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Sure, people made fun of Jimmy Carter. I was lucky to have Jimmy Carter make fun of meACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana’s former leader John Dramani Mahama was declared the winner of the presidential election on Monday and pledged a “a life of limitless opportunity” for citizens after voters vented their anger over the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Previously president of the West African nation between 2012 and 2017, the 65-year-old Mahama received 56.5% of votes cast, or 6.3 million votes, the electoral commission said. His main opponent from the current governing party, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, conceded defeat on Sunday and got 41%, or 4.6 million votes. Electoral commissioner Jean Mensa said vote-counting continued in nine constituencies but would not change the final result. Turnout was just over 60%. Mahama had promised to “reset” the country on various fronts. His campaign prioritized the economy and largely appealed to young Ghanaians who saw the vote as a way out of the economic crisis . In his victory speech on Monday, Mahama said Ghana must be able to meet the basic needs of its people including affordable housing, health care, food, clean water, safe work and fair wages. “We want a Ghana that considers the well-being of all her citizens and affords them each the ability to live a life of dignity, a life of limitless opportunity,” he said. “This country, this land, is not for one person or for one family or for one tribe or ethnic group.” He said the last eight years under outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo have "left a scar on our national psyche, which may take some time to erase.” Mahama’s win is viewed as following the trend of elections around the world, favoring opposition parties against incumbents. Mahama’s National Democratic Congress also won the majority in parliament. After Bawumia conceded defeat, celebrations broke out among opposition supporters in the capital, Accra, and elsewhere. Women and young people danced to music and trumpet blasts. The election for both the president and members of parliament was seen as a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups . West Africa’s regional bloc, ECOWAS, called the election generally peaceful, not unusual for Ghana. The governing New Patriotic Party has struggled to resolve the economic crisis under outgoing Akufo-Addo. The former president is “the only person” who can fix the ailing economy in Ghana, one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses, said Jude Agbemava, a policy analyst who voted for him. The people made their disaffection known against a government that has lost goodwill, said Seidu Alidu, head of the department of political science at Ghana’s University of Legon. The economy is “largely a bread and butter issue for every Ghanaian,” Alidu said. “When the people elect you, they require you to do certain things for them. But it was also about the style of governance (because) even in other countries facing economic challenges, governments were being honest with the people, telling them what the reality is, and the steps they have taken to manage it.”
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President-elect Donald Trump vowed to make immediate and sweeping changes after he takes office on Jan. 20, such as pardons for those convicted in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and said he wants to find a legislative solution to keep Dreamers in the country legally. In an interview with Kristen Welker , moderator of NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Trump also said he’ll work to extend the tax cuts passed in his first term. He said he will not seek to impose restrictions on abortion pills. He plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and try to end birthright citizenship. And he said the pardons for Jan. 6 rioters will happen on day one, arguing many have endured overly harsh treatment in prison. “These people are living in hell,” he said. Trump’s first postelection network television interview took place Friday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he spoke for more than an hour about policy plans Americans can expect in his next term. Trump said he would fulfill a campaign promise to levy tariffs on imports from America’s biggest trading partners. In a noteworthy moment, he conceded uncertainty when Welker asked if he could “guarantee American families won’t pay more” as a result of his plan. “I can’t guarantee anything,” Trump said. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow.” Trump also said he will not raise the age for government programs like Social Security and Medicare and will not make cuts to them as part of spending reduction efforts led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Asked if “raising ages or any of that stuff” was “off the table,” Trump agreed, saying, “I won’t do it.” Trump spoke in a calm, measured tone and at times sparred with Welker when she fact-checked him. He seemed heartened by the scope of his victory on Nov. 5. After winning the popular vote and capturing all seven of the key battleground states, he said with pride, “I’m getting called by everybody.” He’s heard from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post: “We’re having dinner,” he said. “People like me now, you know?” he said, adding: “It’s different than the first — you know, when I won the first time, I wasn’t nearly as popular as this. And one thing that’s very important, in terms of the election, I love that I won the popular vote, and by a lot.” Trump did segue into familiar grievances. He would not concede that he lost the 2020 election. Asked how, in his view, Democrats stole that election but not this one even though they control the White House, Trump said, “Because I think it was too big to rig.” He blamed President Joe Biden for the nation’s political divide and heaped insults on perceived foes. Adam Schiff, the incoming Democratic senator from California, is “a real lowlife,” he said. But he delivered something of a mixed message when it comes to political retribution. Trump made clear he believes he’s been wronged, but he also sounded a conciliatory note, saying he will not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden. “I’m not looking to go back into the past,” he said. “Retribution will be through success.” A fear among Trump’s political opponents is that he’ll use the government’s fearsome investigative machinery to exact vengeance. He has chosen two allies for top law enforcement positions: Pam Bondi for attorney general and Kash Patel for FBI director. If confirmed, Trump suggested, they’d have autonomy in how they go about enforcing the law. Yet he also singled out people he believes crossed the line in investigating his actions, calling special counsel Jack Smith “very corrupt.” Members of the House committee that examined the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were “political thugs and, you know, creeps,” committing offenses in going about their work, he said. “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said. Asked if he would direct the Justice Department and FBI to punish them, Trump said, “No, not at all. I think that they’ll have to look at that, but I’m not going to — I’m going to focus on drill, baby, drill” — a reference to tapping more oil supplies. If Biden wants to do it, he could pardon the committee members, Trump said, “and maybe he should.” The interview covered a range of topics — during which he continued to keep some space between himself and the conservative “Project 2025” that was intended to be a blueprint for his administration to implement new policies. But while he once disavowed the policy guidebook, he embraced it more closely and agreed some of the drafters are now part of his incoming administration. “Many of those things I happen to agree with,” Trump said. He said he would consider raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour since 2009, but would like to consult with the nation’s governors. “I will agree, it’s a very low number,” he said. He said he’ll release his full medical records. Trump will be 82 by the time his term ends in 2029 — the same age Biden is now. He said he doesn’t plan to divest from Truth Social, the billion-dollar platform he launched after leaving office. “I don’t know what’s to divest,” he said. “All I do is I put out messages.” And he said he will not try to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he has criticized in the past. He said his children won’t join him as White House aides, a departure from his last term, when daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner both served as senior advisers with West Wing offices. “I’ll miss them,” he said. He didn’t address a question about what role his wife, Melania Trump, will play in the new term, though he described the future first lady as both “very elegant” and “very popular.” Immigration was the centerpiece of Trump’s campaign, and he didn’t flinch in saying he will carry out mass deportation of those who are living in the country illegally. First will be convicted criminals, he said. Pressed on whether the targets would go beyond that group, Trump added: “Well, I think you have to do it, and it’s a hard — it’s a very tough thing to do. It’s — but you have to have, you know, you have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally.” It’s also possible that American citizens will be caught up in the sweep and deported with family members who are here illegally, or could choose to go. Asked about families with mixed immigration status, where some are in the U.S. legally and some illegally, Trump said, “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” The expense and logistical complexities of deporting millions of people haven’t deterred him, he said. “You have no choice,” he said. “First of all, they’re costing us a fortune. But we’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it. And then we’re starting with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes.” An exception might be the “Dreamers” — people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and have lived here for years. He voiced openness toward a legislative solution that would allow them to remain in the country. “I will work with the Democrats on a plan,” he said, praising “Dreamers” who’ve gotten good jobs, started businesses and become successful residents. “We’re going to have to do something with them,” he said. He also said he intends to eliminate birthright citizenship, the protection enshrined in the 14th Amendment that guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil regardless of their parents. Asked about the likelihood that doing so unilaterally would face legal opposition, Trump said he would consider amending the Constitution. “We’ll maybe have to go back to the people,” Trump said. “But we have to end it.” During Trump’s one debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he was criticized for saying he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act, the health care law signed by President Barack Obama. It’s not clear Trump’s ideas have evolved further. “Obamacare stinks,” he said. “If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and to everybody else and I’d do something about it.” When will he have a developed plan? “Well, I don’t know that you’ll see it at all,” Trump said, adding that health care experts are studying possible alternatives. Later Friday after the interview, Trump flew to Paris for a ceremony marking the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which had been devastated by a fire. After arriving, he met privately with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who posted on social media that the trio talked about reaching “a just peace” in his country’s war with Russia. Zelenskyy joined for roughly the last 10 minutes of the meeting, a Trump transition official said. In the interview with “Meet the Press,” Trump said he is actively trying to end the war, “if I can,” adding that Ukraine can “possibly” expect it won’t get as much military aid from the U.S. when he’s back in office. He would not commit to keeping the U.S. in NATO, the European military alliance that has been a bulwark against Russia since World War II. “If they pay their bills, absolutely,” he would preserve America’s role in the alliance, he said. On another foreign policy front, Trump expressed doubt that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be able to remain in power. “It’s amazing, because he stayed for years under you would think much more adverse conditions, and all of the sudden, just rebels are going and they’re taking over large pieces of territory,” Trump said. “People have bet against him for a long time, and so far that hasn’t worked. But this seems to be different.” One phrase that leapt out of Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017: “American carnage.” It evoked a nation ravaged by crime and saddled with rusting factories. This time, Trump said the takeaway from his inaugural speech will be different. “We’re going to have a message,” he said. “It will make you happy: unity. It’s going to be a message of unity.” “And no American carnage?” Welker asked. “No American carnage, no,” the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president said. Asked for his message to the Americans who didn’t vote for him, Trump compared them to his most strident supporters — a shift from his campaign rhetoric. “I’m going to treat you,” he said, “every bit as well as I have treated the greatest MAGA supporters.” This article first appeared on NBCNews.com . Read more from NBC News here:
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is set to break more records Monday as U.S. stocks rise to add to last week’s gains. The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, and sitting just below its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 397 points, or 0.9%, to its own record set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Saquon Barkley becomes ninth running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season
Cabinet ministers have been warned they must find more savings in their departments as the Chancellor said “every pound” of Government spending will be scrutinised in a major budget review. Secretaries of State are being told that any outgoings which are not contributing towards one of Labour’s “priorities” must be cut as Rachel Reeves vows to wield “an iron fist against waste.” In letters sent by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, departments will be told to brace for “difficult” spending decisions in order to restore trust in the Government’s handling of the public finances. Every pound of departmental spending will be face a “line-by-line review” involving external finance experts from banks and think tanks in order to ensure it represents value for money, the Treasury said. The Chancellor will on Tuesday launch the next round of Government spending, and is expected to warn departments that they “cannot operate in a business-as-usual way when reviewing their budgets for the coming years”. She will insist that areas focused on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “plan for change”, which includes targets to improve living standards across the country and build 1.5 million homes, must be prioritised. Ms Reeves said: “By totally rewiring how the Government spends money we will be able to deliver our plan for change and focus on what matters for working people. “The previous government allowed millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to go to waste on poor value for money projects. We will not tolerate it; I said I would have an iron grip on the public finances and that means taking an iron fist against waste. “By reforming our public services, we will ensure they are up to scratch for modern day demands, saving money and delivering better services for people across the country. That’s why we will inspect every pound of Government spend, so that it goes to the right places and we put an end to all waste.” Under the Treasury’s plans, departments will ensure budgets are scrutinised by “challenge panels” of external experts including former senior management of Lloyd’s Banking Group, Barclays Bank and the Co-operative Group. These panels, which will also involve think tanks, academics and the private sector, will advise on which spending “is or isn’t necessary”, the ministry said. The Treasury said work has already begun, with an evaluation of the £6.5 million spent on a scheme that placed social workers in schools finding “no evidence of positive impact on social care outcomes”. “Departments will be advised that where spending is not contributing to a priority, it should be stopped,” it said. “Although some of these decisions will be difficult, the Chancellor is clear that the public must have trust in the Government that it is rooting out waste and that their taxes are being spent on their priorities.” Ms Reeves had already announced efficiency and productivity savings of 2% across departments in her autumn budget as she seeks to put the public finances on a firmer footing. In a speech in east London, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden hinted at a further squeeze. “At the Budget the Chancellor demanded efficiency and productivity savings of 2% across departments – and there will be more to come,” he said. “As we launch the next phase of the spending review at its heart must be reform of the state in order to do a better job for the public.”Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 23 Michigan fends off Northwestern
Bluesky, the rapidly growing social media platform, is violating EU regulations by failing to disclose important details, a European Commission spokesperson told reporters during a daily briefing on Monday. “All platforms in the EU even the smallest ones which are below the threshold, which is the case for Bluesky, have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many user numbers they have in the EU and where they are legally established. This is not the case for Bluesky as of today,” the spokesperson said. Lately: An exodus from X to Bluesky, influencer income and AI safety He also stated that since Bluesky falls below the threshold and is not classified as a Very Large Platform under the EU’s Digital Services Act, the commission has not yet reached out to the company. Instead, it has contacted the 27 national governments to check “if they can find any trace of Bluesky.” Bluesky did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Fitch Ratings Upgrades GCC’s Credit Rating to ‘BBB’
How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 12/11/2024Everything You Need to Know About Shingles & the Shingles VaccineWASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden last week, one of the highlights was his pledge of hundreds of millions of dollars for an ambitious trans-Africa rail project that would bring copper and cobalt from central Africa to the Atlantic port of Lobito. The project is possible because of the commitment of a $553 million direct loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, created in 2019 during the first Trump administration to counter through infrastructure projects, such as the mega-port in Chancay, Peru, inaugurated just last month. On Monday, the U.S. agency celebrated its five-year milestone by vowing to advance U.S. foreign policy and strategic interests through projects around the world such as the one in Angola. It also seeks re-authorization from Congress and a greater ability to invest in more countries when there's a strategic need to compete with China. “We need to be good partners while offering an alternative based on our values," said Scott Nathan, the chief executive officer of the development agency, who was in Angola last week with the president. “Quite simply, we need to continue to show up.” Nathan is set to leave the post. President-elect Donald Trump is yet to name his pick to lead the agency. Over its first five years, the agency has developed a portfolio of more than $50 billion in 114 countries, including solar panel manufacturing in India, a power plant in Sierra Leone, and digital infrastructure in South America. To do that, the agency has leveraged government funding to partner with private investments. Last year, the agency committed to $12 billion in new transactions, using the roughly $800 million in appropriations, Nathan said. Investments by the agency are having a “transformational impact on economic development while concretely advancing U.S. strategic interests,” Nathan said. In Angola, for example, the rail project would help secure the supply chain by cutting both time and cost in transporting critical minerals. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the agency was created when the U.S. was “ceding the field" to China in a new era of geopolitics. The U.S. needed a vision “calibrated to new geopolitical realities” and that matched ”the scope of the transformational challenges we faced.” It was in 2013 when Beijing launched the massive Belt and Road Initiative to gain markets and influence around the world by building roads, railways, power plants, transmission lines and ports, usually in less-developed regions. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said China provided $679 billion for international infrastructure projects such as those in transportation and energy between 2013 and 2021, compared with the $76 billion the U.S. provided in the same period. Western politicians have criticized these Beijing-backed projects for creating debt traps, but Beijing argues that they have brought tangible and much-needed economic benefits to the host countries. In 2018, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that created the U.S. development agency, aimed at bringing private investments into low- and middle-income countries through tools such as equity investment, loan guarantee and political risk insurance. On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the agency for “reimagining how the U.S. does development” and said, through its work, the U.S. has “shown countries that they don't have to resort to projects that are poorly built, environmentally destructive, that import or abuse workers, that foster corruption or burden countries with unsustainable debt.” "We really are the partner of choice,” Blinken said. As challenges lie ahead, Blinken said the agency needs to do even more and in more countries than before.
