will lead to the isolation of the country," they wrote. "Without the support of the Western partners, Georgia remains face to face with threats that are especially intensified in the background of the ongoing processes in the international and security environment." More than 100 people working at the Public Services Development Agency, which operates under the Interior Ministry, also issued a statement warning that suspending EU accession talks will only serve to hurt national interests. Even Tbilisi's biggest clubs opted to close their doors on November 29 to bolster the protests, saying in a joint statement that the "energy on the dance floor should be taken to the streets." Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since the October parliamentary elections -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- with the opposition and Western governments arguing the vote was marred by violations and Russian influence. Early on November 29, riot police moved to clear out the peaceful demonstrators, with masked police firing rubber bullets and brutally beating protesters and journalists. RFE/RL Georgian Service journalist Davit Tsagareli was punched and thrown to the ground by a riot police officer as he reported live from the scene, while earlier RFE/RL captured footage of a police officer repeatedly hitting TV Formula journalist Guram Rogava on the head. After Rogava fell to the ground, the officer fled the scene. The journalist was hospitalized with injuries to his face and head. "His condition is satisfactory. He has facial bone fractures, as well as a fracture in his neck. At this stage, it does not require surgical intervention," the doctor who treated Rogava at the hospital told journalists. Kobakhidze blamed the protesters for the violence, saying that if it were not for their actions, "there would be no need to break up the gathering." Zurabishvili joined the protest in Tbilisi on November 28 in a show of solidarity with the demonstrators. "I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections," she told reporters. She also confronted a row of riot police, telling them that it was their "duty to protect" Georgia's sovereignty and asking them whether they "serve Russia or Georgia." Demonstrators in Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the ruling Georgian Dream party was moving away from the EU and pushing the country toward Russia. "Georgian authorities cut off all relations with the European Union and also refuse to receive funding. This will certainly lead to an economic collapse," Manana Mikawa, a teacher, told RFE/RL. Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the result of the election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. Speaking at the Georgian Dream headquarters, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi was suspending accession talks while also rejecting all budgetary grants from the EU until 2028. "We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but in a dignified manner with a sound democratic system and a strong economy," the prime minister told reporters without taking any questions. Earlier, during a parliamentary session to approve his government, Kobakhidze said his government's goal was for Georgia to join the EU by 2030. "We are ready to observe and take into account all conditions [set by the EU] that do not go against our national interests," he said to applause from Georgian Dream lawmakers. Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers. The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy. Several rights organizations have demanded the release of veteran journalist Matiullah Jan, who was detained by Pakistani authorities on November 27 and held on terrorism-related charges. Jan had been covering protests by the supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a statement on November 28, Amnesty International condemned Jan's "arbitrary" arrest on "trumped-up charges," describing it as "an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom." The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the authorities to "ensure Jan's safety" and called for his release. To read the full story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here . Protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on November 28 said his government was suspending EU accession talks until 2028 and would not accept budgetary grants from Brussels. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined the protest in Tbilisi to a rousing welcome from demonstrators, who shouted her name. "I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections," she told reporters. She also confronted a row of riot police, telling them that it was their "duty to protect" Georgia's sovereignty and asking them whether they "serve Russia or Georgia." Western governments have questioned the October parliamentary elections in Georgia -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- arguing that the elections were marred by violations and Russian influence. Smaller pro-EU protests were also being held in Batumi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Zugdidi. Photos and videos of the rallies in Tbilisi and elsewhere showed protesters carrying Georgian and EU flags. Demonstrators in Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the ruling Georgian Dream party was moving away from the EU and pushing the country toward Russia. "Georgian authorities cut off all relations with the European Union and also refuse to receive funding. This will certainly lead to an economic collapse," Manana Mikawa, a teacher, told RFE/RL. Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the result of the election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. Speaking at the Georgian Dream headquarters, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi was suspending accession talks while also rejecting all budgetary grants from the EU until 2028. "We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but in a dignified manner with a sound democratic system and a strong economy," the prime minister told reporters without taking any questions. Earlier, during a parliamentary session to approve his government, Kobakhidze said his government's goal was for Georgia to join the EU by 2030. "We are ready to observe and take into account all conditions [set by the EU] that do not go against our national interests," he said to applause from Georgian Dream lawmakers. Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers. The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy. Romania's Central Election Bureau says it will recount all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election by December 1, following an order on November 28 by the Constitutional Court. Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right independent candidate scored a surprise victory in the first round of the election on November 24, garnering nearly 23 percent of the vote. Georgescu is set to face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favored leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. An official from Lasconi's Save Romania Union party said the Central Election Bureau had rejected a request by the party to film the recounting of the ballots. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on the social media platform TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. Separately, Romania's Supreme Defense Council said after the court ruling that it had found evidence suggesting that "cyberattacks" had been used to influence the outcome of the election. Without naming Georgescu, the council also charged that TikTok had "given preferential treatment" to a particular candidate. Georgescu alleged that state institutions were attempting to deny the will of the people. Meanwhile, around 2,000 protesters rallied in Bucharest for the fourth consecutive day against Georgescu on November 28, carrying a banner telling Russian President Vladimir Putin to "get off Romania." Romania's president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. A former British soldier, whose prison escape sparked a massive manhunt in 2023, has been found guilty of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service. Prosecutors said that Daniel Abed Khalife, 23, played a "cynical game" by claiming he wanted to be a double agent for Britain after he had delivered a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran, including the names of special forces officers. The verdict was delivered at London's Woolwich Crown Court on November 28. Prosecutor Mark Heywood told jurors at the start of the trial that Khalife collected sensitive information between May 2019 and January 2022. Khalife stood trial charged with gathering information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iran, obtaining information likely to be useful for terrorism. Khalife, who was expelled from the army after he was charged, was also accused of planting fake bombs in his military barracks. But the court cleared him of a charge of carrying out a bomb hoax. Khalife snuck out of a London prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial and spent three days on the run. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says his country may change its nuclear doctrine and develop a bomb if UN sanctions are reimposed on Tehran. Speaking to reporters on November 28 in Lisbon, Portugal, Araqchi said Iran had long had the technical know-how to build a bomb but doing so "is not part of Tehran’s security strategy," according to Iranian media. His comments come as negotiators from Iran and the E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) are scheduled to meet in Geneva to discuss a range of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and conflicts in the Middle East. Araqchi described the meeting on November 29 as a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse. The Geneva meeting is not billed as nuclear talks by any party but Iran’s atomic program is expected to be a central topic. Talks between Iran and world powers to restore the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled since September 2022. Last week, the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran and tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb. The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council in a bid to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions that had been lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers. In response to the resolution, Iran activated several “new and advanced” centrifuges to enrich uranium. Araqchi said he was “not optimistic” about the Geneva talks because he was unsure whether Tehran was “speaking to the right party.” The 2015 nuclear agreement began to unravel after President-elect Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord during his first term in office in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by expanding its nuclear program, limiting inspections of its nuclear sites, and enriching uranium to as high as 60 percent. A new truce agreement has been reached between feuding Sunni and Shi'ite communities in Pakistan's northwestern region of Kurram, where more than 100 people were killed and dozens more injured in a new bout of sectarian violence, local officials said. Authorities said late on November 27 that government troops will be deployed in key locations in Kurram, a remote tribal district in the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, to ensure the cease-fire. "Negotiations will continue to ensure lasting peace," the provincial minister's office said in a statement. It also pledged to pay compensations to the victims' families. The violence erupted on November 21 when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a convoy of some 200 passenger vehicles carrying Shi'a traveling through Kurram's Parachinar area. Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in the attack, which triggered a week of clashes between the two communities. Regional officials brokered a seven-day truce on November 24, but it did not hold. Most of Pakistan's some 250 million people are Sunni Muslims. But Kurram has a large Shi'ite population, and the two communities have clashed for decades. More than 200 people have been killed since July, alone. Sectarian violence in the region is often linked to land disputes. Russia unleashed a "massive" attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure on November 28, leaving more than 1 million people without power in freezing temperatures across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of a "despicable escalation," as the Interior Ministry recorded damage to infrastructure in nine regions. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the latest attack was Moscow's "response" to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.S. medium-range ATACMS missiles. Speaking during a trip to Kazakhstan, Putin warned that Russia's future targets could include "decision-making centers" in Kyiv. Putin said Russia launched more than 90 missiles and 100 drones in the "comprehensive strike" on November 28 and that 17 targets had been hit -- the type of detail that the president rarely gives. Ukraine's air force said it had shot down 79 missiles and 35 drones, while 62 drones were "lost," meaning they had likely been disrupted by electronic warfare. All missiles or drones aimed at the capital, Kyiv were downed, officials said. The attack forced national power-grid operator Ukrenerho to "urgently introduce emergency power cuts," Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said early on November 28. "Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine," Halushchenko wrote on social media. Energy provider DTEK said early in the day that emergency power outages were being introduced in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk. Kyiv had also reportedly disconnected several nuclear power units from the network during the attack. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants. It comes as the temperatures across Ukraine dropped to around zero degrees Celsius. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure may make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov's talks in South Korea on November 27 focused on cooperation on the security of both Ukraine and South Korea in light of the deployment of North Korean forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Zelenskiy said Umerov went to Seoul at his instruction to discuss all aspects of North Korea’s involvement in the war “and the things we can do together to defend our nations and to secure our regions together.” Umerov said earlier that he had discussed joint steps to strengthen security and stability with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol while in Seoul. Umerov also met with South Korea’s defense minister and national-security adviser. "We believe that our arguments about the need to increase cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea will lead to a tangible strengthening of security for our peoples and regions," Umerov said on Telegram. Umerov said he raised the presence of the North Korean troops and the North Korean military's "active" support for energy infrastructure attacks on Ukraine. For South Korea, the deployment of the North Korean troops poses a serious threat because they are gaining combat experience, which could create additional security challenges, he said. A statement issued by Yoon’s office does not say whether the parties discussed the possibility of Seoul supplying weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine has previously asked Seoul for weapons, and South Korea has said it could consider such aid, depending on what Russia and North Korea do. Zelenskiy also said in his nightly address that decisions made in July at the NATO summit in Washington on air defense and other supplies to the front line “have not yet been fully implemented...and this, of course, has had a significant impact on our people’s motivation and morale.” The recent authorization of long-range strikes on military targets in Russia “has been helpful, but the pressure on Russia must be maintained and increased at various levels to make Russia feel what war really is,” Zelenskiy said. Russian forces have been making steady gains along the front line as Kyiv's troops battle a larger and better equipped enemy. Zelenskiy did not mention a news report that President Joe Biden's administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops. A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was quoted earlier on November 27 by the Associated Press as saying that the outgoing administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from 25 to help expand the pool of fighting-age men. The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine's situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight, according to the AP. The official said the Ukrainians believe they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the U.S. administration believes they probably will need more than that. Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right independent candidate who scored a shock victory in the first round of Romania's presidential election, has denied that he wants the country out of NATO and the European Union. Georgescu, who garnered nearly 23 percent of the vote in the November 24 poll, will face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favorite leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on social media platform TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. He has described NATO as "the world's weakest alliance" and the alliance's ballistic missile-defense shield in Deveselu, southern Romania, as a "shame of diplomacy," claiming the military alliance would not defend any of its members in case of a Russian attack. Instead, he recommended "Russian wisdom" as Romania's best path forward and launched a TikTok campaign calling for an end to Romanian aid for Ukraine. Under incumbent Klaus Iohannis, Romania has been one of Kyiv's staunchest allies. But facing a public backlash as hundreds of mostly young people took to the streets of Bucharest and other big Romanian cities chanting, "No Putin, no fear, Europe is our mother," and "Young people ask you not to vote for a dictator," Georgescu denied in a YouTube video on November 26 that he wanted Romania out of the Euro-Atlantic structures. "I do not want out of NATO, I do not want out of the European Union," Georgescu said, standing side-by-side with his wife, adding, "but I do want us to stand firm, not to kneel there, not to accept everything, to do everything in our national interest." He went on to say that he wanted peace, adding, "We cannot get into other peoples' wars for their interests that cause us prejudice," again alluding to Romania's support for Ukraine. For the December 8 runoff, Georgescu has rallied the support of far-right pro-Russia AUR party of which he used to be a member until 2022 and whose leader, George Simion, garnered almost 14 percent in the first round, while the center-right liberals threw their weight behind Lasconi, a former TV reporter and mayor of the small southern Romanian city of Campulung Muscel. But first, Romanians will elect a new parliament on December 1, with Ciolacu's Social Democratic Party, the centrist National Liberal Party, and Lasconi's Save Romania Union favorite to win most of the 332 seats in the lower Deputy Chamber and 137 mandates in the upper chamber, the Senate. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on November 27 tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who has long served as a top adviser to Trump on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. "Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration," Trump said on social media. Kellogg "was with me right from the beginning," Trump said on Truth Social. "Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!" Kellogg's nomination comes after Trump's criticism during the 2024 presidential campaign of the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Trump also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Kellogg has already put forth a plan for ending the war that involves freezing the battle lines where they are and forcing Kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating table, Reuters reported in June. According to Reuters, Kellogg has advocated telling the Ukrainians that if they don't come to the negotiating table, U.S. support would dry up, while telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that if he doesn't come to the table, the United States would give the Ukrainians "everything they need to kill you in the field." NATO membership for Ukraine would be off the table as part of the incentive for Russia to come along, while putting it back on would be punishment for holding back. Kellogg, 80, earlier this year wrote that "bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties." He made the statements in a research paper written for the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed after Trump left office in 2021. "The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a cease-fire or peace agreement," the document said. "Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia." Kellogg served in several positions during Trump's first term, including as chief of staff on Trump's national security council and national-security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence. Mikhail Alexseev, a professor of political science at San Diego State University whose research focuses on Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, told RFE/RL that the appointment signals "the intent to enforce some kind of cease-fire and conflict settlement which Trump said he would try to achieve within 24 hours." Alexseev said Kellogg seems to be a straight shooter who would "detect very quickly whether a peace proposal would be unrealistic" and would be able to see through "Putin’s repeated record of breaking agreements.” Alexseev doesn't believe the proposal to get the parties to negotiate is going to work but said Kellogg "would be among the first to see why and how it wouldn’t work." Mark Cancian, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Relations, told RFE/RL that negotiations will be "difficult," because the "two sides are so far apart. Russia thinks its winning. Ukraine wants all its territory back, including Crimea, reparations, war crimes. [The Trump team] has indicated that they'll use U.S. aid as a tool against both sides. Maybe that will work." Cancian adds that he also expects to see "personal diplomacy." He expects that Trump "will meet personally with both Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy. That is his style. I mean, he's a New York real estate developer, and to get something done, you threaten, you bluster, but then in the end, you sit down face to face, and you make a deal, because if you don't make a deal, you don't make any money." Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told a UN Security Council meeting that any decision by Trump's incoming administration to cut support for Ukraine would be a "death sentence" for the Ukrainian Army. "Even if we're to lay to one side the prediction that Donald Trump will cut assistance to Ukraine, which for the Ukrainian Army would essentially be a death sentence, it is becoming clearer that he and his team will, in any case, conduct an audit of the assistance provided to Kyiv," Polyansky said. Polyansky said Russia had repeatedly offered to negotiate, but Ukraine and its Western backers have favored escalation. Ukraine has consistently rejected Russian offers to negotiate because Moscow's conditions, including accepting Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory, have been unacceptable to Kyiv. The Russian diplomat also accused the Biden administration of trying through its increased support to Ukraine to create a "mess, both in Russia and with the new team in the White House." He warned the decision by the Biden administration and its European allies to authorize the Ukrainian military to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia had "placed the world on the brink of a global nuclear conflict" and said Russia would respond decisively. "I will be frank, we believe that it is our right to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries who allow the use of weapons against our facilities." Speaking earlier at the same Security Council session, UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca highlighted recent Russian long-range missile strikes on Ukraine and called the use of ballistic missiles and related threats against Ukraine "a very dangerous, escalatory development." U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told the session Washington would "continue to surge security assistance to Ukraine to strengthen its capabilities, including air defense, and put Ukraine in the best possible position on the battlefield." Russian President Vladimir Putin has been warmly received in Kazakhstan, where he and Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev discussed boosting energy and industry ties. Putin arrived in Astana on a state visit on November 27 and was greeted by Toqaev with a handshake, according to images released on social media. Toqaev said he had "carefully read" Putin’s commentary published in state newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda ahead of the visit and said he had published his own commentary on the state of the relationship between Moscow and Astana in the Russian media. "I think that we have very thoroughly, as if in unison, outlined our approaches to the development of cooperation aimed at the future," Toqaev said. He emphasized in his article that Kazakhstan "remains a reliable strategic partner and ally of Russia in this very difficult time," Toqaev's press service quoted Toqaev as saying. Putin thanked Toqaev "for his careful attitude toward the Russian language," a reference to the lower house of parliament's ratification of an agreement to create the International Organization for the Russian Language a few days before Putin's arrival. Kazakhstan has tried to distance itself from Moscow's war in Ukraine but remains highly dependent on Russia for exporting oil to Western markets and for imports of food, electricity, and other products. Underscoring that more than 80 percent of Kazakhstan's oil is exported to foreign markets via Russia, Putin said he and Toqaev always focus on "a specific result" in their talks. "Our countries are...constructively cooperating in the oil and gas sector," Putin wrote in his article, which was also featured in the Kremlin's website. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists on November 26 that Putin and Toqaev would sign a protocol on extending an agreement on oil supplies to Kazakhstan. He did not give details. The two leaders said after their meeting that they had discussed plans to increase the transit through Kazakhstan of Russian natural gas to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, part of Moscow's pivot away from European energy markets. They also said they talked about joint projects in hydroelectric power, car tires, and fertilizers and other areas. Putin said in his article that Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom was "ready for new large-scale projects." The company already is involved in some projects in Kazakhstan, which in October voted in favor of constructing its first nuclear power plant. Neither leader mentioned the nuclear project after their talks. Toqaev said he had raised the issue of agricultural trade following a Russian ban on imports of grain, fruit, and other farm products from Kazakhstan in October. Moscow imposed the ban after Kazakhstan barred Russian wheat imports in August to protect its producers. "Our countries should not compete on the Eurasian Economic Union market or foreign markets," Toqaev said, referring to agricultural exports within and outside a Moscow-led post-Soviet trade bloc. Nordic-Baltic countries and Poland have pledged to step up support for Ukraine, including making more ammunition available to strengthen deterrence and defense against hybrid attacks . The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, and Sweden, who met near Stockholm on November 27, also said they were ready to step up sanctions against Russia and backers of its Ukraine invasion and discussed an investigation into the severing of undersea communication cables earlier this month in the Baltic Sea. "Together with our allies, we are committed to strengthening our deterrence, and defense, including resilience, against conventional as well as hybrid attacks, and to expanding sanctions against Russia as well as against those who enable Russia's aggression," the leaders said a statement. The leaders met for talks covering transatlantic relations, regional security cooperation, and a common policy on the war in Ukraine. The meeting was the first of the Nordic-Baltic heads of government since 2017. Poland attended for the first time. Ahead of the meeting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk proposed joint monitoring of the Baltic Sea by the navies of the Baltic states following damage to two undersea communication cables that is being investigated as a hybrid attack. "Baltic air policing already exists for the airspace over the Baltic Sea," Tusk said. "I will convince our partners of the necessity to immediately create an analogous formula for the control and security of the Baltic Sea waters, a naval surveillance," he added. The underwater cables -- one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania -- were damaged on November 17-18, prompting suspicions of sabotage. Sweden, Germany, and Lithuania have all launched investigations, but the cause of the damage is still unknown. Finnish police have said they believe the incident was caused by a Chinese ship dragging its anchor, and Swedish investigators have focused on the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is thought to have passed both locations at the times of the cable breaks. The ship now sits idle in international waters but inside Denmark's exclusive economic zone. Sweden has asked the vessel to return to Swedish waters to help facilitate the investigation, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on November 26, but he stressed he was not making any accusations. Kristersson told a press conference he was hopeful China would respond positively to the request to move the ship to Swedish waters. "From the Swedish side we have had contact with the ship and contact with China and said that we want the ship to move towards Swedish waters," Kristersson said. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said communications with Sweden and other relevant parties had been "unobstructed." Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing on November 27 that China has shown "consistent support" in working with other countries to maintain the security of international undersea cables and other infrastructure. Yi Peng 3 left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on November 15. Russia last week said suggestions it had anything to do with the breaches were "absurd." The Wall Street Journal reported on November 27 that the ship has been surrounded by European warships in international waters for a week. Investigators suspect the crew of the Yi Peng 3, which is loaded with Russian fertilizer, deliberately severed the cables by dragging its anchor for more than 160 kilometers, the newspaper reported. The probe centers on whether the captain of the ship was induced by Russian intelligence to carry out the sabotage, the report said. Georgia's billionaire political power broker Bidzina Ivanishvili has introduced a Euroskeptic former soccer player as his ruling party's nominee for a disputed presidential vote next month, despite mounting constitutional disagreements and a post-parliamentary election boycott in the Caucasus nation. The nomination of Mikheil Kavelashvili came hours into a new legislative session dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party -- which Ivanishvili founded -- that the current president, Salome Zurabishvili, contends is unconstitutional because of alleged flaws in last month's parliamentary vote. The fractured opposition disputes the results and sought to nullify the seating of legislators in order to spark a constitutional impasse. The Georgian Dream claimed victory with 88 seats in the 150-seat parliament after voting on October 26, suggesting it will try to steamroll opposition to put the fiery 53-year-old former international footballer and right-wing populist lawmaker Kavelashvili in the presidency. Kavelashvili is one of the founders of a 2-year-old, anti-Western offshoot of the Georgian Dream party called People's Power. His party introduced a draft law on "foreign agents" in 2023 that sparked massive protests before it was withdrawn and replaced earlier this year with a slightly reworded bill to curb "foreign influence" at nongovernment groups. Amid this year's protests against the polarizing so-called Russian law, Kavelashvili invoked Georgia's "civil war started in the '90s" to accuse its opponents -- including current Georgian international soccer great Khvicha Kvaratskhelia -- of stoking violence. The law was eventually enacted when lawmakers overrode Zurabishvili's veto. The looming presidential vote is the country's first under a 2017 change from a direct to an indirect vote by an electoral college for the head of state, a largely ceremonial post that Zurabishvili has used to oppose what Georgian critics decry as a "Russian law." Zurabishvili has called the legislature that emerged from the October elections "unconstitutional" and appealed to the Constitutional Court for their annulment over alleged Russian influence and fraud. The European Union has stalled Tbilisi's bid to join the bloc, while the United States has vowed to "revise" its relations with Georgia over the law and other recent moves by the Georgian Dream-led government. Zurabishvili has accused the ruling party of "capturing" Georgia and diverting it from its pro-EU path, a goal that is enshrined in the constitution and supported by an overwhelming majority of around 80 percent of Georgians, and toward Russia instead. Georgian Dream lawmakers voted on November 26 to hold the presidential election on December 14, a move some experts say is illegal until the courts rule on Zurabishvili's and other postelection challenges. Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia and is the influential honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, called Kavelashvili "the best embodiment of a Georgian man" when he introduced him as the party's presidential choice the same day. In a pointed shot at Zurabishvili, who has fallen out dramatically with Georgian Dream since that party nominated her to the presidency in 2018, Ivanishvili said Kavelashvili would "fully restore the dignity temporarily taken from the institution of the presidency." In accepting the disputed nomination, Kavelashvili accused Zurabishvili of having "insulted and neglected" the Georgian Constitution and that she "continues to violate it today." Detractors have pointed out Kavelashvili's apparent lack of a university degree, or at least the absence of any information about it in his official parliamentary profile. In 2015, Kavelashvili filed a lawsuit seeking to cancel a provision of the national soccer federation's guidelines requiring presidents of that body to have a university degree.

Health Insurer Scraps Widely Hated Plan to Cap Anesthesia Coverage

In preparation for the global Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2025, set to take place in March 2025 in Paris, France, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Fruit of Sustainability convened a Stakeholder Dialogue at the Avari Hotel in Lahore. The dialogue, titled “Partnering for Healthier Food Systems & Nutrition: SMEs and Food Regulators in Focus,” aimed to address critical challenges in regulatory compliance, innovation, and collaboration to improve nutrition and food safety in Pakistan. The N4G Summit is a global platform dedicated to mobilizing financial, political, and community action to combat malnutrition and ensure healthier food systems worldwide. This Stakeholder Dialogue is a crucial initiative to connect local challenges and solutions with the global discourse, contributing actionable insights to the summit’s agenda. The dialogue brought together diverse participants, including representatives from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), regulatory bodies, and nutrition experts. The event began with a welcome address by Sarim Mehmood, CEO and Founder of Fruit of Sustainability, followed by opening remarks from Mr. Faiz Rasool, Head of Policy & Advocacy at GAIN Pakistan, who provided an overview of Pakistan’s malnutrition landscape and emphasized the role of SMEs in transforming food systems. Dr. Talat Naseer Pasha, Director General of the Punjab Agriculture Food & Drug Authority (PAFDA), delivered special remarks highlighting the regulatory landscape in Pakistan and opportunities for fostering innovation and compliance. Participants were then divided into thematic focus groups to discuss key issues: Regulatory compliance and fostering innovation. Building SME capacity for sustained growth. Strengthening collaboration between SMEs and food regulators.Jimmy Carter dedicated his life to public service and taking care of his family. Remember his legacy with his photos, here. President Jimmy Carter led a remarkable life filled with numerous achievements and accolades. He served as the President of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and following his tenure, dedicated himself to a life of public service. In addition to his role as President, Carter served as a Georgia State Senator from 1963 to 1967 and as the 76th Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. Throughout his life, President Carter was supported by his loving wife, Rosalynn Carter , whom he has been married to since 1946. She died in November 2023. Together, they raised a family of three sons, one daughter, grandsons and granddaughters. In February 2023, the Carter Foundation shared that the former President had entered hospice treatment at the age of 98. “After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the statement read. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family respectfully requests privacy during this time and expresses gratitude for the concern shown by his many admirers.” In December 2024, Jimmy died at the age of 100. For more photos of President Jimmy Carter, check out this gallery below. Jimmy Carter & Wife Rosalynn Carter In 2021 Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn attended a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Boys & Girls Club in Plains, Georgia in 2021. Jimmy Carter in 2019 Here, President Carter was seen engaging with students during the annual Carter Town Hall at Emory University in Atlanta in 2019. He answered an array of questions about the upcoming presidential election. Jimmy Carter & Rosalynn Carter in 2019 Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter in Nashsville in 2019. Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter at George H.W. Bush’s Funeral Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn hold hands as they attend George H.W. Bush’s funeral in 2018. Carter remains the oldest ex-president. Jimmy Carter & Rosalynn Carter in 2015 Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter attending the MusiCares Person of the Year Gala in 2015. More About Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter’s Cause of Death: About the Former President’s Passing Jimmy Carter & Rosalynn Carter in 2010 Jimmy and Rosalynn joined volunteers to rehabilitate homes in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 2010. Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter In 1993 Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn posed together for this 1993 portrait. They founded the Carter Center in 1982, to resolve civil and international conflicts, advance democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity. Jimmy Carter & Family In 1977 President-elect Jimmy Carter had wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy Carter by his side during his Inauguration Day, which took place on Jan. 20, 1977. They posed for photographers and smiled on the special day. The Carters In 1976 Rosalynn Carter and daughter Amy were with then-Georgia governor Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Convention in New York City on Jul. 15, 1976. They looked like they were getting used to the spotlight. Jimmy Carter at Home in Georgia Jimmy Carter is seen here at his home in Plains, Georgia. The Carters moved back to their hometown after leaving the White House in 1981. Jimmy Carter & Wife Dance President Jimmy Carter got to dance with First Lady Rosalynn Carter during the 1977 inaugural ball. The couple have been married since 1946. Rosalynn Carter Speaks Rosalynn Carter addressed a crowd after a diplomatic trip to Latin America in Jun. 1977. The First Lady met with leaders of Jamaica, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela to discuss commerce human rights disarmament, and the drug trade. Jimmy Carter On Air Force One Jimmy Carter (center right) relaxed with cabinet members Zbigniew Brzezinski, Michael Blumenthal, and Cyrus Vance (left to right) aboard Air Force One during a trip to London for the G7 economic summit. President Jimmy Carter & The First Lady In 1977 President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter beamed in their official 1977 White House portrait. Rosalynn was a politically active First Lady, serving as her husband’s closest adviser and often sitting in on cabinet meetings. Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Portrait President Jimmy Carter poses for his official portrait in 1977. Carter would serve one term as president, leaving the White House in 1981. Jimmy Carter Teaches Sunday School Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia in 2019. He has been teaching at the church for years. President Ford & Wife With President-elect Carter President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford chatted with President-elect Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter following the Carter’s tour of the White House in Dec. 1976, ahead of his inauguration. The ladies’ hairdos were a retro treat! Jimmy Carter & Ed Kennedy Senator Edward Kennedy looked like he and President Jimmy Carter were making things happen during this 1977 Oval Office meetings. Carter was known for his affable nature. President Carter & Senator Byrd Senator Robert Byrd presented President Jimmy Carter with a copy of his album Mountain Fiddler in 1978. What a relic! Cyrus Vance & President Carter In 1977 Secretary of State Cyrus Vance pulled President Carter aside for a word on the White House lawn in March of 1977. Vance was one of Carter’s closest confidantes during his one-term presidency. President Carter In The Oval Office President Jimmy Carter was hard at work during this deskside portriat taken in the White House Oval Office. Following his time at 1600 Penn., Jimmy received the Nobel Prize. Trending Now

JuJu Watkins and No. 3 USC can't hold back No. 6 Notre Dame in first loss

Matt Gaetz says he won't return to Congress next year after withdrawing name for attorney general WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz is not coming back to Congress. The Florida Republican said Friday he has no intention of serving another term in the House now that he is no longer President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general. Gaetz withdrew as the nominee this week amid growing fallout from the allegations of sexual conduct against him. Gaetz denies the allegations. Gaetz didn't lay out his plans now that he's out of office, saying only, “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch." After Gaetz's withdrawal on Thursday, Trump named former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department. Vance takes on a more visible transition role, working to boost Trump's most contentious picks WASHINGTON (AP) — After several weeks working behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role. He's been helping Donald Trump’s most contentious Cabinet picks try to win confirmation in the Senate, where he has served for the last two years. Vance spent part of Wednesday at the Capitol with Rep. Matt Gaetz sitting in on meetings with Trump’s controversial choice for attorney general. On Thursday, Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings over the coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump’s picks. Beyond evangelicals, Trump and his allies courted smaller faith groups, from the Amish to Chabad Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, but he didn't focus exclusively on large religious voter blocs. He and his allies also wooed smaller religious groups, away from the mainstream. He posted a tribute to Coptic church members on social media and met with members of Assyrians for Trump — two smaller Christian communities with Middle Eastern roots. He visited the grave of the revered late leader of an Orthodox Jewish movement. His allies sought votes from the separatist Amish community. While Trump won decisively, the outreaches reflected aggressive campaigning in what was expected to be a tight race. NATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks after Russia's attack with new hypersonic missile KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with a hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Ukraine's parliament canceled a session Friday over the security threat. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech Thursday that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Putin said Russia is launching production of the Oreshnik, saying it's so powerful that several of them fitted with conventional warheads could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons. Texas education board approves optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ education board has voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools. The approval Friday follows other Republican-led states that have pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education is optional for schools to adopt, but they’ll receive additional funding if they do so. Parents and teachers who opposed the curriculum say the lessons will alienate students of other faith backgrounds. Supporters argue the Bible is a core feature of American history and that teaching it will enrich learning. 2 convicted in human smuggling case after Indian family froze to death on US-Canada border FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A jury has convicted two men of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand each faced four charges related to human smuggling before being convicted on Friday. Patel is an Indian national. Shand is an American from Florida. They were arrested after the family froze while trying to cross the desolate border during a 2022 blizzard. Storm inundates Northern California with rain, heavy snow. Thousands remain in the dark in Seattle HEALDSBURG, Calif. (AP) — Heavy rain from a major storm prompted evacuation warnings for communities near a Northern California river that forecasters say could break its banks Friday, as the system continued to dump heavy snow in mountainous areas where some ski resorts opened for the season. The storm reached the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands before moving through Northern California, where several roads were closed due to flooding and strong winds toppled some trees. Forecasters are warning about the risk of flash flooding and rockslides in areas north of San Francisco as the region was inundated by this season’s strongest atmospheric river. Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old canals used to fish by predecessors of ancient Maya WASHINGTON (AP) — Using drones and Google Earth imagery, archaeologists have discovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in what’s now Belize. The research published Friday in Science Advances shows that long before the ancient Maya built temples, their predecessors were already altering the landscape of Central America’s Yucatan peninsula. The ancient fish canals were used to channel and catch freshwater species such as catfish. These structures were used for around 1,000 years — including during the “formative” period when the Maya began to settle in permanent farming villages and a distinctive culture started to emerge. California case is the first confirmed bird flu infection in a US child Health officials are confirming bird flu in a California child — the first reported case in a U.S. minor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced confirmatory test results on Friday. Officials say the child had mild symptoms, was treated with antiviral medication and is recovering. The child’s infection brings the reported number of U.S. bird flu cases this year to 55, including 29 in California. State officials have said the child lives in Alameda County, which includes Oakland, and attends day care, but released no other details. Brazilian police formally accuse former President Bolsonaro and aides of alleged 2022 coup attempt SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police have formally accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people of attempting a coup to keep him in office after his electoral defeat in the 2022 elections. The findings are to be delivered Thursday to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which will refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who will either formally charge Bolsonaro and put the former president on trial or toss the investigation. The former right-wing president has denied all claims he tried to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to his rival, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 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