A Zimbabwe court ruled Friday that opposition leader Jameson Timba and 34 people in prison since their arrest at his home more than five months ago were guilty of unlawful gathering. Timba, an interim leader of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), was arrested on June 16 with nearly 80 other people in a case criticised as being part of a crackdown on political dissent. He and around 65 others from the original group were acquitted of a charge of disorderly conduct in September. On the outstanding charge of participating in an unlawful gathering with intent to commit public violence, Magistrate Collet Ncube found Timba and 34 others guilty. “This court is of the view that this gathering could have caused a breach of peace,” Ncube said. “It is for that reason that police officers were alerted to maintain peace.” Timba and the others who were found guilty await sentencing. READ ALSO: The women behind Zimbabwe’s striking hut painting art The judge said those who were acquitted were found to have not been in the house but near it. They are expected to be released from jail. Timba and the others were among the first of around 160 opposition figures and activists to be rounded up ahead of a July summit of the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Harare. Amnesty International and other groups said the arrests were politically motivated and part of a crackdown as President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over the one-year SADC chairmanship. Many of those arrested in the round-up have since been released. Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party has been in power since independence in 1980 and is accused of stifling dissent.A range of independent TDs are contemplating the prospect of entering Ireland’s next coalition government as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael consider ways to secure a solid majority. Three long days of counting in the General Election finished late on Monday night when the final two seats were declared in the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. Fianna Fail was the clear winner of the election, securing 48 of the Dail parliament’s 174 seats. Sinn Fein took 39 and Fine Gael 38. Labour and the Social Democrats both won 11 seats; People Before Profit-Solidarity took three; Aontu secured two; and the Green Party retained only one of its 12 seats. Independents and others accounted for 21 seats. The return of a Fianna Fail/Fine Gael-led coalition is now highly likely. However, their combined seat total of 86 leaves them just short of the 88 needed for a majority in the Dail. While the two centrist parties that have dominated Irish politics for a century could look to strike a deal with one of the Dail’s smaller centre-left parties, such as the Social Democrats or Labour, a more straightforward route to a majority could be achieved by securing the support of several independent TDs. For Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and current taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, wooing like-minded independents would be likely to involve fewer policy concessions, and financial commitments, than would be required to convince another party to join the government benches. Longford-Westmeath independent TD Kevin “Boxer” Moran, who served in a Fine Gael-led minority government between 2017 and 2020, expressed his willingness to listen to offers to join the new coalition in Dublin. “Look, my door’s open,” he told RTE. “Someone knocks, I’m always there to open it.” Marian Harkin, an independent TD for Sligo-Leitrim, expressed her desire to participate in government as she noted that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were within “shouting distance” of an overall majority. “That means they will be looking for support, and I certainly will be one of those people who will be speaking to them and talking to them and negotiating with them, and I’m looking forward to doing that, because that was the reason that I ran in the first place,” she said. Meanwhile, the Social Democrats and Irish Labour Party both appear cautious about the prospect of an alliance with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. They will no doubt be mindful of the experience of the Green Party, the junior partner in the last mandate. The Greens experienced near wipeout in the election, retaining only one of their 12 seats. Sinn Fein appears to currently have no realistic route to government, given Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s ongoing refusal to share power with the party. Despite the odds being stacked against her party, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald contacted the leaders of the Social Democrats and Labour on Monday to discuss options. Earlier, Fianna Fail deputy leader and outgoing Finance Minister Jack Chambers predicted that a new coalition government would not be in place before Christmas. Mr Chambers said planned talks about forming an administration required “time and space” to ensure that any new government will be “coherent and stable”. After an inconclusive outcome to the 2020 election, it took five months for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens to strike the last coalition deal. Mr Chambers said he did not believe it would take that long this time, as he noted the Covid-19 pandemic was a factor in 2020, but he also made clear it would not be a swift process. He said he agreed with analysis that there was no prospect of a deal before Christmas. “I don’t expect a government to be formed in mid-December, when the Dail is due to meet on December 18, probably a Ceann Comhairle (speaker) can be elected, and there’ll have to be time and space taken to make sure we can form a coherent, stable government,” he told RTE. “I don’t think it should take five months like it did the last time – Covid obviously complicated that. But I think all political parties need to take the time to see what’s possible and try and form a stable government for the Irish people.” Fine Gael minister of state Peter Burke said members of his parliamentary party would have to meet to consider their options before giving Mr Harris a mandate to negotiate a new programme for government with Fianna Fail. “It’s important that we have a strong, stable, viable government, whatever form that may be, to ensure that we can meet the challenges of our society, meet the challenges in terms of the economic changes that are potentially going to happen,” he told RTE. Despite being set to emerge with the most seats, it has not been all good news for Fianna Fail. The party’s outgoing Health Minister Stephen Donnelly became one of the biggest casualties of the election when he lost his seat in Wicklow in the early hours of Monday morning. Mr Donnelly was always predicted to face a fight in the constituency after boundary changes saw it reduced from five to four seats. If it is to be a reprise of the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael governing partnership of the last mandate, one of the major questions is around the position of taoiseach and whether the parties will once again take turns to hold the Irish premiership during the lifetime of the new government. The outcome in 2020 saw the parties enter a coalition on the basis that the holder of the premier position would be exchanged midway through the term. Fianna Fail leader Mr Martin took the role for the first half of the mandate, with Leo Varadkar taking over in December 2022. Current Fine Gael leader Mr Harris succeeded Mr Varadkar as taoiseach when he resigned from the role earlier this year. However, this time Fianna Fail has significantly increased its seat lead over Fine Gael, compared with the last election when there were only three seats between the parties. The size of the disparity in party numbers is likely to draw focus on the rotating taoiseach arrangement, raising questions as to whether it will be re-run in the next coalition and, if it is, on what terms. On Sunday, Simon Coveney, a former deputy leader of Fine Gael, said a coalition that did not repeat the rotating taoiseach arrangement in some fashion would be a “difficult proposition” for his party. Meanwhile, Fine Gael minister Paschal Donohoe said he would be making the case for Mr Harris to have another opportunity to serve as taoiseach. On Monday, Mr Chambers said while his party would expect to lead the government it would approach the issue of rotating the taoiseach’s role on the basis of “mutual respect” with Fine Gael. “I think the context of discussions and negotiations will be driven by mutual respect, and that’s the glue that will drive a programme for government and that’s the context in which we’ll engage,” he said. On Monday, Labour leader Ivana Bacik reiterated her party’s determination to forge an alliance with fellow centre-left parties with the intention of having a unified approach to the prospect of entering government. Asked if Labour was prepared to go into government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael on its own, she told RTE: “No, not at this stage. We are absolutely not willing to do that. “We want to ensure there’s the largest number of TDs who share our vision and our values who want to deliver change on the same basis that we do.” The Social Democrats have been non-committal about any potential arrangement with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, and have restated a series of red lines they would need to achieve before considering taking a place in government. Leader Holly Cairns, who gave birth to a daughter on polling day on Friday, said in a statement: “The party is in a very strong position to play an important role in the next Dail. In what position, government or opposition, remains to be seen.” Fianna Fail secured the most first preference votes in Friday’s proportional representation election, taking 21.9% to Fine Gael’s 20.8%. Sinn Fein came in third on 19%. While Sinn Fein’s vote share represented a marked improvement on its disappointing showing in June’s local elections in Ireland, it is still significantly down on the 24.5% poll-topping share it secured in the 2020 general election. The final breakdown of first preferences also flipped the result of Friday night’s exit poll, which suggested Sinn Fein was in front on 21.1%, with Fine Gael on 21% and Fianna Fail on 19.5%.
By BILL BARROW, Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Related Articles Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.'The Sabarmati Report' goes tax-free in these states—Is yours included?
There wasn't much Christmas cheer in NRG Stadium as the home fans watched the Houston Texans get flattened by the Baltimore Ravens 31-2 on Wednesday. Fans expressed discontent with their playoff-bound team's performance by booing as the Texans trailed 10-0 heading into the second quarter and 17-2 ahead of halftime. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud struggled mightily in moving the chains. He threw for a total of 185 yards and 0 touchdowns with one interception in the loss. "People are entitled to their opinions and they care about the game. Their emotions matter, so I understand," Stroud said, per NBC Sports' Michael David Smith . "This is not my first time and it probably won't be my last. Texans fans are not pleased with that series and punt pic.twitter.com/GuDygNnIuT Things didn't look brighter when the game resumed in the second half; Stroud's interception came on the first drive after that, causing the cacophony of boos to echo stronger throughout the stadium. The young pocket passer took accountability for the display against the Ravens, dropping the Texans to 9-7. "I just kept missing. I wasn't making throws," Stroud said. Stroud, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, is amidst a sophomore slump despite leading the Texans to another clinching of the AFC South. Stroud's completion percentage has dropped along with his yardage per pass and his passer rating. Stroud's sensational rookie campaign featured 23 touchdown scores with five picks; this season, he has slung only 19 with 12 interceptions in 16 games so far. "This is not my first time and it probably won't be my last. This is not something to internalize and point the finger at yourself but it is something that you can use to motivate you, to not want those moments anymore," said Stroud. Houston had an opportunity to move up the AFC leaderboard and tie the Ravens for the No. 3 overall seed, but instead, have now locked themselves into the No. 4 position. "I got plenty of football left in my career hopefully, God willing, and I know this is going to be a story I'll tell one day that helps me in the long run. It's part of life. You hit a lot of valleys and you have a lot of mountaintops. It's a cliché, but there's not sunny days if there aren't days with rain. So, this is a rainy day, but at the end of the day, the sun will rise up tomorrow and we have another crack at this thing next week and keep rolling." For more on the Texans, head to Newsweek Sports .
With three full-length albums and two EPs under his belt, Mac Ayres has been extremely prolific since he first started releasing music in 2016. For his latest project, the Sea Cliff, NY, native pumped the brakes, rolled up his sleeves and dug into his archive to dust off some of his earliest cuts from his SoundCloud days. The earliest of the songs date back to 2016, when Mac was contemplating dropping out of his songwriting major at Berkeley College of Music in Boston, Mass. Wracked with anxiety and struck with an instantly recognizable yearning for stability, the songs on Cloudy float. In these early cuts, Ayres prioritizes contouring his sweeping melodies with ethereal arrangements over verbose lyricism. With all his influences on full display, Cloudy offers a rare peek into the formative years of one of R&B’s most interesting and most underrated singer-songwriters, now 27. He’s not just revisiting his roots; he’s fully entrenching himself and his audience in the throes of those turbulent times. In celebration of the compilation’s release (Nov. 8), Ayres performed an intimate piano-and-mic set at New York City’s LPR. He played tracks from Cloudy , his most notable hits, and a few covers that allowed him to recapture the freedom of his years as a bar musician. “[By the time my first EP] Drive Slow came out, I was 20. I had eight years of practicing being in front of people and performing,” he tells Billboard . “It’s a really important part of my artistry. That was the most fun to get back to. This has been a very musically liberating experience.” In a self-reflective conversation with Billboard , Mac Ayres talks about all things Cloudy , the emotional weight of revisiting your past, and his plans for 2025. What exactly do we call this project? Is it even important to you to properly demarcate what kind of project this is? Amongst my team, there has been some discourse. [ Laughs. ] I’m not too big on, “Is this an album versus an EP” or whatever, but this project feels like a compilation. I made the last five albums with the goal of having an album at the end. These songs are all old and from the SoundCloud time of my life. Not only did I not think I was making an album, I thought nobody would ever hear them. That makes this project separate from the other albums, at least in my head. What was it like revisiting your SoundCloud era from a 2024 perspective? It’s been a really healing time for me. I went back to Boston – I wrote a lot of these songs when I was at school there – and to be in the physical space I was in, it was interesting to think about where I was mentally back then. I had no idea what was next for me. I was ready to find another avenue in music, whether it was teaching or being a bar musician like I was in high school. I was down to keep that going, we make okay money sometimes! It’s a full-circle moment for me to come back to these tunes. I have changed so much as a musician, but mostly as a person. When was the earliest of these songs written? In the fall of 2016, then the latest one couldn’t have been later than the top of 2018. There were some mild reworkings I had to do. I had to recreate an instrumental for one of them to get around clearing a sample of Chaka Khan ’s “Everywhere” that was on the SoundCloud version. I wound up replaying a lot of it this year on what I had at home – guitars, keyboards, etc. I really didn’t want to get rid of it. Vocally, it’s all the original takes. We had to do some deep diving for those old sessions. It’s also mostly the original, shitty mixes I did in my college apartment. Why was it important for you to keep those original vocal takes? I think there’s a lot of magic in what some people would call the “demo track.” I’m not in the business of making a perfectly polished thing. I’m in the business of catching lightning in a bottle and making sure that when you’re listening to it, you can hear all of my stuff that I put into it emotionally and spiritually. I guess it helps that these songs have been out on SoundCloud, and I [didn’t] want to make a regurgitated version of them. I wanted them to be the songs that people enjoyed. Did you hear anything in those original tracks that might have made you cringe? Or were you surprised at any choices you made back then? [ Laughs ]. I’d say [there were] a couple of cringes here and there. But I think that’s also a beautiful part of coming back to these songs. Maybe the shit that I think is cringey now as a 27-year-old was really cool to a 20-year-old. I find that as you make more and more stuff, you find yourself falling into patterns. I was such a blank canvas back then that there were a couple of decisions I probably wouldn’t make today. What were some of those specific sonic impulses that were more apparent in your earlier songwriting? Compared to my last record, this project feels very wordy to me. Some of the songs on this project are literally five words total; it’s just a hook or a musical motif that just feels good. I almost feel like it’s teaching me to go back to my impulses a little bit. Sometimes all you need to do is say one word. Or all you need to do is say three words. The last record was more so me ripping out of my journal, and with Cloudy , you just gotta catch the feeling. Talk to me a bit more about the emotional space you were in when you wrote these songs. I was in my junior year at Berkeley College of Music in Boston. I had fallen really out of love with everything about school. It’s not like I was ever a great student, but I was really into it my first couple of years as a songwriting major and then I fell out of love with the classroom [environment]. We were doing a lot of homework assignments like, “Write a song about your favorite childhood pet!” And I’d be like, “I don’t want to.” [ Laughs. ] So, I would stay in my apartment and work on the songs that I wanted to write. I was learning how to produce for myself at the time; I was in a new relationship; I was in the process of calling my entire family (who are all lawyers) and telling them that I was dropping out of school. I was a lot of uncertainty. I didn’t know what was next. It was a very leap of faith moment for me; I trust myself. To this day, I trust the work that I put in, and everything worked out for me. Me and that girl are celebrating our eight-year anniversary in March! What’s the most interesting memory these songs brought back up to you? I used to ride my bike to school a lot. I lived in an apartment half a mile from campus, but I rode my bike so I could get home as fast as possible. I remember when I was first writing these songs, it was 2016 – the year the first NxWorries album came out. That album did so much for me, not only as a writer but also in the way I treated myself and my dreams. .Paak was really talking hit shit on there; Knxwledge is one of my favorite producers. I used to ride my bike to “Get Bigger / Do U Luv” all the time. I always think about that kid on the bike and how badly he wanted to make art. He’s still an important part of me today. From an archival standpoint, why was it important for you to make sure that all of these songs can be found in one place for your fans? I’m paying homage to the people who have stuck around as long as they have. For them, Cloudy is old and nostalgic; they have their own memories attached to it. At the same time, there’s people who may have just heard me for the first time yesterday and Cloudy is what they’ll hear. It’s an important little square on my quilt of artistry. Even though it’s not necessarily “me” right this second, it’s still an important piece of the foundation to get an idea of who I am both musically and personally. How did you land on this title? There’s the SoundCloud tie-in, but I was just writing a lot about skies. I have “Blue Skies” on there – that’s a really important one. There was a lot of metaphor there. I think there’s something to be said about the clarity you get when the clouds go away, or how you might feel when the clouds are out. There’s a lot to play with there. Which of these songs do you think was most indicative of where your sound is today? I feel like “Love Somebody” is probably in that group of songs. “Blue Skies” too. Even songs like “She Just Wanna See Me Right Now,” pay homage to all of my favorite genres of music. There’s jazz, hip-hop elements, R&B influence, folksy singer-songwriter stuff. And melodically and lyrically, it’s a big mush of all the people that inspire me. But those three songs definitely were pointing to where I was headed. Would you ever sample yourself and if so, what song on Cloudy would you sample? Maybe I could try “Somebody New” or something that doesn’t already have drums and it’s just me and the piano. I might have to do that when I get home, just to see if it works. [ Laughs. ] What songs hurt you the most to leave off this project? Will they ever come out? I have a song with an old friend of mine named Raelee [Nikole] called “Just What You Say,” and I wanted that to be on Cloudy , but we just couldn’t make it work. I also have a couple of beats – my vocals aren’t on there – and stuff from the SoundCloud era where I’m sampling stuff like Ne-Yo or [ Common ’s] “Like Water for Chocolate.” I think they tell a little bit more of the story of my producer side, but, for the most part, we got all my favorites on there. You’re hitting the road soon. What can you share about that? At the end of November, I’m going to Europe for a couple of days and opening for Keshi . We’re only doing three or four shows out there, but we’re also going to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand together next February. I haven’t been to any of those places so I’m excited. Next summer, I’m doing a few North American shows with him too. We’re playing The Garden — and as a lifelong Knicks fan, I’m definitely freaking out. I always tell people: I sang the National Anthem at one of the Knicks games last season, and it was far and away the most nervous I’ve ever been. Because these are people I watch every single night. Singing at a venue of 1,000 people is whatever; singing in front of Jalen Brunson was the most stressed I’ve ever felt in my life. When did you decide that you were going to go the compilation route? I had always wanted to do a compilation at some point. I’m always working on stuff. Nothing really solid yet, but I’ve got some ideas. People on social media have always been like, “We need these on DSPs!” and my fans seriously mean a lot to me. They are entirely why I’m where I’m at today, so I always want them to feel like I’m listening and providing the things that they want and like. A lot of this art is for me, but at the end of the day, I’m not me without all of them. Where’s your head regarding new music? I’m always writing and working on new stuff. I’m always listening to new stuff and trying to grow and see where music takes me next. It always has taken me to places I did not expect. When it’s ready, it’ll be ready. But there’s always more music to make.
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The West High boys soccer team will enter Tri-City Athletic League (TCAL) play in the new year on the back of a win as the Wolf Pack took out Millennium High 2-1 at Steve Lopez Stadium last Friday night to end their non-league schedule on the right note. The Wolf Pack snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 3-3 on their campaign when first-half goals from seniors Alvin Gaitan and Sawyer Lemos propelled them over the Falcons in a local rivalry clash. Sophomore Jordan Lujan also had an assist on the day. The visitors fought back admirably and found life in the game after the interval courtesy of yet another link-up between junior brothers Dario and Leo Kristo. The former was the provider while Dario got on the end of the pass to turn in the finish to make it 2-1. Time ran out on the Falcons, however, with Millennium dropping to 5-3-1 on the year in their first defeat since Dec. 6 when they fell to Downey at the Ervin Mendiola Tournament. They won three and tied one after that on their four-game unbeaten run. Both teams performed well in their last outings before the start of their respective league campaigns. The Wolf Pack will be on the road on Jan. 7 when they return to action in Stockton against Lincoln in their TCAL curtain raiser. The Falcons will host Aspire Langston Hughes Academy on Jan. 4 to kick off Central California Athletic Alliance (CCAA) play. Contact Arion Armeniakos at aarmeniakos@tracypress.com , or call 209-830-4229.Need some assistance with NYT Strands today? Today's theme — "Lead the way" — isn't especially clear, but shouldn't be too tough once you have some answers on the board. Below, we've compiled some useful hints for Strands #275, as well as the answers, should it come to that. We'll start off with some clues, before building up to the full answer for Strands #275, so read on if you need a little help. Warning: Spoilers lie ahead for Strands #275. Today's NYT Strands answer — Today's theme and hints The official theme for NYT Strands #275 is... "Lead the way" And here's an unofficial hint from me: "Banish the darkness". If you're still in the dark, here are some useful words to give you those valuable clue tokens: Still struggling? The spangram will give you a hint about the connection word. Today, it starts with 'I' and ends with 'N'. Scroll down to find out what it is... It's ILLUMINATION. Today's Strands answers So, what are today's Strands answers for game #275? Drumroll, please... ...and the spangram was ILLUMINATION. Strands #275 “Lead the way” 🔵💡🔵🟡 🔵🔵🔵 Hi Strands fans. I'm not really sure the theme "Lead the way" is very helpful today. All the same, a single clue was all I needed to get through the puzzle relatively unscathed. I found the first answer on my own: CANDLE in the bottom-left corner. But after some head scratching, I couldn't think of what this had to do with the theme, so used a clue which revealed TORCH. Okay, so it's just about lighting? Pretty tenuous, but at least I could get going. I found the spangram after this, with ILLUMINATION spelt backwards from bottom to top. This cordoned off HEADLAMP in the top-left corner, clearing the west side of the grid. Two answers were left to find on the other half. FLASHLIGHT came first in the top left, and that just left LANTERN to find in the bottom right to complete the puzzle. Yesterday's Strands answers Reading this in a later time zone? You can find the full article on yesterday's Strands answers for game #274 right here .Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed winFlagstar Financial: A Unique Buy-The-Dip Opportunity
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Three leading Egyptian banks—the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, and QNB AlAhli—have extended joint financing worth EGP 4.235bn to Al-Zahi Group. This financing aims to support key development projects, with NBE serving as the lead arranger, financing marketer, financing agent, and document bank within the alliance. Banque Misr acts as an initial main arranger, financing marketer, and account bank, while QNB AlAhli fulfills the role of an initial main arranger. The funding will be directed toward various projects, including facility design, land reclamation, infrastructure development, agricultural land leveling, establishing irrigation and drainage systems, and executing electrical and mechanical works. The signing ceremony was attended by prominent banking and business leaders, including Yehia Abou El-Fotouh, Deputy CEO of NBE; Sherif Riad, CEO of Corporate Banking Credit and Syndicated Loans at NBE; Mohamed Khairat, Head of Corporate Credit and Syndicated Loans at Banque Misr; Abdel Rahman Talaat, Head of Corporate Finance and Investment at QNB AlAhli; and Ahmed El Zahi, Chairman of Al-Zahi Group. Yehia Abou El-Fotouh highlighted that the financing aligns with NBE’s strategy to support vital economic sectors, fostering growth across industries and value chains. He commended the efforts of the bank’s team in conducting comprehensive studies and facilitating cooperation that culminated in this financing deal. Sherif Riad emphasized NBE’s commitment to backing large-scale development projects in Egypt, particularly those that enhance food security and contribute to economic stability. He underscored the importance of expanding agricultural land and production, which reduces imports, improves trade balances, and creates job opportunities by leveraging modern technological methods. Mohamed Khairat reiterated Banque Misr’s dedication to financing vital projects across diverse sectors to stimulate economic growth and enhance Egypt’s competitiveness. He noted that this partnership reflects the bank’s strategic goals of supporting the national economy, aligning with Egypt’s Vision 2030 for sustainable development. Khairat also praised the collaboration among the participating banks, highlighting the shared commitment to advancing the national economy. QNB’s Abdel Rahman Talaat stressed the importance of the banking sector’s role in financing projects with significant economic and social impacts. He emphasized QNB Egypt’s focus on supporting agricultural development to achieve food security, create thousands of jobs, and contribute to sustainable development goals. Talaat also noted QNB Egypt’s growing influence in fostering major national projects through its strong relationships with international financial institutions. Ahmed El Zahi expressed gratitude for the collaboration with Egypt’s leading banks, underscoring the importance of such partnerships in driving the nation’s development. He highlighted Al-Zahi Group’s diverse expertise in integrated general contracting, including river works, sidewalk construction, dredging, thermal and hydropower stations, roads and bridges, dams, and water and sewage networks. The company also specializes in complementary activities such as ready-mix concrete production, insulation, and polyethylene works. This joint financing underscores the critical role of Egypt’s banking sector in fostering economic growth and supporting sustainable development across the nation.From passionate player to committed manager, UA’s Canyon Torres loves basketball
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Chris Dods joined First Hawaiian bank in 2007 in the Card Services Division where he oversaw credit and debit card product development, operations, and compliance. Over time, his responsibilities grew to include marketing, corporate communications, digital banking, and all consumer products. In 2021 he was promoted to Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer and given oversight of Enterprise Technology Management, Enterprise Operations Services, Data and Analytics, and Strategy and Transformation. “Chris has been a key member of our management team and has made significant contributions to FHB during his time at the bank,” said Bob Harrison, Chairman, President, and CEO.“Under his leadership, we have made great strides in modernizing the bank and creating a user-friendly, highly functional digital experience for both our consumer and business customers. We would like to thank Chris for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors.” “My career here will always be a source of pride, and my love for the people and the organization can never be overstated,” said First Hawaiian, Inc. COO Chris Dods.“It has been a privilege to work at such a fine and storied institution as First Hawaiian Bank.” First Hawaiian, Inc. First Hawaiian, Inc. (NASDAQ: FHB) is a bank holding company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Its principal subsidiary, First Hawaiian Bank, founded in 1858 under the name Bishop & Company, is Hawaii's largest financial institution with branch locations throughout Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan. The company offers a comprehensive suite of banking services to consumer and commercial customers including deposit products, loans, wealth management, insurance, trust, retirement planning, credit card and merchant processing services. Customers may also access their accounts through ATMs, online and mobile banking channels. For more information about First Hawaiian, Inc., visit the Company's website, . A photo accompanying this announcement is available at MENAFN26122024004107003653ID1109033385 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.Fyodor Lukyanov: Can the West still engineer a ‘color revolution’? We’re about to find out
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Adou Thiero scored 23 points, and Boogie Fland added another 21 to lead No. 20 Arkansas to a 79-67 win over Little Rock on Friday night. Thiero scored 16 of his 23 in the second half to put the Trojans away after they cut Arkansas’ lead to seven points. The Razorbacks never trailed and improved to 4-1 under Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. Along with Thiero's second half, Arkansas used a 7-0 run to keep Little Rock at bay. DJ Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic scored 11 and 10, respectively. Mwani Wilkinson led the Trojans with 18 points. Takeaways Little Rock: The Trojans were picked as preseason OVC favorites and largely looked the part against a power-conference foe before stumbling late. Arkansas: The Razorbacks are maintaining position as they near the toughest portion of their nonconference schedule. Arkansas will play No. 25 Illinois and Miami in back-to-back games around the Thanksgiving holiday. Key moment Arkansas went on a 7-0 run just as Little Rock cut the lead to seven points in the second half. Arkansas forward Adou Thiero (3) and Little Rock guard Mwani Wilkinson (5) fight for a rebound during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. Credit: AP/Michael Woods Key stat The Razorbacks were not good at holding on to the ball, committing 19 turnovers. The difference came on scoring off those miscues as Arkansas scored 28 points off Little Rock’s 19 giveaways while the Trojans managed just 17 off the Razorbacks' mistakes. Up next Little Rock travels to Illinois on Monday, the same day Arkansas hosts Maryland-Eastern Shore.
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The Chicago Bears nearly pulled off an improbable comeback against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter behind a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Caleb Williams. The team ultimately lost in overtime, 30-27, but it was a glimpse of what Williams could become. After the game, he credited new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown for allowing him to play freely in crunch time: "He has a certain aura to him that he just allows you to play free," Williams told reporters. " ... When it's time to be Superman, that is what he tells me in the headset. 'Go be Superman at the end of the day.'" This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .
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