Maurid Institute debunks admission fraud allegation
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated , conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate . Related Articles President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld. At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn’t anticipate any earth-shattering revelations. “Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed,” which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Friday’s 61st anniversary is expected to be marked with a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy’s motorcade was passing through when he was fatally shot. And throughout this week there have been events marking the anniversary. When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas , they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip. But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn’t quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades. In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president. Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had boasted that he’d allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden’s administration, some still remain unseen. The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas. Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what’s been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA. Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone’s Social Security number. There are about 500 documents where all the information is redacted, Posner said, and those include Oswald’s and Ruby’s tax returns. “If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said. Trump’s transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office. From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper’s perch. “People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,” said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates back to the event itself, when he was a child. “It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century,” Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”Wallabies player ratings: How the men in gold fared against Ireland
When Target’s ( TGT -0.71% ) earnings fell drastically short of expectations on Wednesday, executives pointed to the U.S. port strike as a key factor. However, the retailer’s troubles – which pushed its stock down 21% to a one-year low – go much deeper than shipping costs and an inventory glut. Target imported a similar number of cargo containers during the key summer months as it did in 2023, well before the strike became a major problem , as reported by CNBC ( CMCSA +1.30% ), which cites trade data from ImportGenius, a firm specializing in the international trade industry. During Target’s Nov. 20 earnings call, CEO Brian Cornell acknowledged that the company “faced supply chain challenges” tied to the East Coast and Gulf port strikes, but explained Target had adjusted by “changing shipment timings and rerouting deliveries to other ports,” as a way to ensure it had stock for the fourth quarter. These changes, coupled with weaker demand in discretionary categories, led to higher-than-normal inventory levels earlier in the year, resulting in increase cost’s for the company’s supply chain, Cornell noted. Still, imports during the summer months – especially July and August – were consistent with past years, with no major surge to suggest a rush of goods to preempt the strike. Target actually increased the number of containers arriving thorough its West Coast ports. If the strike isn’t too blame for Target’s big earnings miss, what is? Analysts at Jefferies ( JEF +3.37% ) said in a research note that Target misjudged consumer demand and pricing. Despite importing more goods than Walmart ( WMT +1.33% ) by $1.2 billion, the retailer struggled to attract customers in key categories, even as shoppers increasingly turned to competitors for essentials like groceries, apparel, and personal care items. In May, Target revealed plans to slash prices on 5,000 items , and by October, the company expanded this initiative to include an additional 2,000 products , covering categories like food, cold medicine, and baby essentials. Target said it aims to slash prices on 10,000 items during the holiday season. However, some items – like deodorant and undergarments – will remain locked behind glass shelves due to theft concerns. While Target hasn’t traditionally been seen as a price leader, analysts told Quartz earlier this week that its emphasis on competitive pricing has helped the retailer attract more budget-conscious shoppers in today’s cautious consumer environment. That, however, hasn’t been enough to turn the tide. Meanwhile, Target’s main rival, Walmart, reported strong quarterly earnings on Nov. 19, continuing its success , by catering to all consumer income levels –especially those with household incomes over $100,000, and who accounted for 75% of its sales this quarter. 📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency's supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden's AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, "limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people "may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.Transfer rumors, news: Man Utd add Hernández to left-back list
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Former US president Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. Mr Carter, a Democrat, led the United States from 1977 to 1981. He defeated Republican Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election, before losing his bid for re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980. In his post-politics career, Mr Carter devoted his time to charitable and humanitarian causes, which brought him widespread admiration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 due to his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”. He died at his home on Sunday afternoon, local time. “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” Mr Carter’s son, Chip Carter, said in a statement. “My brothers, sister and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.” Jimmy Carter during his presidency. And in his later years. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP Mr Carter rose from humble beginnings in rural Georgia, in America’s south, to lead the United States. He had been in hospice care since mid-February of 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia - the same small town where he was born, and once ran a peanut farm, before becoming governor of the state and then running for the White House. Mr Carter died “peacefully” and was “surrounded by his family”, his non-profit organisation, The Carter Center, said in a statement. There will be public observances in both Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, and Washington D.C., before a private interment in Plains. The final arrangements for Mr Carter’s state funeral are yet to be finalised. Mr Carter was the oldest living former American president and the nation’s longest-lived president of all time. That seemed an unlikely feat back in 2015, when Mr Carter revealed he had brain cancer. But the US Navy veteran and fervent Christian repeatedly defied the odds to enjoy a long and fruitful post-presidency. Mr Carter in 1976, with secretary of state Henry Kissinger and vice president Walter Mondale. Picture: AFP And at a famous debate with Mr Reagan in 1980. During his single term, Mr Carter displayed a firm commitment on human rights and social justice, enjoying a strong first two years that included brokering a peace deal between Israel and Egypt, dubbed the Camp David Accords. But his administration hit numerous snags, the most serious being the taking of US hostages in Iran and the disastrous failed attempt to rescue the 52 captive Americans in 1980. He also copped criticism for his handling of an oil crisis. In November of that year, Mr Reagan clobbered Mr Carter at the polls, relegating the Democrat to just one term. Mr Reagan, a former actor and governor of California, swept into office on a wave of staunch conservatism. Admirable post-presidency As the years passed, a more nuanced image of Mr Carter emerged, one that took into account his significant post-presidential activities and reassessed his achievements. He founded The Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy. He observed numerous elections around the world and emerged as a prominent international mediator, tackling global problems from North Korea to Bosnia. Mr Carter, known for his toothy smile, said basic Christian tenets such as justice and love served as the bedrock of his presidency. He taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist, his church in Plains, well into his nineties. In recent years, he had received various hospital treatments, including when he revealed in August of 2015 that he had brain cancer and was undergoing radiation. US Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr preached, wished the Carter family comfort as the former president entered hospice last year. “Across life’s seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, has walked with God,” Mr Warnock wrote on X, then Twitter. “In this tender time of transitioning, God is surely walking with him.” Mr Carter and his wife Rosalynn, who died last year. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images via AFP In April of 2021, President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, met with the Carters at their home. The White House later released a photo showing the couples smiling together, although only Mr Carter’s wife Rosalynn was seen by the press outside, bidding the Bidens farewell while using a walker. Rosalynn, Carter’s wife of 77 years, died on November 19, 2023 at the age of 96. The former president, who looked frail, appeared at her memorial service in a wheelchair, with a blanket on his lap bearing their likenesses. Mr Carter is survived by the couple’s four children: three sons and a daughter. ‘I just heard’: Reaction to Carter’s death President Biden called Mr Carter “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. “He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism. We will always cherish seeing him and Rosalynn together. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership and their humble leadership is the definition of patriotism,” Mr Biden said, referring to both himself and his wife Jill. “We will miss them both dearly, but take solace knowing they are reunited once again and will remain forever in our hearts. “To the entire Carter family, we send our gratitude for sharing them with America and the world. To their staff – from the earliest days to the final ones – we have no doubt that you will continue to do the good works that carry on their legacy. “And to all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility. He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Jimmy Carter in 2004. Picture: Juan Barreto/AFP President-elect Donald Trump reacted to Mr Carter’s death with a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I just heard about the news of the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have served as president understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Mr Trump wrote. “The challenges Jimmy faced as president 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. “Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers.” Originally published as Jimmy Carter, former US president, dead at 100 World Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. More related stories News One baffling detail in crash that killed 179 Flight experts have highlighted one “really, really rare” aspect of the deadliest air disaster of 2024, as one of the two survivors speaks out. 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