Enphase: Top Contrarian Pick With Blood In The Streets

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The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, in collaboration with the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, is celebrating art through Black history. The NFTA is inviting artists from across Western New York to submit original artwork for its Black History Month art contest. The winning design will be showcased on NFTA-Metro buses. This year’s theme is “Celebrating Black Culture.” Artists are encouraged to create work that honors the trends and concepts Black culture has inspired throughout history. Submitted artwork can be new or existing. Upon selection, the Grand Prize winner will be paid a flat fee of $1,500 for their artistic contribution. Would you like to see your artwork on a Metro Bus? Now is your chance. Work must be submitted by Dec. 13. The winner will be notified of their submission status by Dec. 20. Contest requirements include: • The ability to create and submit high-quality digital files is required. • Artwork designed for full-color digital images for printing on vinyl to be applied on an NFTA-Metro bus. • Digital artwork be submitted using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign. If the image includes fonts, they must be outlined within the artwork. All layout files must be packaged and bundled to include all linked images and fonts. The final selection will be made by the NFTA’s African American Heritage Committee. Selected artists will be required to work with the NFTA’s graphic team to provide revisions for reproduction. Artists’ work may be used on NFTA’s social media platforms. All copyrights are reserved for NFTA. Artists may submit a maximum of two designs and must include their name; address; phone number; email; title of image; description of proposed artwork; and a bio, social media link and website. Files should be saved as: firstname_lastname_NFTA_BHM_Proposal.jpg(jpeg) and submitted to ally@discoverniagara.org Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.

Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose economic reforms made his country a global powerhouse, has died at the age of 92, current leader Narendra Modi said Thursday. India "mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders," Modi posted on social media platform X shortly after news broke of Singh's passing. "As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people's lives." Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Thursday, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51 pm local time, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, is credited with having overseen an economic boom in Asia's fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint. "I have lost a mentor and guide," opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a statement, adding that Singh had "led India with immense wisdom and integrity." "Millions of us who admired him will remember him with the utmost pride," said Gandhi, a scion of India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the most prominent challenger to Modi. Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the opposition in parliament's upper house, said "India has lost a visionary statesman, a leader of unimpeachable integrity, and an economist of unparalleled stature." President Droupadi Murmu wrote on X that Singh will "always be remembered for his service to the nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility." Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in India and never held elected office before taking the vast nation's top job. He won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD. Singh worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies including the United Nations. He was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history. In his first term Singh steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending India the international clout it had long sought. He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the United States that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs. Known as "Mr Clean", Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public. Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won. But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, won in a landslide. Singh -- who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors -- became a vocal critic of Modi's economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India's democracy. bjt/mlm

Trump Is Filling His Cabinet With People Who Have Lost ElectionsGLENS FALLS, N.Y. — The Adirondack Thunder can watch football all day Thursday. Before and after they’ll be busy with a three-game Thanksgiving homestand, starting Wednesday against the Trois-Rivieres Lions before battling the Reading Royals on Friday and Saturday. When it’s over, the Thunder will have played 10 games in 16 days, one of the [...]

Photos: Remembering Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president

FAI CEO DAVID Courell has defended the Association’s price hike in season tickets for the senior men’s international team. Price increases for home games across 2025 have been criticised by supporters’ groups, who have also hit out against the FAI’s policy of asking for 50% of the price of the ticket up front, before Ireland even know their opponents in next year’s World Cup qualifiers. Season tickets for home games across 2024 ranged from €150 to €320: these included friendly matches against Belgium, Switzerland, and Hungary along with Nations League games against England, Greece, and Finland. Season tickets currently on sale range from €180.50 to €405.50. The price for renewals, meanwhile, increased on average of €25 per person. Next year’s season ticket includes Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign, though it will feature only three home games as Ireland will be drawn in a four-team group. Ireland will learn most of their opponents at the draw on 13 December, though the final line-up of opponents may not be known until the end of the Nations League play-offs next March. Next year’s season ticket will also include access to the second leg of the Nations League play-off against Bulgaria, along with at least one friendly international in June. Fan groups have also criticised a new loyalty system under the new season ticket, whereby fans are rewarded with twice as many loyalty points for attending home games as they are for away games. This is in turn will give fans priority access to 2026 World Cup tickets along with the six Euro 2028 games to be hosted at the Aviva Stadium, a tournament for which Ireland are highly likely to qualify as co-hosts. “It would be remiss of me not to praise our fans who have been fantastic, probably the most loyal fans in the world”, said Courell. “We haven’t always performed in recent years but they have stayed with us. We have the highest season ticket membership of any federation in Europe, at 24,500 last year. We don’t take that for granted but equally there are costs associated with hosting games in this fantastic facility. We have only increased ticket prices once in the last decade. It was merited that we had to increase our season ticket prices but we wanted to reward the loyalty of those fans so if they’re renewing there’s still amazing value there, even for non-renewing. You can still get an adult ticket for an average of €30 per game which I think we’d all recognise in this day and age in this country represents good value for money. “While no fan group anywhere in the world would ever countenance any price increases, I am happy to see the interest in season tickets is in rude health. We’re now at over 20,000 sold already. While I understand there may be some disappointment hopefully they can understand our cost base is increasing.” While a glamour qualifier draw would be a commercial benefit to the FAI, Courell would prefer a lower-profile set of opponents if it meant an easier path to the World Cup. “I think that we have been unfortunate, particularly in the men’s team, but also recently in the women’s team, to be drawn in very difficult groups”, he said. “I would be very welcoming to taking a slightly easier path to the main tournament.” Courell spoke warmly of Heimir Hallgrimsson’s tenure thus far, and said his future will be discussed at the end of Ireland’s World Cup campaign, which may be as soon as November next year if Ireland fail to qualify. “Heimir has landed really well”, said Courell. “I think his engagement with the team has been really positive. He’s got a young crop of players but he is proven at developing young teams, moving them up the rankings and evolving their style of play. “I think we’re starting to signs of that, really positive signs. Whilst maybe not the most convincing wins against Finland, they were wins we wouldn’t have secured otherwise in years gone by. I’m very happy with how Heimir has landed. This was not an overnight project, it was one where we identified Heimir as the perfect candidate to bring this forward and he’s well-positioned now to take us into the play-off against Bulgaria and then all eyes on the World Cup, ”Leaving the second half in Wembley aside, we recognise that as an Irish footballing nation, we’ve a rich history but we’ve been underperforming in recent years so it wasn’t going to be a flick the switch and move on. I think what we’ve seen is really positive development – putting a bit more shape on the team, trying out different approaches, and I think he’s getting a really good response and reaction from the players. I believe we’ll see 2025 in a very positive light.” Courell also defended Hallgrimsson’s decision to delegate much of the September window – which featured home defeats to England and Greece – to assistant John O’Shea. Hallgrimsson leaned heavily on O’Shea as he said he did not have a deep knowledge of the players at his disposal, despite the fact the FAI said he was identified as the number one candidate as early as March of this year. “Heimir obviously is a professional”, said Courell. “While he knew he was going to come and join us and had done his research, there are limitations on what you can do when you are in gainful employment with somebody else. “He had another major tournament [Copa America] that he was delivering with Jamaica and understandably as a professional he was delivering on his commitment to the Jamaican Federation, that he supported them as best he could to come through that tournament so, while you might say there were six months there for him to prepare etc, unfortunately it wasn’t dedicated time to give 100 percent time to the Irish job.” Meanwhile, the FAI will sit down with Eileen Gleeson to discuss her position as WNT head coach after the upcoming Euro 2025 play-off against Switzerland. Gleeson’s contract expires at the end of the campaign and is keen to remain in the job, but talks with the FAI have yet to begin.

Photos: Remembering Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president‘AI-powered Weapons Depersonalise the Violence, Making It Easier for the Military to Approve More Destruction’ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces launched an operation Tuesday night to disperse supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan who had gathered in the capital to demand his release from prison. The latest development came hours after thousands of Khan supporters, defying government warnings, broke through a barrier of shipping containers blocking off Islamabad and entered a high-security zone, where they clashed with security forces, facing tear gas shelling, mass detentions and gunfire. Tension has been high in Islamabad since Sunday when supporters of the former prime minister began a “long march” from the restive northwest to demand his release. Khan has been in a prison for over a year and faces more than 150 criminal cases that his party says are politically motivated. Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, led the protest, but she fled as police pushed back against demonstrators. Hundreds of Khan’s supporters are being arrested in the ongoing nighttime operation, and police are also seeking to arrest Bibi. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that the Red Zone, which houses government buildings and embassies, and the surrounding areas have been cleared. Leaders from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, have also fled the protest site. Earlier Tuesday, Pakistan’s army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in the Red Zone, where visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is staying. Since Monday, Naqvi had threatened that security forces would use live fire if protesters fired weapons at them. “We have now authorized the police to respond as necessary,” Naqvi said Tuesday while visiting the square. Before the operation began, protester Shahzor Ali said people had taken to the streets because Khan had called for them. “We will stay here until Khan joins us. He will decide what to do next,” Ali said. “If they fire bullets again, we will respond with bullets,” he said. Protester Fareeda Bibi, who is not related to Khan’s wife, said people have suffered greatly for the last two years. “We have really suffered for the last two years, whether it is economically, politically or socially. We have been ruined. I have not seen such a Pakistan in my life,” she said. Authorities have struggled to contain the protest-related violence. Six people, including four members of the security services, were killed when a vehicle rammed them on a street overnight into Tuesday. A police officer died in a separate incident. Dozens of Khan supporters beat a videographer covering the protest for The Associated Press and took his camera. He sustained head injuries and was treated in a hospital. By Tuesday afternoon, fresh waves of protesters made their way unopposed to their final destination in the Red Zone. Most demonstrators had the flag of Khan’s party around their shoulders or wore its tricolors on accessories. Naqvi said Khan’s party had rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city. Information Minister Atta Tarar warned there would be a severe government reaction to the violence. He said the government did not want Bushra Bibi to achieve her goal of freeing Khan. “She wants bodies falling to the ground. She wants bloodshed,” he said. The government says only the courts can order Khan’s release. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In a bid to foil the unrest, police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. Messaging platforms were also experiencing severe disruption in the capital. Khan’s party relies heavily on social media and uses messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to share information, including details of events. The X platform, which is banned in Pakistan, is no longer accessible, even with a VPN. Last Thursday, a court prohibited rallies in the capital and Naqvi said anyone violating the ban would be arrested. Travel between Islamabad and other cities has become nearly impossible because of shipping containers blocking the roads. All education institutions remain closed. Pakistan's Stock Exchange lost more than $1.7 billion Tuesday due to rising political tensions, according to economist Mohammed Sohail from Topline Securities. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

On Thursday, Wall Street indexes displayed a mixed performance, while U.S. benchmark Treasury yields barely moved after reaching their highest levels in months. This occurred during light trading post-Christmas, as uncertainties around President-elect Donald Trump's policies lifted gold prices, impacting market stability. Despite initial dips, U.S. stocks leveled off, interrupting a 'Santa Claus rally' sentiment. Analyst Peter Cardillo suggested the year-end rally could persist despite temporary setbacks, indicating a cautious anticipation of 2025's economic conditions influenced by geopolitical tensions and monetary adjustments by the Fed. Additional data showed slight deviations in new U.S. employment claims and ongoing claims, reflecting challenges for laid-off workers. Various global markets reacted diversely, with Japan's Nikkei advancing and European markets taking a holiday pause. (With inputs from agencies.)

NYT Tech Guild reaches agreement with leadership after years of bargaining