NEW YORK (AP) — No ex-president had a more prolific and diverse publishing career than Jimmy Carter . His more than two dozen books included nonfiction, poetry, fiction, religious meditations and a children’s story. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, while his 2006 best-seller “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” stirred a fierce debate by likening Israel’s policies in the West Bank to the brutal South African system of racial segregation. And just before his 100th birthday, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation honored him with a lifetime achievement award for how he wielded “the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.” In one recent work, “A Full Life,” Carter observed that he “enjoyed writing” and that his books “provided a much-needed source of income.” But some projects were easier than others. “Everything to Gain,” a 1987 collaboration with his wife, Rosalynn, turned into the “worst threat we ever experienced in our marriage,” an intractable standoff for the facilitator of the Camp David accords and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Carter, Rosalynn was a meticulous author who considered “the resulting sentences as though they have come down from Mount Sinai, carved into stone.” Their memories differed on various events and they fell into “constant arguments.” They were ready to abandon the book and return the advance, until their editor persuaded them to simply divide any disputed passages between them. “In the book, each of these paragraphs is identified by a ‘J’ or an ‘R,’ and our marriage survived,” he wrote. Here is a partial list of books by Carter: “Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President” “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East” (With Rosalynn Carter) “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life” “An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections” “Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age” “Always a Reckoning, and Other Poems” (With daughter Amy Carter) “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer” “Living Faith” “The Virtues of Aging” “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” “Christmas in Plains: Memories” “The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War” “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis” “Faith & Freedom: The Christian Challenge for the World” “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” “A Remarkable Mother” “Beyond the White House” “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work” “White House Diary” “NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter” “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power” “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety”
LINCOLN — What was once a major event of the college football season has, in the first week of December, just become one of the subplots. Early signing day is here for Nebraska and every other program, many of which, including NU, have their attention split several ways. Conference title games haven’t even been played yet. The transfer portal — not officially open until Dec. 9 — has nevertheless been whirling with at least seven Husker departures since Monday. NU has lost one coordinator, locked another up for two years, and set its sights on Kentucky assistant Daikiel Shorts to coach receivers. Matt Rhule’s early afternoon press conference may focus just as much — perhaps more — on topics as the 2025 recruiting class, which stood Tuesday evening at 19 members. By the time Rhule talks about the class, it could grow by a few or in theory shrink, were commits inclined to balk at the departure of Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White. That hasn’t been the case so far, as some of the highest-rated prospects in the class — four-star linebackers Dawson Merritt and Christian Jones — had reaffirmed their commitment to Nebraska through social media statements. Nebraska awaits final answers from at least three prospects, though Dalkiel’s imminent hiring could, in theory, bring more options into play. »San Antonio Alamo Heights High School five-star athlete Michael Terry, a prospect of few interviews who has narrowed his list to home-state Texas, Nebraska and Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder’s top three schools for months. He’ll announce a choice at his 8:15 a.m. signing ceremony on Wednesday. At NU, Terry projects to wideout. »Homestead (Florida) High School four-star receiver Cortez Mills has long been committed to Oklahoma, but recruiting site reporters have him trending to flip to Nebraska. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Mills caught 79 passes for 1,640 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, breaking Miami-Dade County single-season marks. Mills’ signing ceremony takes place between 8:05-9:30 a.m. in the school’s auditorium. »Kahuka (Hawaii) High School three-star safety Aidan Manutai remains a Husker target, though he’s currently committed to California. The 6-foot, 170-pound Manutai would be part of a defensive backs group that could vie for early playing time. »Another potential prospect to watch is Kentucky receiver commit Dejerrian Miller, who verbally pledged to Shorts and the Wildcats last week and plays prep football at St. Louis Cardinal Ritter, the same school as Husker running back commit Jamarion Parker. Miller did not previously have Nebraska among his top group of suitors and may stick in the SEC. In total, NU plans to sign six in-state commitments — headlined by Jones, an Omaha Westside linebacker — to financial aid papers, as the NCAA in October eliminated the national letter of intent, which binds prospects to school. The group of six — Jones, Omaha North defensive tackle Tyson Terry, Millard North athletes Pierce Mooberry and Caden VerMaas, Wahoo Neumann running back Conor Booth and Lincoln Southwest receiver Jackson Carpenter — are part of one of the strongest corps of in-state recruits in years. Fifteen prospects are poised to sign with FBS programs, with 12 of those headed to power conferences. Unless Terry or Mills flips to NU, Merritt, out of Overland Park (Kansas) Blue Valley High School, is NU’s highest-ranked player in the 2025 class. Thirteen of the 19 prospects in the class have a four-star according to at least one of the four major recruiting services — 247 Sports, ESPN, On3 and Rivals. And all but 247 Sports, as of Tuesday evening ranked NU’s class as No. 20 in the nation. 247 Sports had the Huskers 22nd. Get local news delivered to your inbox!How the FDA allows companies to add secret ingredients to our foodHARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is underscoring his intention to block the purchase of U.S. Steel by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. , and he's pledging to use tax incentives and tariffs to strengthen the iconic American steelmaker. Trump had vowed early in the presidential campaign that he would “instantaneously” block the deal, and he reiterated that sentiment in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday night. “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company” and will use tax incentives and tariffs to make U.S. Steel “Strong and Great Again, and it will happen FAST!” he wrote. “As President," he continued, "I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!” President Joe Biden , like Trump, also opposes Nippon Steel's purchase of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. Biden’s White House in September said that it had yet to see a report from the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States , which was reviewing the transaction for national security concerns. The committee, which is chaired by the treasury secretary and includes other Cabinet members, can recommend that the president block a transaction, and federal law gives the president that power. Ahead of the November election, the proposed merger carried political importance in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state that Trump eventually won. Biden publicly sided with the United Steelworkers, the labor union, in seeking to reject the deal. When he announced his opposition in a March statement, Biden said: “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.” Nippon Steel has said it is the only company that can make the necessary investment in U.S. Steel's factories and strengthen the American steel industry. Both Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel on Tuesday released statements in support of the acquisition. "This transaction should be approved on its merits. The benefits are overwhelmingly clear. Our communities, customers, investors, and employees strongly support this transaction, and we will continue to advocate for them and adherence to the rule of law," U.S. Steel said. The deal follows a long stretch of protectionist U.S. tariffs that analysts say has helped reinvigorate domestic steel, including U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel's shareholders have approved the deal, but the United Steelworkers oppose it. In a statement Tuesday, the union said the deal carries “serious long-term implications for U.S. economic and national security.” “It’s clear that President Trump understands the vital role a strong domestic steel industry plays in our national security, as well as the importance of the jobs and communities the industry supports," the union said. The deal has drawn bipartisan opposition in the U.S. Senate, including from the incoming vice president, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, although the federal government's objections to the deal have drawn criticism that the opposition is political. Some U.S. Steel workers would prefer Nippon Steel acquire the company, given that it appears to have a better financial balance sheet than another potential buyer, Cleveland-Cliffs. U.S. Steel “provided a very, very good life for our families for a lot of years,” said Jack Maskil, a vice president at the Steelworkers local branch in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. “And we feel that with the Nippon deal that a lot more families for futures to come will be able to share the same.” West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly said he met with Nippon Steel executives and found himself satisfied by their commitments. Located southeast of Pittsburgh, West Mifflin is home to U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant. “There’s no question in my mind that it’s the best deal moving forward,” Kelly said at a panel hosted on Tuesday by the conservative think tank Hudson Institute, where Maskil was also speaking. The Biden administration committee vetting the merger is scheduled later this month to decide on the acquisition or possibly extend the ongoing review. William Chou, a deputy director at the Hudson Institute specializing in relations with Japan, said that "President-elect Trump's view on the deal are important." But given the upcoming deadline, “It's up to President Biden to recognize how this deal will advance the interests of future generations of U.S. Steel union steelworkers.” Trump’s statement came two weeks after Nippon Steel’s vice chairman, Takahiro Mori, visited Pittsburgh and Washington to meet with lawmakers, local officials and workers in an ongoing persuasion campaign. That campaign has included Nippon Steel's promises to boost its capital commitments beyond the original deal and, more recently, a pledge that it won’t import steel slabs that would compete with U.S. Steel’s blast furnaces. As part of its proposed $14.9 billion purchase of U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel also pledged to invest at least $1.4 billion in USW-represented facilities, not to conduct layoffs or plant closings during the term of the basic labor agreement, and to protect the best interests of U.S. Steel in trade matters. Boak reported from Washington.
Tech to drive India's manufacturers growth: SurveyAfter four weeks of deadlock, councillors eventually passed a controversial budget that will see the commercial rates paid by businesses in the city increase by 6 per cent next year. The budget was forced through by the local authority’s ruling bloc, known as the Pact, which includes councillors from Fianna Fáil, Labour, Sinn Féin and independents Mike Cubbard and Declan McDonnell. The executive of the local authority had been seeking a rate increase of 15 per cent, which chief executive, Leanord Cleary, described as being central to a “defining budget” for the city. Discussion on the proposed budget had been deadlocked for weeks with finance director, Helen Kilroy, reminding councillors earlier this week that ministers have the power to fire the elected members if “financial planning is insufficient”. An amendment to the budget, which strips more than €6 million from the council’s proposed expenditure for next year, was presented to councillors and officials by the bloc on a single piece of paper during this afternoon’s meeting. The amendment was proposed by Cllr Mike Cubbard, who said that a 15 per cent rates increase “would have been the death of a number of businesses in this city”. Fine Gael councillor, Eddie Hoare, criticised members of the bloc for “trying to make a 6 per cent rise look like a 9 per cent reduction”. He also criticised the democratic process of the budget citing a “lack of respect and a lack of engagement for some of the elected members”. He said “we have 18 councillors representing the people of the city, they didn’t elect six to speak on our behalf”. The Social Democrats’ Alan Curran criticised the budgetary process and the last-minute presentation of the amendment. “This has been an eye opener about how this council works. A lot of us, perhaps naively, thought that we would be working together to tease this out,” he said. Mayor of Galway and member of the voting bloc, Peter Keane (FF), defended the action of the group. “When we talk about leadership and who talks to who, the dynamic is what the dynamic is, and it has been that way here for years. If the Pact [voting bloc] talk to people, they talk to people, if they don’t, they don’t,” he said. Before a final vote, chief executive, Leanord Cleary, formally recorded his objections to the amendment.Despite the objections, the amended budget was passed with 12 councillors voting in favour, four against and one abstention.
President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money convictionSamyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Rakesh Tikait met Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whose fast-unto-death entered the 18th day, on Friday even as farmers announced to make a fresh attempt to cross over to Haryana from Shambhu border on Saturday as part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. A group of 101 farmers, under the banner of SKM (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), pegged “marjeevdas” (those ready to sacrifice their lives), will start the march at 12pm. KMM convener Sarvan Singh Pandher told HT, “Though our undefended farmers will not be able to cross over to Haryana, given the presence of thousands of security personnel, we will take our chance, sheerly to expose the BJP-led central and Haryana governments who are not letting peaceful protesters to march to the National Capital.” Meanwhile, Dallewal’s health is said to have further deteriorated, with doctors recommending immediate hospitalisation. Fearing that the Punjab Police may whisk off the leader, farmers have beefed up the security around him. “No unidentified person is allowed to get close to Dallewal. Round-the-clock vigil is being kept at the protest site to identify and nab unidentified persons,” said farmer leader Kaka Singh Kotra. Dallewal, with the support of doctors, was, however, brought near the main stage from his makeshift room on Friday. Though he couldn’t speak, he responded to farmers through gestures. Tikait expressed concern over Dallewal’s health. “We are very worried about his health, which is deteriorating by the day. The government should immediately hold talks with protesting unions.” When asked about the possibility of SKM joining the ongoing protest of SKM (non-political) and KMM, Tikait seemed indifferent to the question, and said that their priority is Dallewal’s health. He said they are supporting the movement, but refused to state whether they would join the protest. Commenting on the Supreme Court (SC) directives to a five-member committee to engage with farmers to persuade them (farmers) to temporarily suspend their agitation or relocate themselves from the highways at the Punjab-Haryana border, Pandher told HT that the committee lacked political legitimacy and authority to address their core demands, particularly the legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP). “The SC should direct the Union government to hold talks with the protesting farmers. We don’t see any point in talking with the committee as it is already aware of our demands. Now, the government should come forward instead of the SC-appointed committee. Even if the SC-appointed committee gives recommendation in our favour, it is the Centre that has to implement it,” said Pandher. Sukhjeet Singh, who is a senior member of SKM (non-political), said, “We have already submitted a demand charter to the committee, and believe that now Union government should come for talks. We have never refused to hold talks with anyone. But it should be the government holding talks not the SC-appointed committee. Dallewal will not end his fast-unto-death come what may,” he said. In the evening, popular Punjabi singer Babbu Mann, reached Khanauri border and met Dallewal. As a mark of protest, farmers also burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Khanauri border.
Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who won a Stanley Cup with the 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning , is retiring after 14 NHL seasons. Shattenkirk made the announcement in a statement issued by the NHL Players' Association on Tuesday. From New Rochelle, New York, the 35-year-old appeared in 952 regular-season games split between seven teams, along with 91 playoff appearances. Shattenkirk has gone unsigned since scoring six goals and 18 assists in 61 games with the Boston Bruins last season. "I can proudly say that I have accomplished most of my career goals. I scored big goals, including a Stanley Cup final overtime goal, played in All-Star games, represented my country in the Olympics, and won a Stanley Cup," Shattenkirk said. "What makes me even prouder when I reflect back on my career, are the countless friendships that I have made along the way. ... Thank you to all my teammates, it was an honor to play with all of you." He was selected 14th overall in the 2007 draft by Colorado and made his NHL debut with the Avalanche in 2010-11 before being traded to St. Louis that season. Shattenkirk then played six-plus seasons with the Blues, during which he was selected to represent the U.S. at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and earned his lone All-Star game appearance in 2015. Shattenkirk's most memorable goal came 6:34 into overtime to seal the Lightning's 5-4 win over Dallas in Game 4 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. Tampa Bay went on to win the series in Game 6. He signed with the Lightning after having the final two years of his contract bought out by the New York Rangers the previous summer. He also played for Washington, the New York Rangers and Anaheim. Shattenkirk's best statistical season came in 2016-17, when he finished with 56 points, including 13 goals, split between St. Louis and Washington. Overall, he finished with 103 goals and 381 assists for 484 points. Shattenkirk was also influential off the ice in being a member of the NHLPA executive board and the NHL player inclusion coalition. At college, he was a member of Boston University's 2009 NCAA championship team. "I never knew hockey would take me this far," Shattenkirk said. "This game has had a dramatic impact in developing me into the man I am today."
The Packers have had a good season, but they have struggled in two games against the Vikings. It will take a heck of a comeback for the Packers today to split their two meetings. Minnesota led 28-0 in a Week 4 game in Green Bay before holding on for a 31-29 win. Today, the Vikings lead 20-3. Minnesota opened the second half with a nine-play, 70-yard drive, with Jordan Addison catching an 18-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold. Addison turned around Javon Bullard to get open in the end zone. Darnold is 24-of-30 for 257 yards and two touchdowns as the Vikings now have 299 yards. Addison had two catches for 20 yards on the opening third quarter drive, giving him five for 49.
Thiruvananthapuram: As part of the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), ‘ Cinema Alchemy : A Digital Art Tribute ', an exhibition celebrating 50 masters of world cinema, will be inaugurated at Tagore Theatre on Saturday. Curated by noted filmmaker TK Rajeev Kumar , the exhibition features 50 digital paintings created by acclaimed art director and filmmaker Razi Muhammed . IFFK Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and legendary filmmaker Ann Hui will inaugurate the event at 11am. Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman Premkumar, secretary C Ajoy and other dignitaries will attend the opening ceremony. The exhibition pays homage to cinematic luminaries like Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Andrei Tarkovsky, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Agnès Varda, Márta Mészáros, Mira Nair, among others. Combining the visual styles of surrealism and hyper-realism, the digital artworks offer profound insights into each filmmaker's unique contributions to world cinema. "This exhibition is a tribute to filmmakers who transformed cinema into a powerful tool for social change," said Kumar. Sharing the challenges of narrowing the selection to 50 directors, Muhammed said, "These visionaries tackled themes of politics, morality and cultural identity, using their art to challenge societal norms and spark dialogue. Each artwork draws inspiration from multiple films, aiming to capture the essence of the filmmaker's vision." A graduate of Thiruvananthapuram Fine Arts College and a postgraduate of Baroda MS University, Muhammed is a Kerala state film award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay for his film Velutha Rathrikal. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .
How co-writing a book threatened the Carters’ marriage
On this "Face the Nation" broadcast, moderated by Major Garrett: Jan Crawford , Robert Costa , Scott MacFarlane , Ed O'Keefe and Caitlin Huey-Burns Dr. Leana Wen , former Baltimore health commissioner. Aditya Bhave , senior ecomonist at Bank of America David Rubenstein , philanthropist and author Click here to browse full transcripts of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." MAJOR GARRETT: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Face the Nation. I'm Major Garrett, in for Margaret Brennan. As we close out 2024, we, of course, want to look ahead to the economy, health care, immigration, so much more, as Washington ushers in a new Congress and, importantly, a new administration. We begin with a Face the Nation tradition, our year-end correspondents roundtable. Joining us, chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane, chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa, political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns, and senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe. It is great to have you all with us. Scott MacFarlane, I want to start with you. The new Congress will be sworn in this week. What position does Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House, find himself in seeking reelection to that position? SCOTT MACFARLANE: It's a tenuous position. It has the prospect and promise of having high drama Friday, when they begin the new Congress January 3 by choosing the new speaker. One of the most underappreciated and underreported issues of the 2024 election was this incredibly narrow margin Republicans preserved in the U.S. House, even more narrow than the one that gridlocked them over the past two years. And, of course, the first order of business is choosing a speaker. Republicans have just one or two votes to spare on anything. That has the possibility of paralyzing things. And we saw two years ago the speaker vote was like a – it's like Gilligan's Island. It was supposed to be a three- hour vote and ended up being a multi-arc drama with many divergent characters, not including Thurston Howell. (LAUGHTER) SCOTT MACFARLANE: But here's the thing. It's just the top layer of this very treacherous cake for them is picking a speaker, because, what does this next speaker have to concede to win that post? We saw over the last two years the prior speaker had to concede positions on the pivotal Rules Committee to some contrarian voices in the Rules Committees, where bills went to die, instead of to get set up for a vote. And that's why so many Democratic votes were needed for so many pivotal things, because the Rules Committee was jammed up by contrarians. That could happen again. MAJOR GARRETT: Robert Costa, I want to turn to you, because, if he were so inclined, president-elect Trump could clarify his preference here. And that would send an important signal to those Republicans in the House majority to be still on the fence about this, yet he remains conspicuously silent. ROBERT COSTA: That decision is reflective of the dynamic right now down at Mar-a-Lago, the president's retreat in Florida. There is high drama, as Scott reports, on Capitol Hill. But, in Trump's inner circle, it's almost like the low-key second season of a TV show. That's how it's been described to me by allies of president-elect Trump. He's being guided by Susie Wiles, his incoming chief of staff. And she's created, I'm told, this atmosphere of calm when it comes to some of the nominees, the process, laying out the agenda for next year, top of the agenda, tax cuts, trying to expand those Trump tax cuts from 2017, of course, mass deportations also part of Trump's plan, a border bill as well. And you do have controversial nominees in Kash Patel for the FBI, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services, among others. But, at its core, you have a president-elect who's now comfortable with power, comfortable with the people around him. This is so different, Major, than what we saw in 2016, when we were covering that transition period. It had this theatrical element, Trump welcoming people to Bedminster for these showy appearances and interviews. Now we rarely see the president-elect. He's firing off missives at times on TRUTH Social, his platform, but he's often behind the scenes getting ready for 2025, because he's been here before. He knows what he wants to do. MAJOR GARRETT: Ed O'Keefe, President Biden remains president of the United States, though some Americans might have to be reminded of that fact. ED O'KEEFE: Yes. MAJOR GARRETT: What is ahead for the president in the waning days of his presidency in terms of travel and possible pardons? ED O'KEEFE: Well, he is taking one final foreign trip, and it was one that we – those of us who followed him a long time anticipated might happen. And that is a trip to the Vatican to see the pope and then to see the Italian leadership as well. They have been in far closer contact than I think many people appreciate, because the pope, like the president, shares a lot of the concerns about the state of the world, about what's going on in Ukraine and Gaza. MAJOR GARRETT: Conflict, climate change. (CROSSTALK) ED O'KEEFE: Absolutely, yes, and state of democracy and just general concern for social justice, which is... MAJOR GARRETT: Refugee flows, exactly. ED O'KEEFE: Yes, exactly. And so that will be a critical political meeting, but also a real personal capstone for the second Catholic president. And it speaks as well to one of the things he's been focused on over the last several weeks and will continue to be. We're still waiting to hear more about, for example, pardons and clemency. Will there be more of those? And will they be for the everyman? Or will they be for notable political figures like, for example, Jesse Jackson Jr., the former congressman from Illinois, or others who've ended up in the legal system and maybe are well- known and are now appealing for some kind of leniency or forgiveness? And so those 37 death row clemencies that we saw before Christmas, a good example of what's to come and what he's eager to do, and also a good example of what little he can do, because, of course, Congress has no interest in working with him. They can't even really sort out what to do with themselves, but – so he's using the executive privileges that he has in these waning weeks. MAJOR GARRETT: Jan, as you know better than anyone at this table, this last year was a clash of law and politics, unlike anything we have seen in our modern American history. The judicial system in our country, according to Gallup, 35 percent confidence, 20 percent below our peer countries, other free market democracies. How much of that is a reflection of this clash, the Supreme Court, or just a sense that our judicial system has become, in the words of someone we have all come to know, two-tiered? JAN CRAWFORD: You know, that's a hard question to answer, because I think you have got a... MAJOR GARRETT: We always give you the easiest ones, Jan. (LAUGHTER) JAN CRAWFORD: But I'm going to try, Major, because I think it goes – you have got to look past just this past year and go further back. I think it really started and took off in the wake of the Dobbs decision, the court's ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. The outrage over that decision was so extreme that you saw, I think, a quite calculated effort to undermine legitimacy of the Supreme Court by Democrats, Senate Democrats, for example, hearings, stories about scandals, some of which were pretty overblown, to say the least. So, that has an impact on public opinion. The public starts to believe that this court is corrupt, that this is – it's on the take, none of which is true. I mean, this is still a court. You may disagree with their decisions. It's a very conservative court. It is not a corrupt court. These are nine justices who have very different views on how to interpret the Constitution who are kind of in this Titanic struggle over law, not politics. Even the immunity decision, I mean, that decision was so misreported to say that the court was going to save Trump from a criminal trial. No, it wasn't. That was never the decision. In fact, that decision is going to help protect Joe Biden from any future prosecution by Donald Trump if he wanted to do that. So, when we look at public opinion polls, sure, the court's taken a hit, but that's true over the years. The court often takes a hit. So do other institutions. And the court's opinion – court's public opinion remains much higher than our other institutions, including the White House, Congress, and by far the news media. MAJOR GARRETT: Congress at 17 percent, according to Gallup. Caitlin, Jan mentioned the Dobbs decision. One of the things that roiled through the political calendar year of 2024 was how important, how impactful would that decision be on turnout and the ultimate outcome of the election? But, as you traveled the country, you kept telling us, yes, it's an important issue, but there are other things on the minds of women voters in this country. CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: Yes, we always say that voters have the capacity to think about a lot of different things at once. And we saw, in the wake of that decision in the midterms, that was top of mind for people. It was the first way to kind of exercise their views across the country on this issue. But, this time around, voters had different ways to express their feelings about the Dobbs decision. Many of them had ballot measures in their states, a couple of those states being battleground states, that they could vote for codifying abortion rights into their state law and also vote for Donald Trump, because they believed in his views on the economy, on immigration, or at least that he could solve some of their concerns about them. And as I spoke to women across the country, as we all spent the whole year talking to voters and really listening to voters, a lot of women talked to me about how concerned they were about safety, about the economy, a lot of them responsible for their family's budgets, paying the bills, going to the grocery store, these kinds of fundamental things. And, also, it was kind of a reminder that we have been treating women as kind of a monolithic group in the wake of Dobbs. And this election showed that it's not as such, that they do care a lot about safety, the economy. Those were overarching issues, but they also do care about women's rights, abortion rights, but they just had other avenues to express that. And that's really what helped. And Donald Trump also modified his positions, at least to satisfy some of those voters, at least that I spoke to. MAJOR GARRETT: Robert, Caitlin brought up women's concerns about security. That flows through immigration. I wonder what your perspective is on this online feud that's gone on, on for the last three or four days between parts of the MAGA universe over H- 1B visas, which are essentially visas set aside for high-skilled laborers, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and nominally president-elect Trump on the side of that, hard right nativist parts of the MAGA movement using expletives on social media typically reserved for their political foes, not for those in the MAGA tent, assailing one another. What do you make of all of that? ROBERT COSTA: The coalition that lifted Donald Trump back to power included Silicon Valley executives. Elon Musk, Trump inner circle members say, deserves a lot of credit for pouring a lot of money in the final months into the campaign. But at the end of the day, this was a campaign where so many voters at rally after rally we covered were holding up signs that said "Mass Deportations Now." The message was obvious, it was in your face. And for – the idea that president-elect Trump is going to back away from his immigration position because of some whisper in his ear from a Silicon Valley billionaire, it's just not happening, based on my reporting. MAJOR GARRETT: And, Scott, very quickly, do you think that – we have got about 30 seconds before we need to go to break. How much do you think that will be a part of the early congressional conversation? SCOTT MACFARLANE: I think this battle over the debt limit which Elon Musk weighed in on is going to be the first throw-down of 2025 and impact the first year of Trump's term, because they're going to need Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling. That won't satisfy the Elon Musks of the world. I'm not sure how Trump circumvents Democratic concessions for the debt ceiling. MAJOR GARRETT: When we come back, you know it, you love it, predictions, biggest story, things that were undercovered with our outstanding correspondents panel. We will be back in just one moment. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: Welcome back to Face the Nation and our correspondents roundtable. Predictions. Caitlin Huey-Burns. CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: I think the biggest story to watch this coming year is how the president-elect when he becomes president handles immigration. We talked a lot about how the economy was the overarching theme of this election. Immigration is what Trump made his not only closing – closing argument on, but his entire campaign was really rooted in immigration. So what this looks like, we saw in our polling majority support for mass deportations. What does that actually look like? And how do they handle that once we see what that looks like on television, how they have people explaining their policy, and what those stories look like because of that, and whether the base is satisfied and whether the general public gets what they voted for on that. MAJOR GARRETT: Jan, 2025 prediction. JAN CRAWFORD: I will go back to the court. I think that Donald Trump will probably get his fourth nomination to the Supreme Court either this year or maybe next year, when... MAJOR GARRETT: Because someone retires. Who? JAN CRAWFORD: Justice Sam Alito. MAJOR GARRETT: Justice Sam Alito. JAN CRAWFORD: He was nominated, took the bench in 2006, after nearly two decades on the court. MAJOR GARRETT: Robert Costa. ROBERT COSTA: Most importantly, Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish will win the Sugar Bowl on January 1. (LAUGHTER) JAN CRAWFORD: Now, this is normally my prediction with Alabama. ROBERT COSTA: I'm stepping into your territory. But... JAN CRAWFORD: I'm happy to give it to you. ROBERT COSTA: Governing by crisis in 2025. Ed, when we first met over a decade ago, we were covering crisis on Capitol Hill. Crisis persists. Such a handful – and Caitlin Huey-Burns as well. And Scott was there as well. Look, they only have a handful of seats in the House for the Republican majority. They can only do so much, as Scott said, debt limit battle on the horizon, spending fights. Deja vu. That culture of crisis, governing to the brink of discussions is here again. MAJOR GARRETT: Ed O'Keefe. ED O'KEEFE: I will make the firmer prediction that, based on all that chaos, Speaker Johnson won't be speaker by the end of 2025. Did that a few years ago on Paul Ryan, and it worked. So, watch out, Speaker Johnson. Nothing personal. MAJOR GARRETT: Be careful, Speaker Johnson. Be advised. ED O'KEEFE: But just look at – look at what faces him. (CROSSTALK) ROBERT COSTA: ... real soon. (LAUGHTER) ED O'KEEFE: The other one real quick, Washington Commanders will get a stadium here in the District of Columbia, because that congressional vote that authorized land... (CROSSTALK) MAJOR GARRETT: Happened right before Congress adjourned. ED O'KEEFE: It sure did. And it was a great surprise at D.C. It'll happen this year. MAJOR GARRETT: Scott MacFarlane. SCOTT MACFARLANE: Long before the next election, there will be some people departing Washington voluntarily. This is a challenging environment to be an elected official. They're getting thousands of threats a year on their lives, on their families. The travel is exhausting. And we're coming into a relatively polarizing moment with Trump coming back into office. You're going to see a lot of retirements in odd-numbered years, including 2025. JAN CRAWFORD: I think that's one reason why you're going to see Justice Alito step down. (CROSSTALK) MAJOR GARRETT: One of the things we also do in the year-end correspondents roundtable is dig into what was undercovered or underreported. Jan? JAN CRAWFORD: Undercovered and underreported, that would be, to me, Joe Biden's obvious cognitive decline that became undeniable in the televised debate. MAJOR GARRETT: At the presidential debate with Donald Trump. JAN CRAWFORD: Unquestioned. And it's starting to emerge now that his advisers kind of managed his limitations, which has been reported in "The Wall Street Journal," for four years. And yet he insisted that he could still run for president. We should have much more forcefully questioned whether he was fit for office for another four years, which could have led to a primary for the Democrats. It could have changed the scope of the entire election. Yet still, incredibly, we read in "The Washington Post" that his advisers are saying that he regrets that he dropped out of the race, that he thinks he could have beaten Trump. And I think that is either delusional or they're gaslighting the American people. ROBERT COSTA: President Biden has said repeatedly he was sick during the debate June 27 in Atlanta and he's always been fine and he leaves fine. That is his position, the position of many of his top aides as well, even though there is that reporting. (CROSSTALK) MAJOR GARRETT: Robert Costa. ROBERT COSTA: The biggest story that's underreported, the battle for working voters across the country. I spent a lot of time this year with Shawn Fain, the head of the UAW. That's the battle of the future. Who's going to win over that person who's aligned with labor? Are the – the industrial worker in this country. Is it going to be the Democratic Party or the Republican Party? It remains a key story, deserves more attention. MAJOR GARRETT: Caitlin Huey-Burns. CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: I mentioned how we covered women voters, but also I think there is an aspect to which we underestimated or perhaps the public underestimated how Trump's personality wasn't as much of a burden to him. And, in some ways, it turned out to be a benefit with low-propensity voters. And talking to the Trump campaign throughout the cycle and reporting on it, they were making this bet that, if he leaned into his personality and made no qualms about it, made no apologies about it, that would kind of speak to this authenticity factor, this premium that low- propensity voters, those not inclined to participate in elections, might be inclined towards. It was a big bet. It paid off. And it will remain – the biggest question I have is whether Republicans can replicate any of that, because so much of their political wins this year are unique to Donald Trump himself. MAJOR GARRETT: Scott MacFarlane, underreported. SCOTT MACFARLANE: The scope and size and political impact of these forthcoming January 6 pardons. Trump has never specified if it's everybody or just some people. Will it include people who gassed and beat police officers with baseball bats, or will it just be those who pleaded guilty to misdemeanors? He's never been pressed to specify if it's all or some. And what's the political impact? Did his voters really want that? Does he gain political capital or lose it if he pardons everyone? MAJOR GARRETT: Ed O'Keefe. ED O'KEEFE: Once again, we don't cover the Western Hemisphere enough and why it is that people come from the far reaches of South America. MAJOR GARRETT: What is the gravitational pull of the United States in those particular countries? ED O'KEEFE: Exactly. And it's going to be more critical than ever in the coming year that we continue to explore and explain why it is they continue to do so, despite the threats of being sent back. And watch also the cooperation between a lot of those countries, especially in Central America, with the United States and the intrigue they have over the first Latino secretary of state, the most senior Latino ever to serve in an administration and in the presidential line of succession, Marco Rubio. I heard within days of the election from Latin American governments quite eager to get on the good side of Marco Rubio because they are thrilled to know there will be more attention paid to the hemisphere, as there should be. MAJOR GARRETT: And there will be attention paid in terms of accepting those this administration incoming intends to deport. ED O'KEEFE: Sends them back. Yes, that – because they understand that's the gateway. MAJOR GARRETT: To better relations with this administration. ED O'KEEFE: Yes, that, if you start with that, and ensure that they're being treated fairly on their way back, that they will probably end up taking them. No formal agreements yet, but they're willing to have the conversation. MAJOR GARRETT: No better way to close out a calendar year than to have the correspondents roundtable here at Face the Nation. It's been my honor and privilege to have you all here. Ed O'Keefe, Caitlin Huey-Burns, Scott MacFarlane, Robert Costa, Jan Crawford, my thanks to all of you. We will be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Please stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: Last week, the U.S. reported its first severe case of bird flu found in a patient in Louisiana. For more, we're joined by Dr. Leana Wen. She is the former Baltimore health commissioner. Dr. Leana Wen, it's great to have you with us. So, bird flu, is this report out of Louisiana worrisome? And, if so, why? DR. LEANA WEN (Former Baltimore Health Commissioner): Well, it's one more sign that the drumbeat of bird flu coming closer to humans is becoming a major threat. So, we've already seen this year that there have been a number of mammalian species close to humans that now have bird flu outbreaks. We have outbreaks in poultry in all 50 states. Sixteen states have outbreaks in cattle. In California, in the last 30 days, there have been more than 300 herds that tested positive. And now we have 66 cases of bird flu in humans, and this is almost certainly a significant undercount, because we have not been doing nearly enough testing. So, we really don't know the extent of bird flu that's out there in humans. But this particular case, it's someone who is severely ill, but not only that. Researchers have isolated the virus in this individual who is sick in Louisiana, and they found that this particular strain of the virus appears to have acquired mutations that make it more likely to bind to airway receptors. Bird flu has been around for a long time, but it hasn't... MAJOR GARRETT: About 30 years. DR. LEANA WEN: Yes, exactly. But it hasn't been a major issue in humans, because while it spreads among birds, it hasn't really spread among mammals. But now there is this mutation. And there's another concern now, Major, too which is that we're in flu season, and it's possible that a single person could have bird flu and seasonal flu at the same time. MAJOR GARRETT: Something called reassortment... DR. LEANA WEN: That's right. That's right. MAJOR GARRETT: ... where things change because of one illness becoming another illness through reassortment of a mutated virus. DR. LEANA WEN: That's right. And so the viruses could exchange genes. You could develop a new hybrid virus. And if you now have a virus that's more contagious and causes more severe disease, that's when it becomes a major threat to humankind. MAJOR GARRETT: What should be happening in the Biden administration right now that isn't going on? DR. LEANA WEN: Yes, there are two main things that they should be doing in the days that they have left. The first is to get testing out there. I feel like we should have learned our lesson from COVID that, just because we aren't testing, it doesn't mean that the virus isn't there. It just means that we aren't looking for it. We should be having rapid tests, home tests, available to all farmworkers, to their families, for the clinicians taking care of them, so that we aren't waiting for public labs and CDC labs to tell us what's bird flu or not. And the second very important thing is, this is not like the beginning of COVID, where we were dealing with a new virus, we didn't have a vaccine. There actually is a vaccine developed already against H5N1. The Biden administration has contracted with manufacturers to make almost five million doses of the vaccine. However, they have not asked the FDA to authorize the vaccine. There's research done on it. They could get this authorized now, and also get the vaccine out so – and to farmworkers and to vulnerable people. I think that's the right approach, because we don't know what the Trump administration is going to be doing around bird flu. If they have people coming in with anti-vaccine stances, could they hold up vaccine authorization? If they don't want to know how much bird flu is out there, could they withhold testing? I mean, that's a possibility, and I think the Biden administration in the remaining days should get testing and vaccines widely available, so that at least it empowers state and local health officials and clinicians to do the right thing for their patients. MAJOR GARRETT: Dr. Wen, is bird flu in humans super dangerous? DR. LEANA WEN: Well, the World Health Organization estimates that, in prior outbreaks of the bird flu, that the mortality rate is 52 percent, 52 percent. However, in the – in this most recent outbreak, it seems that most cases have been mild, and maybe some people even have asymptomatic infection. But the question is, we don't know what happens when bird flu affects more vulnerable individuals. People infected so far in the U.S. have been mainly farmworkers, who are working, presumably generally healthy, as opposed to what happens when you get to children, to pregnant women, to older individuals with chronic illnesses. We don't know how deadly, how dangerous bird flu is going to be for those individuals. And, again, that's one more reason why we don't want it to spread and acquire more mutations. MAJOR GARRETT: Thirty seconds. Norovirus is what you call it. Stomach bug is what I would call it. Numbers are surging. It's the holidays. What should people do to protect themselves? DR. LEANA WEN: Wash your hands really well, especially if you're going to buffets. Wash your hands if you're touching commonly touched surfaces before you touch your mouth, before you touch your nose. Norovirus is the most common foodborne illness here in the U.S. It's very hard to avoid once it's in your family. And, also, don't prepare food if you're having vomiting and diarrhea stomach cramps, because you don't want to spread it to other people. MAJOR GARRETT: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much for your expertise. We really appreciate it. We will have more questions for Dr. Wen when we come back, but, first, we're going to take a quick break. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: We will be right back with Dr. Leana Wen and a lot more Face the Nation. Please stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION. We return to our conversation with Dr. Leana Wen. Doctor, you talked about vaccines and testing in the context of bird flu and preparations therefore. Vaccines and testings were part of the Covid conversation and the Trump administration, when it was in charge. What level of concern do you have about some of the people appointed by President-elect Trump to incoming public health positions regarding issues of vaccine, testing, public health, efficacy? DR. LEANA WEN, (Former Baltimore Health Commissioner): I think that there are some people coming into this administration who are very competent. For example, Dr. Marty Markary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, we have worked together for the last ten-plus years on issues like hospital medical error (ph). He's an independent thinker who really listens to science and is willing to change his mind when there is new evidence that emerges. But I have a lot of concern, and I've spoken to my colleagues in medicine and public health, and I think all of us share this concern in particular about Robert F. Kennedy, the nominee to be the head of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has espoused many views in the past that are anti- vaccine. In fact, he's been one of the leading anti-vaxing advocates in the country, if not in the world over the last couple of decades. He's also someone who has made his career from being an activist and not a scientist. And what I mean is that, if you're a scientist, even if you have deeply held convictions, you should be willing to change your mind if there are new facts that are presented. It's a fact that childhood vaccines are safe and they are lifesaving. A CDC analysis just now found that the childhood vaccination have saved over 1.1 million children's lives over the last 20 years. According to a Lancet (ph) study, childhood vaccines saved 154 million lives globally over the last 50 years. I mean these are facts. And it's very concerning to have someone who doesn't believe in the - in how science works and basic scientific principles to be in charge of our nation's preeminent scientific and medical agencies. MAJOR GARRETT: With that perspective, do you believe it's more imperative than you described earlier for the Biden administration to move forward on bird flu vaccinations and testing? DR. LEANA WEN: Well, that's exactly it, I don't want to wait for the Trump administration to potentially hold up the vaccines saying that they want more evidence. Look, evidence is always good and facts are always good. New research is always good. But you also have to weigh that against a potential catastrophe as we could be having for bird flu the way that we had for Covid. There's no reason why we should hold off on getting more testing. We need to know how much bird flu there is out there. We need to know if there are new mutations that are being developed. Other countries also need to know so that they can prepare as well. And I think it's a major problem that in the U.S. we have been holding back on testing and also holding back on getting the vaccines deployed that are already developed. MAJOR GARRETT: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much for your expertise. Thanking you twice. And a Happy New Year to you. DR. LEANA WEN: Thank you. To you, too, Major. MAJOR GARRETT: We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: We turn now to the economy and what to expect in year 2025. We do so with Bank of America senior economist Aditya Bhave. Aditya, good morning. It's great to see you. I've covered a lot of presidential transitions. There's always an assessment by the outgoing president about what kind of economy he's giving to his successor. That's a political conversation. Objectively, what is the economy the incoming Trump administration inheriting? ADITYA BHAVE (Senior U.S. Economist, Bank of America): Good morning. Thank you for having me. So, we think the economy has really solid momentum going into next year. You can look at our internal card data, for example, that shows a nice acceleration in spending going into the holidays. You can also look at the TSA on airport traffic, and that looks really strong around the holiday period as well. You can also think about things via a wider lens. Start in 2022. That was a year in which GDP grew by only 1 percent. CPI inflation peaked at 9 percent. And all of the talk back then was stagflation, when, not if, is a recession going to arrive. Why are workers quiet quitting. And then you look at what happened over the following two years, right. This was quite unexpected and in a very pleasant way. Three percent GDP growth. Inflation coming down. Labor productivity moving up. So, all positives that leave us optimistic going into next year that we can continue to grow above 2 percent, albeit with somewhat sticky inflation. MAJOR GARRETT: Is there any larger x factor in 2025 than the scale and scope of promised mass deportations of the Trump administration? ADITYA BHAVE: From a market perspective, I think the two biggest issues will actually be fiscal policy and trade policy. And there's a lot of uncertainty around those as well, just as there is around immigration policy. So, with fiscal policy, you had this conversation in your last segment, right, the majority for Republicans in the House is very, very narrow. So, if they want to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they want to do more fiscal stimulus, which we think will probably eventually get done, they have a very slim margin to work with. And then with trade policy, we really need to understand, you know, how much of the tariffs that President-elect Trump has threatened are actually going to be implemented versus how much is a negotiating tool, right, so how much is transactional. MAJOR GARRETT: And for mass deportations, how much do you fear that could affect the labor market and our country, that is to say put upward pressure on prices because if there is mass deportations and workplace inspections, lots of workers in agriculture, construction, meat processing and other vital industries could be pulled out of those sectors. ADITYA BHAVE: So, I think it's - our base (ph) case is that there will be a slowdown in the flow of immigrants, right? It's harder to know what will actually happen around deportations. From an economic perspective, a worker is also a consumer, so there are some down risks to economic activity if there's a large change in the population, right? That's just math. In terms of pressures in specific sectors, it's really going to depend on how things play out. Yes, there could be labor shortages in certain sectors, but it's very hard to know at this stage. MAJOR GARRETT: Many CEOs I listen to say that they expect the tariffs and regulatory relief to kind of wash themselves out, meaning essentially, you put them together, it's benign on the U.S. economy. Is that your perspective? ADITYA BHAVE: I think that's about right. If you look at the four key policy issues that we've been focused on, as I said earlier, trade, fiscal policy, immigration policy and deregulation, we think they'll roughly wash out. But again, the starting point is pretty helpful, right? So, we think that we can continue to grow at around 2 to 2.5 percent this - the coming year, as well as in 2026. MAJOR GARRETT: So, in reading year-end summaries, "The Economist," "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Washington Post," all in their own way, warned that the stock market may be overvalued, may be to exuberant. Do you share any of those concerns? ADITYA BHAVE: I'm not an equity analyst, so it's hard for me to day, to give a specific number. Our equity strategists do think that stocks can continue to run up to around 6,600, 6,700 by the end of the year. What you can say is that, obviously, there's been a pretty aggressive run- up in tech stocks, but it is not of the same scale that we saw in the late '90s if we're really worried about a similar bubble. MAJOR GARRETT: What effect do you believe cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence will play in the global economy in 2025? ADITYA BHAVE: So, when it comes to A.I., I think there's two things to be said. The actual impact of A.I. adoption is probably going to show up pretty slowly in the data. So, I don't know that we'll necessarily see that in 2025 or 2026. It might be a story for a few years down the line. But what has been really impactful already, and probably will be much more impactful in the coming years, is just laying the groundwork for A.I., right? So, if you see the increases in investment in data centers, and you think about what all that requires, right? MAJOR GARRETT: Yes. We need to - ADITYA BHAVE: It requires materials. It requires energy supply. MAJOR GARRETT: Aditya, we need to go. Pardon - pardon me. ADITYA BHAVE: It requires labor, you - you put - sure. Sure. MAJOR GARRETT: Yes, I'm sorry to cut you off. We have a hard break we need to get to. Aditya Bhave from Bank of America, Happy New Year and thank you so much for being with us. We'll be right back in just a moment. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: In 22 days Donald Trump will be sworn in as the nation's 47th president, only the second to serve two nonconsecutive terms. For more perspective on the most powerful position in the world, we spoke with David Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group. His new book, "The Highest Calling," studies the highs and lows of some of this country's most consequential presidents. (BEGIN VT) MAJOR GARRETT: How would you compare, based on your study of the presidency, our unsettled times now to unsettled times past? DAVID RUBENSTEIN (Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group): Well, nothing is as bad as the Civil War, when we had 3 percent of our population killed and the fighting in Washington was so bad that about 60 different times members of Congress hit other members of Congress on the floor of the Congress. So, we're not quite there yet. Clearly, though, we're going into some uncharted waters because we have a president coming back who had been president before. That hadn't happened since Grover Cleveland was re-elected in 1892. And Trump has got more power than I think many people would have thought by the virtue of his victory size. And I do think he's going to act like he's got a mandate and Washington is bracing for what's going to happen. MAJOR GARRETT: Related to that, before the election results were known, polls indicated pretty consistently that Trump supporters were afraid if Harris would win, Harris supporters were afraid if Trump would win. Based on your study of this institution, the presidency, can you recall a time where that fear of an outcome was as prevalent as it was leading into this election? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Well, there have been a couple times when people really were afraid that the next person coming in that was the opposite party would really hurt the country in many ways. Clearly, my former boss, Jimmy Carter, really feared Ronald Reagan. He thought that Ronald Reagan was going to do - undo many of the things that Carter had done. Obviously, Reagan won by a landslide. And you've seen other times when this has happened as well. So, for example, when FDR won the first time, Herbert Hoover could not believe that this man, Herbert Hoover, had been such a distinguished American before he was president, and while he was president he had problems, but he was a very distinguished person. He never took FDR seriously. And FDR didn't really take Hoover that seriously. He refused to really meet with him, essentially, or met with him briefly and they just didn't want anything to do with him - each other. MAJOR GARRETT: You mentioned Grover Cleveland. There's not a chapter in the book about Grover Cleveland. Is there anything that retroactively fascinates you about the Cleveland presidency now that Trump has returned to office, or are you similarly fascinated by the time in which he was president, the Gilded Age? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Grover Cleveland was a Democrat, a former governor of New York, very well respected, but he lost the election in 1888, and he came back in 1892. Now, one of the things we don't really know is whether a president, when he has a second term after he's been out of office, whether he'll be fresher, whether he'll bring better people in, whether he'll be more experienced. For example, Grover Cleveland's second term was reasonably successful. And, you know, maybe Trump's will be as well. MAJOR GARRETT: One of the things the nation struggled with this last 18 months or so was the collision of politics and the law. Do you think there are any lessons to be learned from this clash and the politics that came from the clash of trying to indict and try someone who had been president of the United States and was aspiring to that office again? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: I think there is a feeling among many people that it wasn't a good idea to indict the president of the United States. I think the trial in New York, where Trump was convicted, I think really helped him in his election effort. And I think there are many people who are - who are Trump supporters who believe that the indictments that came out of the special prosecutor, Jack Smith, were really political as well. And so I think there's - both sides feel that the other side is really talking past each other. The people who are in the Justice Department now feel that these indictments were fair and correct and had a special prosecutor and so forth. The Trump people believe they were completely political. I hope going forward that the Justice Department is not seen as political because one of the strengths of this country has been the rule of law, and I hope that the Justice Department that's coming in now will continue that tradition. MAJOR GARRETT: Do you have a president in mind who, based on your study, grew in your regard and a president in your mind who, based on your study, got more diminished? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Harry Truman left office extremely unpopular, very unpopular, and he was thought to be an inappropriate (ph) successor to the great FDR. Now, because of books by David McCollough and other people who have written great books about Truman, people see him as one of our great presidents because post-World War II he helped end the war because he dropped the atomic bomb, which many people say was a mistake, but ki would say many historians think it was necessary to avoid - MAJOR GARRETT: And he never doubted? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: He never doubted. He never had self-doubt. Self-doubt was one of - was not one of his thing. He always believed it was the right decision. But he also was responsible for NATO, the U.N., the World Bank, the IMF, and the CIA, which he created as well. All these things he created MAJOR GARRETT: And the recognition of Israel. DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Yes, he recognized Israel, even though his secretary of state threatened to resign over it. So, he was a person who has really risen up. A person who's gone down, I would say, or two that have gone down a lot. One is Andrew Jackson. Remember, Democrats used to say, we're going to have a Jefferson-Jackson day dinner. You don't have that anymore because Jackson is now widely seen as being racist and very anti-Native American, and he really did many things that I think killed a lot of people, particularly in the Native American community. So, he's not really well respected today by scholars. Another person I would say is - is that - whose reputation has gone down is Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson was the great reformer after being president at Princeton, two years later he's - he's governor of New Jersey, then president of the United States. However, he now is widely seen as having done two things that were really big mistakes. One, he resegregated the federal workforce and had been integrated. Two, and this is very damaging I think as well, he - he had a stroke and with about 18 months to go, he couldn't really do what he had done before. He hid that from the public, and his wife essentially became a shadow president. She was really making decisions and deciding things that maybe he should have decided, and the public didn't know this. And that was a big problem. MAJOR GARRETT: You often ask biographers what question they would most want to pose to the subject of their presidential biography. Let me expand on that. If you could go to dinner with any president, who would it be, and what question would you want to make sure you got answered? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Without doubt, the greatest president and the greatest American ever is Abraham Lincoln. He was a person who - was not an abolitionist but ultimately came to free the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. And he also won the Civil War despite the fact that many people in the north didn't really want to fight the Civil War. They'd say, let the south go, we'll have our own country. Lincoln said, no, we're going to hold the union together. And he did that. We lost 3 percent of our population in the war, but he kept the union together and I think made the United States a stronger country as a result. We ended slavery eventually because of the 13th amendment. But, most importantly, he did it with humility. He didn't run around saying, look, I just won the Civil War. I just did the Gettysburg Address. Isn't that a great speech? He didn't do that. He didn't brag about it. He was very humble. And I think he had a sense of humor and a sense of perspective that is a really good thing for presidents. And I would like to ask him, do you have any regrets about not having freed the slaves earlier? Do you have any regrets about not getting rid of some of your generals earlier who were not very good? And he waited a couple years before he got Ulysses S. Grant in. Grant is also a person I should mention. He had the most amazing meteoric rise of almost anybody who's become president. He was selling firewood on the streets of St. Louis in 1860. The war breaks out in 1861, more or less, and eight years later he's president of the United States. I mean it's just amazing. MAJOR GARRETT: You mentioned humility. George W. Bush told you in your interview with him that that was the most important characteristic a president can possession. I've read other words that are important for presidents - courage, compassion, curiosity, decisiveness. Based on your study, what would you say is the most important? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: I think the most important thing is having a perspective that you really want to do what's right for the American people. You're not trying to make money. You're not trying to feather your own nest. You're not trying to worry about history. You're just trying to do what's best for the American people. The qualities that I admire in leaders are people who are reasonably intelligent but not geniuses. You don't have to be a genius to be a great president. People who are willing to listen to other people. People that have some humility. People that are highly ethical. Those are the qualities that I think great leaders have in any area. Overall, we've gotten some pretty talented people who have served as president of the United States. And we've been fortunate. Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, Jefferson, and modern day presidents, Eisenhower, among others, have had some really great attributes and the country is good and I think better off for having had good people serve. One of my concerns in the future is that because it's become so political in Washington sometimes and the fight - infighting has been so intense that I'm not sure that - as many good people want to rise up and run for president in the future as we've seen in the past. MAJOR GARRETT: You mentioned in your very first answer the Civil War, the greatest time of testing in our country's history. You don't have to be very aggressive online to find casual talk among Americans about another civil war. They banty it about with some frequency. How worried are you about that, and do you think the mere discussion of it creates the potential of an inevitability? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Well, I think there has been discussions. Some people say the red states and the blue states should separate, but I don't think that's realistic or really going to happen. I think the country realizes that we are the strongest power in the world economically, militarily, politically, culturally and, in part, because the country's got a big enough population, and in part because we have a lot of attributes in red and blue states. I don't think it's realistic. People talk about that, but I don't think that's going to happen. The country is not going to be split up the way it was in the Civil War. I just don't see that as being realistic or desirable. MAJOR GARRETT: Is there any doubt in your mind that presidents, all presidents, must guard against bitterness, anger, resentment, some of the things that fueled their pursuit of the office in the first place? Meaning, once they got there they need to set those things aside, even though they were part of the engine? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Everybody goes through life and has ups and downs. And you get a lot of bitterness and you get resentment of people. People that are good presidents ultimately rise up above that. A lot of people criticized Abraham Lincoln for many, many things. They called him all kinds of terrible names and they did say he was barely human. MAJOR GARRETT: They called him a gorilla. DAVID RUBENSTEIN: Yes. And he rose above that. And I think you have to rise above it. And, hopefully, when you don't have to worry about politics anymore in a second term, for example, you can rise above all the concerns you've had. When you're president of the United States, if you carry your resentments too long, it can affect others people adversely. So, I think in the case of President Trump, for example, clearly he has some resentments, but I think overall I believe he's going to rise above that in his second term. MAJOR GARRETT: Is Richard Nixon, which you, in your book, describe as a tragic figure, almost a Shakespearean-like tragic figure, the most available cautionary tale about resentments in the presidency? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: If only Shakespeare had been alive to write about Richard Nixon, it would have been a wonderful tragedy. He's a man who's really talented, very smart. He stumbles from running for president in 1960, barely loses. Loses for 1962 in the governorship of California and comes back and is elected in 1968 against all the odds. But he resented the people that looked down on him. He resented the liberals. He resented the ivy leaguers, as he would call them. And he really, I think, took those resentments and he perpetuated them through his chief of staff, Rob Haldeman and other people. And the result was a terrible thing called Watergate. I think Richard Nixon, had he not had Watergate, I think he would have gone down as a really impressive president because they opened to China, things he did on the environment. But Watergate will be what he's remembered for. MAJOR GARRETT: Was he the least ethical president in our history? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: I don't think there's - that's easy to say because some presidents had issues that we don't know about as much. Richard Nixon wasn't a person who was trying to make money for himself necessarily. He wasn't grafting himself into - into business deals and so forth. But I think he had some ethical failings. MAJOR GARRETT: The book is called "The Highest Calling." Is the presidency the highest calling? Some might argue that an age defining innovation is a higher calling or being a captain of industry is a higher calling, or just being a simple CEO employing tens of thousands of people is a higher calling. Why is it the highest calling? DAVID RUBENSTEIN: The reason I called it "The Highest Calling," and I had historically said that private equity, my profession, was the highest calling, but that was more tongue-in-cheek, is this. When Woodrow Wilson went to Paris to help end World War I, he was cheered by hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Parisians. And people, for the first time, realized the most important person in the United States, in the world, really, is the president of the United States. And that's been true almost since Wilson came back from Paris. When FDR was running, the world really effectively, because he was president of the United States during World War II, he was the most important person in the world for sure. And I think ever since then, because of the economic, military, political power of the United States, whoever is the leader of the United States is almost certainly the most powerful person in the world, and pursuing what I would call the highest calling because you can affect the lives of people so much more significantly as president of the United States than any other job in the world. MAJOR GARRETT: Thank you very much. DAVID RUBENSTEIN: My pleasure. Thank you. (END VT) MAJOR GARRETT: You can watch the extended interview on our YouTube page or on our website, facethenation.com. We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MAJOR GARRETT: That's it for us today. Thank you very much for watching. And let me be among the first to wish you a Happy New Year. For FACE THE NATION, I'm Major Garrett. (ANNOUNCEMENTS)
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Former reality star Gerry Turner may be dealing with an incurable form of cancer, but that and his highly publicized divorce aren't keeping him from seeking romance and connection still. Gerry confirmed he had been diagnosed with a rare slow-moving form of bone marrow cancer earlier this year. As a result, he wound up no longer “prioritizing” his marriage to Theresa Nist. Theresa has since released her own statement about his diagnosis and their split. While f ans have since apologized for the things they’ve said about him since learning of his diagnosis, Gerry is now sharing that he is looking more towards his future–and hasn’t given up on finding love . Golden Bachelor fans pologize for treatment of Gerry Turner after cancer news Inside how Gerry Turner's cancer diagnosis led to divorce as Theresa speaks out In a new interview, he admitted that despite his diagnosis, he has continued to date since he and Theresa split up. In fact, he also does have someone new in his life that he is currently seeing. Speaking to Fox News Digital , Turner, 73, made the reveal. “I have dated a bit, off and on,” he said. “Currently, you know I am dating someone, and I will continue my search to find my partner for the rest of my life.” Admitting it was a bit early to officially label the relationship, he also admitted it was a “refreshing” change from his past, as the current person in his life wasn’t familiar with his fame, and wasn’t invested in social media. “There is a certain freedom involved, a certain acceptance for who I am,” he said. “Almost a humorous lack of understanding of where I’ve come from in the last year, year and a half. It’s really quite refreshing to have someone who hasn’t seen all the history in a relationship with me. They didn’t watch the show. They’re not interested in what’s on social media. They don’t care.” Don't miss: Gerry Turner admits Theresa marriage was 'nt priority' after cancer diagnosis [LATEST] Golden Bachelor's Gerry Turner was diagnosed with cancer weeks before split [UPDATE] Charles Ling could be weapon to help 'failing' Golden Bachelor franchise [INSIGHT] It comes after he and Theresa famously divorced just three months after their televised wedding ceremony, which itself came just a month after they revealed their engagement to the world on the Golden Bachelor finale. At the time, they shared that distance and inability to agree on a place to live was the main reason that they split up, but Gerry now admits that his diagnosis was one of the factors that ultimately led him to decide to split from her. “...the truth of the matter is that when I got that news and I got over that period of time where I just felt like I had just been gut punched, I realized the things that were the most important. I kind of fell back to the old habits, the old familiar feelings of a family and my two daughters and thinking about when my wife passed away and how that affected not just me, but my girls,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s all completely logical, but sometimes feelings aren’t logical,” he added. “But the bottom line is that it had a huge impact on my thinking about my relationships with Theresa and that marriage.”President Anura Kumara Dissanayake last week during his policy statement at the inauguration of the 10th Parliament promised to create a satisfactory public service. He recalled that the 2024 Election marked a historical milestone in Sri Lanka as the one where the highest number of public servants voted in favour of a single Government. The assurance comes when Sri Lanka has one of the biggest public sectors in Asia (see chart). The previous regime under President Ranil Wickremesinghe was reluctant to effectively address this aspect whilst given the economic and fiscal crisis, expectations were a Voluntary Retirement Scheme within the State sector. The fear was any layoff would make the then Government unpopular and the thinking was the country must find a way to sustain the existing cadre in the public sector. Wickremesinghe’s two-year administration did toy with the idea of re-skilling the public sector but made no headway according to analysts. Given the overhang of a bloated public sector on the State’s finances, President Dissanayake did address the issue but fell short of indicating a proper restructuring or rightsizing/downsizing. Dissanayake told Parliament: “It is no secret that the general public does not hold a favourable perception of the State service in our country. There exists significant dissatisfaction and negative sentiments among the public towards State services. Similarly, many within the State service themselves feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled in their roles and professional lives.” “As a result, we are faced with a dual challenge: an unsatisfied public and a discontented State service workforce. Our ultimate responsibility, therefore, is to establish a State service that satisfies both the citizens it serves and the individuals who work within it,” the President added. He emphasised that through this mandate, the people have shown their support for the reforms and proposals presented to establish a better, more efficient public service. “We firmly believe that moving forward without a strong and effective public service is not possible. Across the world, whenever countries undergo significant transformations, both political leadership and the functionality of the public sector play a critical role in achieving success,” he added. “No matter how ambitious the goals and expectations of political leaders may be, those goals can only be realised if there is a well-structured and responsive public service to implement them. That is why we believe it is essential to rebuild a competent, people-centric public service that prioritises the well-being of the citizens. The strong mandate we have received from public servants themselves underscores this need. We are fully focused on addressing this critical issue,” President Dissanayake told the Parliament.
It was a fine first win for Ruud van Nistelrooy , and perhaps one final defeat for Julen Lopetegui. Leicester marked Van Nistelrooy’s first match in charge of the team by surging to a 3-1 win over Lopetegui's West Ham in the Premier League on Tuesday. Van Nistelrooy, the former Manchester United striker, is back in English soccer this time as a manager, with Leicester taking something of a gamble on the Dutchman after his brief and impressive spell as interim coach at United this season following Erik ten Hag's departure. He faces the tough task of keeping Leicester, one of the top candidates for relegation, in the top division. For that to happen, he’s likely to need goals from Jamie Vardy — and the 37-year-old former England international delivered immediately. Nine years after breaking Van Nistelrooy’s record for scoring in consecutive games, Vardy scored the first goal of the Dutchman’s tenure at Leicester by beating the offside trap and slotting home a finish with less than two minutes gone. Morocco midfielder Bilal El Khannouss supplied the pass for Vardy’s goal and scored himself with a low shot in the 61st minute to make it 2-0. Patson Daka added a third for Leicester in the 90th minute, before a stoppage-time consolation by West Ham substitute Niclas Füllkrug. “We are very happy with the new manager," El Khannouss said of Van Nistelrooy. “He arrived two days ago, and there’s a new dynamic in the group.” Van Nistelrooy praised the “spirit and energy” in his team. “The foundation for us going forward is everyone working their socks off, fighting for every inch and defending together,” he said. “We can look further then, and they did that in an unbelievable way.” This dismal result for West Ham came three days after its 5-2 thrashing at home by Arsenal , which piled more pressure of Lopetegui early in the former Spain and Real Madrid coach's first season with the London club. West Ham's disgruntled traveling fans chanted "You’re getting sacked in the morning” toward Lopetegui during the second half — even if his team dominated large parts of the game but only had one goal to show from 31 shots on goal. “We're very frustrated but in the same way I can say nothing about the players — they fight until the end,” Lopetegui said. "It’s not easy to explain football some days.” West Ham has lost seven of its 14 games so far and is in 14th place in the 20-team league, one spot above Leicester. Guehi defies FA Crystal Palace won for just the second time in the league this season, beating relegation rival Ipswich 1-0 to pull clear of the bottom three. Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the goal in the 59th minute. Palace’s only other league victory was against Tottenham in October. While Ipswich stayed in next-to-last place, Palace moved three points above the relegation zone. Much of the focus ahead of the game was on the teams’ captains , Sam Morsy of Ipswich and Marc Guehi of Palace, during another round when the Premier League was celebrating LGBTQ+ inclusion in its campaign to promote equality and diversity. For the second straight game, Morsy chose against wearing a rainbow armband issued to the captain of each of the 20 teams in the league. He has made the decision “due to his religious beliefs,” Ipswich says. Guehi did wear the rainbow armband but defied Football Association rules by writing a religious message on the item. The message read “Jesus loves you” — using a heart sign instead of the word “loves.” During the match against Newcastle on Saturday, Guehi wrote “I love Jesus” — and was later contacted by the FA for acting in contravention of its regulations. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer Steve Douglas, The Associated Press37 Useful Products For Anyone Who Always Hosts Holiday Guests
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Fresh off one of its best showings of the season, the Baltimore defense now has another problem to worry about. Roquan Smith missed practice again Friday because of a hamstring injury. Although the Ravens didn't officially rule him or anyone else out — they don't play until Monday night — the All-Pro linebacker's status seems dicey. “Definitely it will be a challenge if Roquan can’t go,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said. “We’re holding out hope and everything like that. I think it’ll just be by committee. Not one person is going to replace Roquan. Roquan’s an every-down linebacker.” Although the Ravens last weekend, Baltimore didn't allow a touchdown. That was an encouraging sign for a team that ranks 26th in the league in total defense. Baltimore is on the road Monday against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Ravens appear to have dodged one potential nightmare. Star safety Kyle Hamilton injured an ankle on Nov. 7, but he was able to play almost every defensive snap the following week against Pittsburgh. But Smith was injured in that game and didn't practice Thursday or Friday. Linebacker Malik Harrison had a season high in tackles last weekend and figures to have a significant role if Smith can't go. “We tell these guys, ‘You’re one play away to going in there — you never know, so you got to stay ready.’ Malik — he was ready,” Orr said. “I thought he went in there and did a good job, especially after the first series, he settled down. That’s what we expect from him.” It's hard to tell whether last week can be a significant turning point for Baltimore's defense. The Ravens allowed only 10 points in a dominant win over Buffalo in Week 4, then yielded 38 against Cincinnati the following game. After allowing 10 against Denver, the Ravens were picked apart by the Bengals again a few days later. So they still haven't shown they can play a good game defensively and then build on it. “I think it’s easier said than done. It’s something that we kind of got caught up saying against Buffalo and then coming up the next week and not doing," Hamilton said. "We’re aware of it now and know that we played a good game, but I think we can get a lot better, and I think that’s kind of the mindset everybody on defense has right now.” Hamilton's ability to make a difference all over the field is part of what makes him valuable, but positioning him deep is one way the Ravens can try to guard against big passing plays. Pittsburgh's Russell Wilson threw for only 205 yards against Baltimore. That's after Joe Burrow passed for 428 and four touchdowns in the Ravens' previous game. “I’ve always seen myself as a safety. A versatile one, but at the end of the day, I think I play safety,” Hamilton said. “If I’m asked to go play safety, I feel like that’s not an issue for me to play safety if I’m a safety.” NOTES: In addition to Smith, WR Rashod Bateman (knee), DT Travis Jones (ankle), S Sanoussi Kane (ankle) C Tyler Linderbaum (back) and CB Arthur Maulet (calf) missed practice Friday. WR Nelson Agholor (illness) returned to full participation after missing Thursday's practice. AP NFL:As calls mount within the federal Liberal Party for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as leader, one political analyst says there’s little his detractors can do to force his hand. In a Sunday interview with CTV News Channel, Lori Turnbull of Dalhousie University and the Institute on Governance said the decision remains Trudeau’s at this time, as the party previously removed the option to initiate a leadership change through a majority vote. “There isn't the mechanism in the Liberal Party that there is in the Conservative Party,” explained Turnbull. “They availed themselves of the Reform Act and in not using that mechanism. (The Conservatives) ousted Erin O'Toole a few years ago and then had the leadership process that brought Pierre Poilievre in. But the Liberals didn't take advantage of that mechanism where the caucus can, with a 50-per-cent-plus-one vote, push the leader out, and then replace with an interim leader. And so, their options for actually pushing him out of the door are pretty limited.” According to Turnbull, the resignation requests from within Trudeau's caucus, be they through the media or in back rooms, appears to be the adoption of a "death by a thousand cuts" approach ahead of an impending federal election. “As they get into election-readiness mode, as the party has to move toward making sure all the candidates are nominated, this last push to see whether there's any budging for those who want him to go — we're seeing that happen now.” Turnbull added that the current lack of an heir-apparent for party leader removes some of the pressure on Trudeau, but that could change once leadership challengers emerge who caucus members could potentially rally around. “Now that you can hear it more and more in terms of rumours of people putting together a leadership bid. People are networking. People are putting some money together, that sort of thing. That might be the type of thing that puts a greater amount of pressure on him because, without there being somewhere else to go, it's hard for the party," she said. “And again, in the absence of this formal mechanism, it's hard to push one leader out when you're not sure who the next leader is going to be. It's hard to make that transfer.” Turnbull says it appears Trudeau is reflecting on his future over the holidays, but she expects that, no matter what the prime minister decides, an election will likely be called sooner than later. “I think his options are basically, does he want to go into the next election with the party as leader of the party, or not? And if he does, he's going to have to get to (an) election quickly given the fact that opposition parties are saying they're done with this," she said. "If he decides he wants to give the reins to somebody else, it will probably (be) by way of proroguing Parliament, so that the Liberals could have this process without being at risk of losing government in the House of Commons. And then, once that happens, you know that an election would be shortly after that, I would think.” MORE POLITICS NEWS 'Pretty limited' options for Liberal MPs calling for leadership change Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal joins growing chorus of Liberals calling for Trudeau to step down Criminologist says Canada should better track foreign student departures Gerry Butts says Trudeau less likely to remain leader since Freeland quit Conservatives call for no-confidence vote by late January Trudeau, Carney push back over Trump's ongoing 51st state comments Bloc Quebecois as official Opposition? 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Police worry it's here to stay Online predators are becoming increasingly resourceful in trolling media platforms where children gravitate, prompting an explosion in police case loads, said an officer who works for the RCMP Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in British Columbia. World Plane crashes and bursts into flames while landing in South Korea, killing 179 A jetliner skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames Sunday in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board were killed in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters, officials said. Azerbaijan's president says crashed jetliner was shot down by Russia unintentionally Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to 'hush up' the issue for days. Russian man arrested for allegedly running LGBTQ2S+ travel agency found dead in custody A Russian man arrested for allegedly running a travel agency for gay customers was found dead in custody in Moscow, rights group OVD-Info reported Sunday, amid a crackdown on LGBTQ2S+ rights in Russia. An Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital kills 11, war monitor says An Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of former president Bashar Assad. Trump appears to side with Musk, tech allies in debate over foreign workers roiling his supporters U.S. president-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Elon Musk and his other backers in the tech industry as a dispute over immigration visas has divided his supporters. Musk causes uproar for backing Germany's far-right party ahead of key elections Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany's far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest. Politics 'Pretty limited' options for Liberal MPs calling for leadership change As calls mount within the federal Liberal Party for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as leader, one political analyst says there’s little his detractors can do to force his hand. Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal joins growing chorus of Liberals calling for Trudeau to step down Calgary Liberal MP George Chahal has publicly released letters he sent to the Liberal caucus and president of the Liberal Party of Canada, calling on them to begin the process of moving on from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Criminologist says Canada should better track foreign student departures A Canadian criminologist who once worked on inland immigration enforcement for the Canada Border Services Agency says Canada needs to better track foreign nationals who arrive in the country on student visas. Health Recognize the name Jolt Cola? The 1980s soda aims to make a comeback — this time with even more caffeine Jolt Cola, the soda brand that gained attention in the 1980s for offering “all the sugar and twice the caffeine,” is heading back to stores in 2025. This time, it’s promising more than twice the original caffeine content. Are you stretching correctly? Fitness experts break down what to do pre- and post-workout As you head into the gym, you likely already have a workout plan in mind. Maybe you're taking a light jog on the treadmill, or you're working on some bicep curls on arm's day. To get the most out of your gym session, consider first how you start and end your workouts. If you're mentally struggling during the holidays, here’s how to cope For many people, celebrating New Year’s Day can include reflecting on a life well lived or a chance to start anew. But for some, the holiday may have dark undertones, according to a recent large study. Sci-Tech Beware the slithering scales: Monkeys fear snakeskin even when it's not on a snake, study suggests A new study suggests monkeys can identify snakes by their scales, and know to fear them, even when those scales aren't on a snake. Why Nefertiti still inspires, 3,300 years after she reigned In the modern day, Nefertiti’s significance as a cultural icon remains strong. NASA spacecraft 'safe' after closest-ever approach to sun NASA said on Friday that its Parker Solar Probe was 'safe' and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the sun by any human-made object. Entertainment 'Sonic 3' and 'Mufasa' battle for No. 1 at the holiday box office Two family films dominated the holiday box office this week, with 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' winning the three-day weekend over 'Mufasa' by a blue hair. Canadian model Dayle Haddon dies from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning Dayle Haddon, an actor, activist and trailblazing former 'Sports Illustrated' model who pushed back against age discrimination by reentering the industry as a widow, has died in a Pennsylvania home from what authorities believe was carbon monoxide poisoning. 'Home Alone' director Chris Columbus explains how the McCallisters were able to afford that house Audiences have wondered for years how the family in 'Home Alone' was able to afford their beautiful Chicago-area home and now we know. Business A by-the-numbers look back at Canadian finance in 2024 The big questions in Canadian finance heading into 2024 were whether the economy could avoid a recession and what would happen with interest rates. Markets stumble as Wall Street sells off Big Tech U.S. stocks ended Friday in the red, closing out a lackluster week despite a year of historic highs. Trump asks U.S. Supreme Court to pause law that could ban TikTok President-elect Donald Trump has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a 'political resolution' to the issue. Lifestyle Looking to get rid of your Christmas tree? This farm will feed it to its goats Now that the holidays are almost over, many people may be looking to dispose of their Christmas tree. One farm in Massachusetts is letting people do just that, in a furry and eco-friendly way. Proposal gone wrong: Man opens ring box to find ring missing Dave Van Veen wanted to make his proposal to his girlfriend, Kailyn Kenney, memorable. It was, but not for the reason he had hoped. Missing dog returns to Florida family, rings doorbell After a nearly weeklong search, Athena, a four-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, found her way home to her Florida family in time for Christmas Eve and even rang the doorbell. Sports 'Let's not panic': Canada picks up the pieces after ugly Latvia loss at world juniors Canada was embarrassed on home soil 3-2 by Latvia — a country it had thumped by a combined 41-4 score across four previous meetings — in a shocking shootout Friday. Olympic Games in 2026 on the horizon for world champion ski jumper Alex Loutitt The words "why not me" are tattooed on the back of Alexandria Loutitt's hand between her thumb and wrist. New Canadians, non-traditional demographics boost minor hockey uptake in B.C. Participation in hockey in British Columbia was struggling in 2021 — the pandemic had dealt a heavy blow to player registrations, and numbers had already been flagging before COVID-19 arrived. Autos Suzuki Motor former boss who turned the minicar maker into a global player dies at 94 Osamu Suzuki, the charismatic former boss of Suzuki Motor Corp. who helped turn the Japanese mini-vehicle maker into a globally competitive company, has died, the company said Friday. He was 94. More drivers opt for personalized plates in Sask. — and behind every one there's a story You may have noticed a few more vanity plates on Saskatchewan roads in recent years, and every one of them comes with a personal story. Nissan and Honda to attempt a merger that would create the world's No. 3 automaker Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world's third-largest automaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. Local Spotlight Community partners in Windsor propose education campaign to veer people away from payday loans In a move aimed at combatting the financial strain caused by payday loans, the City of Windsor is considering the launch of a comprehensive education campaign to promote alternative financial options. Port Elgin, Ont. woman named Canada's Favourite Crossing Guard A Port Elgin woman has been named one of three of Canada’s Favourite Crossing Guards in a recent contest. 'Something that connected us all': For 53 years, Sask. family celebrates holidays with street hockey game For over 50 years, Stephen Lentzos and his family have celebrated Christmas Day with a street hockey game. 43-quintillion combinations: Speedcubers solve Rubik's Cubes in record breaking times On Saturday, Barrie is testing the abilities of some of the fastest cube solvers from across the province and around the world. B.C woman awarded nearly $750K in court case against contractor A B.C. woman has been awarded nearly $750,000 in damages in a dispute with a contractor who strung her along for a year and a half and failed to complete a renovation, according to a recent court decision. Ho! Ho! HOLY that's cold! Montreal boogie boarder in Santa suit hits St. Lawrence waters Montreal body surfer Carlos Hebert-Plante boogie boards all year round, and donned a Santa Claus suit to hit the water on Christmas Day in -14 degree Celsius weather. Teen cancer patient pays forward Make-A-Wish donation to local fire department A 16-year-old cancer patient from Hemmingford, Que. decided to donate his Make-A-Wish Foundation gift to the local fire department rather than use it himself. B.C. friends nab 'unbelievable' $1M lotto win just before Christmas Two friends from B.C's lower mainland are feeling particularly merry this December, after a single lottery ticket purchased from a small kiosk landed them instant millionaire status. 'Can I taste it?': Rare $55,000 bottle of spirits for sale in Moncton, N.B. A rare bottle of Scotch whisky is for sale in downtown Moncton, N.B., with a price tag reading $55,000. Vancouver 2 shot during fight outside Surrey pub Two people were injured in a shooting outside of a Surrey pub in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to authorities. Possible explosion at Metro Vancouver strip mall under investigation Police and firefighters were called to the scene of a potential explosion at a Metro Vancouver strip mall Sunday morning. How to recycle your Christmas tree in Metro Vancouver During the first weeks of January, cities in Metro Vancouver offer several options for recycling Christmas trees, from putting them in the green bin, to curbside pick-up, to chipping fundraisers that benefit local charities. Toronto ‘Significant rainfall,’ and fog expected in the GTA, much of southern Ontario Sunday It’s expected to be a wet and foggy day across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Sunday, with as much as 30 mm of rain expected in some locations. Suspect charged after woman found dead at Niagara Falls home A suspect has been charged after a woman was found dead inside her Niagara Falls home. SIU investigating after Toronto cops discharge sock round, less-lethal firearm at man that resulted in serious injuries The province’s police watchdog is investigating after Toronto officers discharged sock round and less-lethal firearm at a man who had allegedly stabbed another person in the city’s Rockcliffe-Smythe area on Saturday morning. Calgary 1 man hospitalized after being shot in leg near Calgary’s Drop-In Centre One man was taken to hospital after a shooting downtown Saturday night. 1 arrested after 3 stabbed in Airdrie, including 2 youth Airdrie RCMP have arrested a male in connection with multiple aggravated assaults that left three people injured. Jonathan Huberdeau scores twice as Calgary Flames beat San Jose Sharks 3-1 Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and the Calgary Flames beat San Jose 3-1 on Saturday night, handing the Sharks their seventh straight loss. Ottawa 4.1 magnitude earthquake in western Quebec felt in Ottawa and Montreal The earth moved in the Maniwaki area this Sunday morning. No damage was reported after a 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled the Maniwaki area in western Quebec, according to Earthquakes Canada. Here's how you can watch CTV News at Six on Sundays during the NFL season With CTV broadcasting NFL football games on Sundays this season, CTV News at Six will be broadcasting live on our website and the CTV News App. Eastern Ontario farm wants your Christmas trees to feed its animals: ’They do like the fresh needles’ An animal farm in eastern Ontario wants your Christmas trees for its goats, sheep, alpacas and cattle to feed on. Montreal Over a dozen community groups refuse to leave Montreal centre despite eviction order More than a dozen groups have refused to vacate a community centre in Montreal's Ahuntsic neighbourhood despite an eviction order from their landlord, Quebec's largest school service centre. Earthquake near Maniwaki felt in Gatineau, Ottawa, and Montreal A 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck near Maniwaki, Que., on Sunday morning, according to Earthquake Canada. Authorities change plan to free stranded vessel near Vercheres The Canadian Coast Guard announced on Sunday morning that a change of strategy was underway to salvage the vessel that ran aground on Christmas Eve in the St. Lawrence River, in the Verchères sector of the Montérégie region. Edmonton Edmonton street photographer captures moments and people one frame at a time A local photographer who is passionate about capturing moments in one-hundredth of a second embraced many styles of his trade before landing on one which truly represents his mantra: street photography. 2 vehicles fall through ice at Sylvan Lake, promoting police warning RCMP issued a warning Saturday after two vehicles fell through the ice on Sylvan Lake. Olympic Games in 2026 on the horizon for world champion ski jumper Alex Loutitt The words "why not me" are tattooed on the back of Alexandria Loutitt's hand between her thumb and wrist. Atlantic TSB investigating airplane landing incident at Halifax airport The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says they are investigating an aircraft incident at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport that caused temporary delays to all flight operations Saturday night. N.B. entrepreneur honours memory of mother with 'thank you' note legacy N.B. entrepreneur Emily Somers honours her mother with 'thank you' notes. N.S. man hospitalized after collision in Bridgewater: police A 75-year-old Lunenburg County man is in hospital after being struck by a vehicle in Bridgewater, N.S., Friday morning. Winnipeg 2 teenagers arrested, 1 suspect at-large after attack involving bear spray, machete A pair of teenaged boys have been charged with aggravated assault after police said they attacked a man with bear spray and a machete Friday evening. Experts, province urge caution over ice conditions after man dies in Hanover The province, along with outdoor enthusiasts, are urging people to use caution near frozen bodies of water after a man died when his skid steer loader fell through the ice. Cross-country ski race returns to Windsor Park The Prairie Holiday Loppet made its long-awaited return to Winnipeg’s Windsor Park Saturday, with dozens of racers hitting the trails. Regina Regina police charge 2 youths in city's 6th homicide of 2024 Two Regina teens are facing murder charges in connection to the death of a Regina man on Boxing Day. Regina man showcases local bead supply business Jeramy Hannah recently began selling beading supplies, after he realized the beaders in his life were struggling with a lack of local vendors, prompting him to create a business called Bead Bro. 'A great holiday memory': Echo Valley Provincial Park gets plenty of visitors at Skate the Park launch Families and groups of friends made use of the good weather as the new season of Skate the Park got underway at Echo Valley Provincial Park. Kitchener Cambridge industrial plant dealing with major damages after fire A fire Saturday morning has a Cambridge industrial plant dealing with major damage. Emergency crews respond to Mapleton, Ont. barn fire Mapleton, Ont. emergency crews are battling a barn fire that broke out Sunday morning. Plane crashes and bursts into flames while landing in South Korea, killing 179 A jetliner skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames Sunday in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board were killed in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters, officials said. Saskatoon U18 provincials curling tournament underway in PA Teams from across Saskatchewan are in Prince Albert for the U18 curling provincials. Police made two arrests following a shooting in Saskatoon A swift response from Saskatoon police led to the arrest of a man and woman following a reported shooting Friday afternoon. Saskatoon fire crews battle house fire Saskatoon firefighters responded to a house fire on the 100 block of Klassen Crescent Friday afternoon. Northern Ontario Mississauga tow truck driver charged for impersonating a cop in northern Ont. A southern Ontario resident has been charged for allegedly impersonating a peace officer during a towing incident in northwestern Ontario. 'Pretty limited' options for Liberal MPs calling for leadership change As calls mount within the federal Liberal Party for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as leader, one political analyst says there’s little his detractors can do to force his hand. Montreal motorist dead after 5-vehicle collision in Kirkland Lake: OPP Ontario Provincial Police in Kirkland Lake, Ont., are investigating a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 11 that killed one person. London Fatal crash in Middlesex County Middlesex County OPP attended the scene of a fatal motor vehicle collision in Strathroy-Caradoc early Sunday morning. New Year’s Eve in London’s Victoria Park You can ring in 2025 this Tuesday night at London’s free New Year’s Eve in the Park celebration. Can you help solve this cold case in Sarnia? Sarnia police are seeking the public’s help in finding any new leads for a cold case from over 20 years ago. Barrie Deluxe taxi goes up in flames in Barrie parking lot Some locals were quick to pull out their cellphones and capture a minivan as it went up in hot flames in a Barrie parking lot. Region under rainfall warning, fog advisory Many areas across Simcoe Muskoka, upper York Region and Grey County are under rainfall warnings and fog advisories as of Sunday morning. $47K in drugs seized, man arrested in alleged domestic assault Police in Owen Sound made one arrest and seized a ‘large’ quantity of multiple drugs after responding to an alleged domestic assault on Saturday. Windsor Crews battle two apartment fires in under two hours Windsor Fire and Rescue responded to two calls at Ouellette Avenue apartment buildings Sunday morning. 'Pretty limited' options for Liberal MPs calling for leadership change As calls mount within the federal Liberal Party for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down as leader, one political analyst says there’s little his detractors can do to force his hand. Woman with outstanding warrant arrested in Chatham One person has been arrested after Chatham-Kent police officers conducted a traffic stop Saturday in Chatham. Vancouver Island Victoria police seek witnesses, additional victims after hit-and-run spree A woman is facing seven charges after allegedly committing multiple hit-and-run crashes in a stolen vehicle while impaired, according to police in B.C.'s capital. Online child exploitation spiked during lockdowns. Police worry it's here to stay Online predators are becoming increasingly resourceful in trolling media platforms where children gravitate, prompting an explosion in police case loads, said an officer who works for the RCMP Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in British Columbia. Vancouver man defrauded Chinese developers of US$500K, court rules A Vancouver man has been ordered to pay more than US$500,000 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge found he had defrauded the would-be developers of a real estate project in China of that amount. Kelowna B.C. team building 100 beaver 'starter homes' in the name of wetland preservation More than 70 manmade beaver dams have been installed in Interior waterways since the B.C. Wildlife Federation project launched last year with the goal of building 100 dams by the end of 2025. B.C. man charged with drug trafficking and weapons offences after CBSA investigation A resident of B.C.'s Interior has been charged with weapon and drug trafficking offences after an investigation launched by border agents at Vancouver International Airport earlier this year. B.C woman awarded nearly $750K in court case against contractor A B.C. woman has been awarded nearly $750,000 in damages in a dispute with a contractor who strung her along for a year and a half and failed to complete a renovation, according to a recent court decision. Lethbridge Lethbridge residents pay it forward as Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign exceeds fundraising goal with $232K The Salvation Army surpassed what it considered to be an ambitious fundraising goal for this holiday season. Lethbridge fire crews greet Christmas putting down structure fire at oil change business Lethbridge firefighters started off Christmas morning responding to a major structure fire at an oil change business. Lethbridge Police investigating suspicious death inside motel room Lethbridge Police are investigating after a body was found inside a southside motel room on Saturday. Sault Ste. Marie Provincial police investigate fatal commercial vehicle crash in northwestern Ont. Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a fatal crash on Highway 17 between Sistonen's Corner to Upsala in northwestern Ontario. Mississauga tow truck driver charged for impersonating a cop in northern Ont. A southern Ontario resident has been charged for allegedly impersonating a peace officer during a towing incident in northwestern Ontario. Man shot by officer after firing at police car near Thunder Bay: SIU Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is probing a shooting near Thunder Bay in which a man was shot and wounded by a police officer on Boxing Day. N.L. Icebreaker on hand in Labrador to guide season's last freight arrivals by ferry A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker is in central Labrador until Saturday to guide the Kamutik W ferry on its last freight deliveries of the season. Whooping cough in Canada: Outbreaks or case increases reported in these provinces Canadian health officials say they're seeing spikes in whooping cough cases in parts of the country as the U.S. deals with case numbers not seen in more than a decade. Her son needed help with addiction. Instead, he's spending Christmas in N.L. jail. As Gwen Perry prepares for a Christmas without contact from her son, who is locked inside a notorious St. John's, N.L., jail, she wants people to understand that many inmates need help, not incarceration. Stay Connected